Willmore Wilderness Park is located in Alberta, Canada just above (north of) Jasper National Park. The park has a full range of wildlife including wolves, caribou, moose, big horn sheep, mountain goats, deer, elk, marmots, pikas, coyotes, grizzlies & black bears. Unlike the bears that habituate Jasper and Banff national parks, Willmore bears are shy and avoid contact with humans. There are no roads, bridges or buildings but for several forest service huts. The campsites are those that have evolved over the years, mostly made by outfitters and mostly adapted to horse usage but convenient for hikers (e.g., they have firepits, cleared areas for tents, and are located by water). Cutting dead standing trees and fires are legal. There are no permits required for hiking or riding in the park and hikers are not required to stay at the existing sites. Of course, "leave no trace" practices should be followed by hikers establishing a new camp for an overnight. There are several entry points, Rock Lake, Berland River and Grande Cache of which the Rock Lake trailhead is the most popular. For the first 20 km, the trail is an unimproved dirt road following the Wildhay River that was bulldozed in the 50s to fight a forest fire. There has been no forestry (timber harvesting) in the park. It is primarily used in the summer by hikers and riders and in the fall by hunters who are focused on Big Horn Sheep and Mountain Goats. As such, even in the fall there is low danger to hikers because the hunters have to carefully scope their targets to ensure that they are legal.

This slideshow is focused on hiking and on horse-assisted hiking trips. That means that horses carry in camp and personal gear & food while hikers carry only light day packs. The horses take the valley routes while the hikers with light daypacks can, as you will see, hike from camp to camp via Willmore's extensive alpine ridges. Of course, Willmore is also suitable for backpacking. To give viewers a feel for the uniqueness of hiking in Willmore, most images shown here are of hikers and scenics near the Eagle's Nest Pass region which is located at the end of the Wildhay River in the bottom right of the map below (the lower right-hand part of the map). Willmore is about half the size of Jasper National Park and it is possible to hike for many days in the park without reaching the boundaries. The Rock Lake trailhead is our entry point.

Map courtesy of the Alberta Wilderness Association