Wildflower meadows along the Skyline Trail

E.C Manning Provincial Park encompasses the northern edge of the Cascades, straddling the Canada/U.S. border with North Cascades National Park directly to the south.

It’s one of B.C.’s largest and most visited provincial parks. Yet, the vast majority of visitors don’t experience much beyond the highway corridor and the front-country campgrounds. What awaits hikers that enter its backcountry is stunning. Full panoramas of the jagged, glacier carved peaks of the Cascades are everywhere once you reach the alpine.

The jagged volcanic peaks of the North Cascades

We’ve hiked the two major routes through the park – The Frosty Mountain/Windy Joe loop, and the Skyline Trail, both taking us into different, but equally spectacular sections of the park.

Sunset near the top of Mount Frosty (2399m)

Hiking in Manning has given me a deep appreciation of the Cascades as a truly unique mountain range. The amount of yearly precipitation means glaciers are everywhere at higher elevations, and the valleys are thick with dense forests. The volcanic history of the area is evident in the dark rock that rises to jagged peaks. I would argue there’s no more colourful mountain range in the world.

The jagged peaks of Hozomeen Mountain along the Skyline Trail