Hidden Valley

6 kms
6hours
difficult
Rock Climbing, Hiking
Spring, Fall, Summer
Hinton, AB

bfcoffey

Hidden Valley is a rock climber's paradise near the east end of Jasper National Park, which can , of course, be used as a hiking trail as well. Though not an official park trail, it is nontheless, very popular. There is a lot of easy scrambling at various segments of the trail before and after the climbing sections. I'm not a rock climber so will not attempt any rating of this area, but if the number of climbers present on the May long weekend, and the amount of fixed anchors, is any indication, this is a popular spot. Do your own research online for this area (e.g. http://www.rescuedynamics.ca/jasper.rocks/Hidden01.htm). There are apparently over 100 climbing routes here, varying from 20m to 150m in height. It's about 45 minutes of hiking to get to the climb area.

Time and length are approx. based on what you do when you're in there. We didn't hike to the end of the canyon, but still gained about 2,000 feet.

One of the photos show a ladder used to scale a short ledge on the trail. That's the old one. A new, aluminum ladder has replaced this one.

Directions:

From Hinton, follow Hwy. 16 into Jasper National Park. Continue past the Pocahontas Warden Station and Pocahontas Bungalows. In a few minutes the imposing face of Roche Miette is on your left and the speed limit drops to 70km per hour. The next large parking area on your left (east) is where you want to be. The parking area has a pond at each end. OR drive 36km from Jasper towards Hinton.