2024 GDTA Trail Building and Maintenance Trips – The Great Divide Trail Association

Under the leadership of the Trail Building and Maintenance Committee (TBMC), Trip Leaders and Volunteers completed maintenance on many sections of the GDT, cleaned up and repaired facilities at campsites, and started building the new Erris Lake Trail. Over 5,390 dedicated field work hours were contributed by 123 enthusiastic volunteers.

June: The field season started at the end of June with two trips into the Blaeberry.

On the Collie Creek Alternate trip, crews trimmed and cleared 11 km of the historic trail, restored and repaired existing tread, and flagged access routes to Amiskwi Ridge alternate.
On the Blaeberry trip, crews improved temporary log bridges over both the Blaeberry River and Cairnes Creek. In addition, they cleared deadfall on the David Thompson Heritage Trail and repaired facilities at Lambe Creek campsite.

July: One of our busiest months ever – 8 trail maintenance trips.

Trail building started on the new Erris Lake Trail. Four trips were completed (Erris A-D); all had tread crews, three also had chainsaw crews, and two had student groups join for a few days. For these trips, a base camp was established at Fred Creek Bridge (the south end of the new trail). The side-by-side and trailer was used to transport equipment and gear from the Dutch Creek Parking area to base camp. Crews hiked from base camp to their work sites each day. In total 6km of trail was cleared by chainsaw/brusher, and 4 km of tread built.
The second annual women’s walking trip occurred in early July to maintain 35 km of the Original GDT. Extensive trail clearing, blazing, and a thorough assessment for backcountry campsites along the way were completed.
The Height of the Rockies trip cleared deadfall on both North Kananaskis Pass and along the Palliser River.
The Tornado Mountain trip re-routed and marked the trail up Tornado Saddle, repaired facilities at Dutch Creek campsite, and cleared trail around Dutch Creek Bridge.
Two bridges were replaced in the Hidden Creek area, as well as light trail clearing and enhanced signage.

August: August plans were impacted by wildfires burning across the GDT region. One trip in Section G was completed. Unfortunately, wildfires resulted in the cancellation of the planned Maligne Pass trip and the re-scheduling of the Colonel Creek trip to September.

The Sheep to Shale trip was able to go ahead as planned. The crew cleared 27 km of trail from Shale Pass to 2 km south of Casket Creek camp. The trail corridor was brushed, trimmed and cleared of deadfall and encroaching trees.

September: Great weather and cooler temperatures meant several more trail building trips could be completed before the end of the trail maintenance season.

Erris Lake Trail, Trip E took place in early September. The crew worked on scouting, routing, and flagging the area, and were able to cut the remaining trail corridor to within 450m of Erris Lake.
Colonel Creek trip was re-scheduled from August but was able to go ahead in September. Improvements were made to the Colonel Creek campsite and significant trail clearing was completed between Colonel Creek and Upright Creek. Scouting was also done for a possible future bridge over Upright Creek.

Despite the challenging conditions of wildfire and smoke, it was an incredibly successful summer. Huge thanks to all our volunteers and hard-working trip leaders!