Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
above the tree line. The road is very steep, gaining well over 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) of
elevation as it climbs seemingly endless hairpin bends through a subalpine forest of En-
gelmann spruce, hemlock, and the odd towering cedar. The summit area is snowed in until
mid- to late July, depending on how much snow has fallen the previous winter. The public
road ends one kilometer (0.6 mile) before the true summit. From this point, you have the
option of taking a free shuttle bus (10am-4:20pm daily, starting as soon as the snow melts
off the road) or walking (20 minutes each way) to
Heather Lake.
From this point, the pan-
oramic view takes in the Columbia River Valley and the distant Monashee Mountains, with
hiking trails beckoning further exploration.
The parkway is open every day 7am-10pm May-August, 9am-5pm September. At other
times, the parkway is closed.
Hiking
The park doesn't have an extensive network of hiking trails—just 10 marked trails totaling
65 kilometers (40 miles) in length.
At the end of the Meadows in the Sky Parkway, Heather Lake is the trailhead for the
one-kilometer (0.6-mile) round-trip
Meadows in the Sky Trail,
which features signs ex-
plaining the flora of the fragile alpine environment. From the east side of Heather Lake, a
nine-kilometer (5.6-mile) trail leads through alpine meadows to the
Jade Lakes.
Along the
route, short side trails lead to
Miller
and
Eva Lakes.
Most other trails take under an hour and are posted with interpretive panels. Two of these
start beside the Trans-Canada Highway east of Revelstoke, where the Illecillewaet River
forms the park's southern boundary. The 500-meter (0.3-mile)
Giant Cedars Boardwalk
(allow 10 minutes) traverses a meadow before disappearing into an ancient cedar forest and
then along a sparkling creek. Farther west along the highway is the trailhead for
Skunk
Cabbage Interpretive Trail,
which leads 1.2 kilometers (0.7 mile) down to the Illecille-
waet River (allow 40 minutes for the round-trip).
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