The Dry Ridge Trail is one of the super easy mini walks you can do in Manning Park, Canada. It’d be a great place to stop if you are just driving through. We couldn’t see anything down in the valley, but although the clouds were thick when we arrived at the Cascade Lookout, by the time we left the trail we had seem some lovely peek-a-boo views of the mountains in Manning Park as well as plenty of wild critters.

We popped up here after our hike along the Lightning lakes Chain Trail as Marc and I still had a little energy before dinner. For this trip, we were travelling with Marc’s brother Tom, and his girlfriend Andreia. They were both a little tired after our 20km hike in the rain, so Marc and I went alone for this one. I wish we had badgered them to join us; This was easy, pretty aaaand we got to see bears!

The Dry Ridge Trail Map

The Dry Ridge Trail – The basics

Distance: 3km 
Elevation gain: 50m
Highest Point: 1700m (ish)
Time: 45 mins
What to bring:
Camera. You don’t need much it’s a short walk.
Facilities:
Not much. There is a car park at the cascade viewpoint. No loos.
Dogs:
Yes, on a lead.
How hard is it?
Easy. It may get your heart pumping, but it’s not hard.
Maps:
You can grab a free map from Manning Park Resort. We used the fantastic Manning Park Map from Clark Geomatics.

Cascade Lookout

You can drive all the way up to Cascade Lookout to see the amazing mountain views at the center of Manning Park. Or, you may not be able to see anything at all! We drove up and couldn’t see a single thing! Ah well. If you visit on a better day, you can use the sign below to learn all the names of the mountains.

Dry Ridge Trail – Getting Started

Once you’ve made it up to the Cascade Lookout it is pretty easy to find the Dry Ridge Trail. You can find the path to the left of the road. There is a sign, so you can’t miss it.

Alpine Flowers on the trail

There are soooo many alpine flowers on this trail! We saw a few large patches of glacier lilies but there were plenty of other things blooming in the springtime. Be careful to stay on the path so that you don’t trample anything.

Views through the clouds

I love mountain views, so although I was happy to see the flowers, I was even more happy when the clouds started to lift to give us glimpses of the surrounding scenery.

I think atmospheric views like this can be even more beautiful that mountains lit up by bright sunshine. Marc took quite a few photos, so at some point I might be able to add some of his to this post.

The Dry Ridge Trail Views

This is one of the fantastic views from the highpoint of the Dry Ridge Trail. Beautiful isn’t it?

The views were slowly improving, but we had to drive back down into the clouds to get back to the Manning Park lodge for dinner.

Bears of Manning Park

We saw soooo much wildlife on the short drive back to the lodge. There was a chipmunk next to our car, grouses running over the road, an even bears. Be careful not to drive to quickly there are quite a few switch backs along Blackwall road. We came around the bend just in time to see a mummy bear guide her two cubs across the road. I didn’t have my zoom lens out, but you can just about see them in the mist…

If you’d like to see all these epic views in the sunshine, my friend Shannon also wrote a post about this the Dry Ridge trail on her website, Must Hike Must Eat.