Cavell Road begins 13 kilometers (eight miles) south from town along Highway 93A and ends after 14.5 kilometers (nine miles) at the trailhead for the Cavell Meadows Trail (four km/2.5 mi, 1.5 hours one-way)—one of most scenic in the park. The trail starts out following the paved Path of the Glacier Loop, then branches left, climbing steadily through a subalpine forest of Engelmann spruce and then stunted subalpine fir to emerge facing the northeast face of Mount Edith Cavell and Angel Glacier. The view of the glacier from this point is nothing less than awesome, as the ice spills out of a cirque, clinging to a 300-meter-high (980 feet) cliff face. The trail continues to higher viewpoints and an alpine meadow that, by mid-July, is filled with wildflowers.

The trail into the Tonquin Valley is one of the overnight treks that I’d said earlier was beyond the scope of this book, but this one is just too good to pass up. The easiest of two approaches begins opposite the hostel on Cavell Road and follows the Astoria River (19 km/11.8 mi, 6–7 hours one-way) for much of the way. Amethyst Lakes and the 1,000-meter (3,280-foot) cliffs of the Ramparts first come into view after 13 kilometers (eight miles). At the 17-kilometer (10.5-mile) mark the trail divides. To the left it climbs into Eremite Valley, where there’s a campground. The right fork continues following Astoria River to Tonquin Valley, Amethyst Lakes, and a choice of four campgrounds and two lodges.