Cardinal River by Cardinal Divide
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The trail by the Cardinal River is pretty boring. It is also flat, so you could bike the first portion very easily, and this would be a great idea.
We didn't hike the trail. We hiked along the ridge, which is amazing, but then you get to the tip of the mountain, and it gets difficult. We had to traverse a scree slope to get to a lovely saddle, and then scramble down to get to the actual trail. So depending on your excitement / danger ratio, you could also do this.
Once you get across the river it starts getting quite a bit nicer - you're hiking in a mossy pine forest as you go up the hill. Once you emerge from the forest, you're in a beautiful alpine meadow. Watch out for grizzlies though - we saw a couple in the valley, and saw tons of tracks.
To get to this area, go south just west of Hinton. Go through Cadomin, and up the potholey road to the Cardinal Divide. You can then choose to go down to the trail, or hike from the top of the divide as we did.
We didn't hike the trail. We hiked along the ridge, which is amazing, but then you get to the tip of the mountain, and it gets difficult. We had to traverse a scree slope to get to a lovely saddle, and then scramble down to get to the actual trail. So depending on your excitement / danger ratio, you could also do this.
Once you get across the river it starts getting quite a bit nicer - you're hiking in a mossy pine forest as you go up the hill. Once you emerge from the forest, you're in a beautiful alpine meadow. Watch out for grizzlies though - we saw a couple in the valley, and saw tons of tracks.
To get to this area, go south just west of Hinton. Go through Cadomin, and up the potholey road to the Cardinal Divide. You can then choose to go down to the trail, or hike from the top of the divide as we did.