New Willmore Wilderness Park Recreational Map
Mike Nash
Caledonia Ramblers
One of the largest protected wilderness areas in the Canadian Rockies is Alberta’s Willmore Wilderness Provincial Park bordering British Columbia between Mount Robson Provincial Park and Jasper National Park, north to Kakwa Provincial Park. To my knowledge there has never been a good backpacking field map of the park until now. Fording River Publishing describes their new product as “The first detailed map for the eastern half of Willmore Wilderness Park with more than 600 km of established trails and routes surveyed, making it the most accurate and comprehensive map available to date.” The map include 585 km of established trails, 57 km of cross-country routes including several ridge walks (a nice feature), over 100 campsites, ford locations (another great feature to have), detailed insert maps, access trails, and more. The topographic map is printed on both sides of waterproof, tear-resistant paper at a 1:65,000 scale. Available direct from the publisher at Fording River, it cost me $30 with postage and tax on top of the $25 base price, and arrived in just three days. At first glance, it appears to be an excellent resource for anyone planning a backpacking trip into the park.
For an independent review of the map by someone who is very familiar with the Willmore Wilderness, check out Martyupnorth’s latest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za3TOUC5nkk. For a glimpse of the western edge of the Willmore Wilderness, see this retrospective look at my 1994 trek from Mount Holmes, just north of McBride, to Mount Robson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9er0sjZ1ht0.