Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
Plans are now in the works for a Pathway to the Park, which would connect the town of Hinton to the east gate of Jasper National Park.
Formed in 2021, the West Yellowhead Trail Society aims to create a scenic, paved multi-use trail for non-motorized users.
“We’ve all had this idea in our minds for the last number of years,” said Garth Griffiths, chairperson of the West Yellowhead Trail Society.
“Finally, we just got together one day and said, ‘Hey, let’s make this work,’ so that’s how it was conceived. Most of us had experience on other trails or seen other trails and thought this would be pretty good for our area.”
The 30-kilometre trail would be three metres wide with a six-metre clearance area.
The trail would be designed for all non-motorized uses including bike riding, e-biking, walking, jogging, roller blading, roller skiing and non-maintained winter uses such as cross country skiing and fat biking.
“In designing the trail, what we’ve tried to do is keep the grades on the trail gentle enough so that somebody who’s hardly ever ridden or is just starting to ride can get out there and feel pretty comfortable on it,” said Mike Meagher, trail planner with the West Yellowhead Trail Society.
The trail would also include designated parking at four locations, providing multiple entry points.
“It’s set up so people can decide if they don’t want to do the whole part of it, they can break it up,” Meagher said.
The society is planning to include scenic rest stops with picnic tables, viewpoints and interpretive signage along the way.
Griffiths added that no trails of this kind existed in northern Alberta and mainly existed in southern Alberta, one notable example being the Banff Legacy Trail.
Getting people off the highway is one of the main reasons why the society is working to create this trail.
“It used to be a popular ride,” Meagher said.
“I’m a pretty avid cyclist and I used to ride to the park gate all the time, but now there’s so many trucks on that road. It’s too scary.”
The trail is also envisioned to promote health.
“COVID taught us a lot of lessons, and one of the lessons was that people want to get out and do more in nature,” Griffiths said.
“And we were getting a lot of people coming out from Edmonton and Calgary and all over, coming to this area just to enjoy this area, and this is going to give them an opportunity to be able to come here and have things to do.”
The project would be completed in two phases, with the first phase going from Hinton to Wildhorse/Kinky Lake.
The West Yellowhead Trail Society has already made a formal application for approval of the project’s first phase to the province as the primary landowner.
Over $200,000 has been raised for the planning stage.
Much of the funding has come from private individuals, and the society has been garnering support from local companies, small businesses and the provincial and federal government.
The society is hoping to begin construction in the spring of 2024.
Griffiths even suggested that the trail could continue through Jasper National Park, but such a project would be far down the road after the current pathway is built.
“We got to get people off the highway, got to get them off that highway, and this is the best way to do it.”
Anyone interested in donating or volunteering with the West Yellowhead Trail Society can contact 780-865-0043 or visit
This article originally appeared in Peak Jasper, the 51暗网's annual business magazine. or request your own copies for your home or business at [email protected]
