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Skyline Trail: 3 stages and when to book

The most famous backpacking trip in the Canadian Rockies: 45 km from Maligne Lake over the Notch to the Signal trailhead, with more than half of it above the trees. Six reservation-only campgrounds, food lockers, grizzly country, and an alpine ridge walk - the Amber Mountain skyline - that gives the trail its name. Booked out from January; walked from July.

3 days45 km2,256 m of climbinghighest point 2,549 mhard

Start: Maligne Lake. Finish: Signal trailhead.

The 3 stages

DayStageDistanceClimb
1Maligne Lake → Snowbowl12 km762 m
2Snowbowl → Tekarra18.8 km1,145 m
3Tekarra → Signal trailhead14.2 km349 m

OSM’s relation for the trail is incomplete, so the line is the corridor’s named Skyline Trail ways plus the Signal fire road, chained and cut at Parks Canada’s campground itinerary; every stage measures within 5% of the published figure. Elevation is a terrain model, and nobody has walked this line for the app.

Book these first

A backcountry camping permit is mandatory for every overnight trip; it is the campsite reservation.

Reservations open in January on a rolling basis, and the Skyline’s campgrounds are among the first in Jasper to go for July and August.

Six campgrounds on the trail: Evelyn Creek (4 sites), Little Shovel (8), Snowbowl (8), Curator (8), Tekarra (8), Signal (4). All have barrel toilets and food lockers; campfires are prohibited everywhere.

When to go

Parks Canada: the trail can typically only be hiked between early July and early October, snow can fall at any time of year, and the Notch can be impassable early in the season. Reservations open in January and the summer weekends go fast.

Skyline Trail in Treksup

Skyline Trail is a paid route in Treksup: its full plan, with every stage, water, where to sleep and weekly trail conditions, comes with the paid tier. 7 routes are open in full for free.

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Page updated 30 September 2026.