Jasper National Park’s Tonquin Valley Trail is known as one of the most scenic backcountry paths in the Canadian Rockies. The trail also has a reputation for being a muddy mess full of mosquitos. While the rain kept the latter at bay during the majority of our traverse, we had plenty of mud and muck…

I can best sum up the 27.5-mile adventure of hiking the Tonquin Valley Trail in two words—muddy and gorgeous. The views found on this trail are some of the most amazing in Alberta, Canada’s Jasper National Park. The highly glaciated, jagged peaks of the Rampart Mountain Range drain into the massive Amethyst Lake. The downside…