Scenic pullout · Icefields Parkway (Highway 93)
A short loop opens onto a broad, braided river valley.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Icefields Parkway Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Icefields Parkway (Highway 93). As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Icefields Parkway audio tourRecorded for this place
Howse Pass Viewpoint: A Valley and a Route“You're nearing Howse Pass Viewpoint, a picnic stop with a short semicircular path above the North Saskatchewan River valley.”
Plays as you drive up to Howse Pass Viewpoint in the Parkwolf Icefields Parkway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Howse Pass Viewpoint is a roadside picnic and interpretation stop on the Icefields Parkway. A short semicircular path leads to an elevated look across the North Saskatchewan River Valley and the surrounding Rocky Mountain peaks. It’s a worthwhile place to stretch your legs and take in the wide valley, not a destination hike.
Howse Pass is a 30-kilometre wilderness landscape crossing the Continental Divide, not the pullout itself. The pass was an important route for the Ktunaxa First Nation to reach bison east of the Rockies, and David Thompson crossed it in 1807 on his journey toward the Columbia River basin. Parks Canada’s main interpretive exhibit is near Saskatchewan River Crossing, where you can get the story without taking on the remote backcountry route.
Parks Canada lists this as a picnic stop and recommends bringing food and water for the Parkway, where services are limited. A park pass is required for the drive. For a photo, keep the pale braided channels along the valley floor and the peaks above them; that wider composition gives the landscape its scale.
Wildlife
12 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
127 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
16 sightingsMooseMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
100 sightingsElkMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
34 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
53 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Icefields Parkway. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ChallengingGlacier Lake Trail17.6 km · 6.5 hr · 1.5 km awayA full-day forest hike to a lake beneath high peaks.
EasyMistaya Canyon Trail1 km · 30 min · 3.7 km awayA quick downhill walk to a canyon of twisting whitewater.
ChallengingSarbach Lookout Trail10.6 km · 5.5 hr · 3.7 km awayA muddy start and a long climb to views of Howse Pass.Parkwolf’s Icefields Parkway ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
