Path of the Glacier Trail

Path of the Glacier is Trail 41, a 1.6 km (about 1 mile) out-and-back from the end of Cavell Road. Plan for 70 m of climbing and about an hour. The steady grade makes this a moderate walk despite its short distance. It is the quick choice for the Angel Glacier view if you do not want the longer Cavell Meadows hike. Start at the far end of the parking lot and return the same way; this route ends at the designated viewpoint, not at the pond shore.

A display about Edith Cavell and a short stairway mark the start. The path is paved at first and climbs steadily for about 0.5 km to a junction near the end of the pavement. Continue straight for Trail 41. The Cavell Meadows route turns left soon after the paved section and is a separate, much longer hike: 6 to 7 km return with 500 m of climbing. The two trails share the start; at the junction, stay straight for the viewpoint.

Beyond the pavement, the path crosses rough, exposed ground in the glacial basin. Loose rock and the open terrain make it feel more like a mountain walk than a garden path, even though the distance stays short. The viewpoint comes at the end of this rise; retrace the same path to the parking lot.

The viewpoint looks down on Cavell Pond and the layered ice of Cavell Glacier. Across the valley, Angel Glacier hangs in a cirque between Mount Edith Cavell and Sorrow Peak. Icebergs sometimes float in the pond. For a photo, keep the pond in the foreground and the hanging glacier across the basin. Stay at the designated viewpoint; the pond edge and glacier approach are unsafe.

Trail 41 crosses rocky ground that was covered by glacial ice until relatively recently. Interpretive signs describe how plants and animals are returning to the exposed terrain. The view makes the change visible: ice, bare moraine, and new growth sit close together in the same basin.

That landscape has changed abruptly before. In summer 2012, Ghost Glacier fell from Mount Edith Cavell and sent a major debris flood down the valley. Falling rock and ice, along with snow avalanches, remain hazards beyond the viewpoint. Keep to the marked path and do not approach Angel Glacier or the pond shore.

The mountain was named for Edith Cavell, a British nurse executed during World War I for helping Allied prisoners escape occupied Brussels. French-Canadian voyageurs had earlier called it La Montagne de la Grande Traverse, a name tied to fur-trade travel through nearby Athabasca Pass. The display at the start gives that history a place in the walk before the trail turns toward the glacier.