Category: Uncategorized

The AWA headquarters was packed on Saturday, January 28 as it hosted the first event of 2017 put forth by the GDTA Outreach Committee:  Julia Lynx concert: A Benefit for the GDTA.

Julia Lynx thru-hiked the GDTA in 1996 with her partner Dustin, an experience that eventually evolved into a comprehensive guidebook that helped revive interest in the long distance trail and still is the definitive GDT resource used to this day.

The trail and mountain has inspired Julia’s work, which she generously shared with us on that evening.  Accompanied with friends and her daughter, Julia invited us to her living room to share her passion for the Great Divide and the outdoors.

Those in attendance were treated to not only an intimate concert but also some slides of the trail and the wonderful stories that go along with it. The vintage photos from Julia and Dustin’s hike twenty years ago were followed with another presentation from Julia’s daughter, Tenaya, who relayed the tale of a mountain hike she did with her dad while exploring for potential new routes on the trail.

Heath McCroy and daughter Léa joined Julia on stage and entertained the crowd to songs rendition that included, along with original composition from Julia, interpretation of pieces from Jack Johnson and Bob Dylan, among other. There was also a notable adaptation of the Robert Burns poem “My Heart’s in the Highlands” which Julia sang on the harmonium.

This was a great evening of folk music and trail stories, the perfect antidote to warm up those cold January nights. Great work from the GDTA Outreach Committee for planning and organizing this event, and many thanks to Julia and her cohort for being part of this successful evening and sharing their passion for the GDT dream with us.

If you would like to hear some of Julia’s music, her CD “Wild Patience” is available for order at http://www.julialynx.com/album/.

The next scheduled outreach event will be a talk Charlie Russell: Living and hiking with Grizzlies. The evening will also feature speaker Dustin Lynx who will kick off the evening by sharing some of his adventures on the Great Divide Trail and beyond. This not to be missed event will be held on Tuesday, March 21 at the John Dutton Theatre Library, 616 Macleod Trail SE. Get your ticket today on Eventbrite.

Online reservations for the 2017 hiking season for Jasper National Park’s backcountry campgrounds begin on Wednesday, January 25, 2016 at 8:00 am MST.

For more information, check out Jasper’s backcountry brochure.

New for 2017: Maligne Pass north

Hiking the Great Divide Trail this summer? It is now possible to book a site on the Maligne Pass route north of Maligne Pass. Note that this trail and the campgrounds along it are unmaintained, so carefully read the instructions on the reservation system.

Note that for the Miette Lake/Pass Trail, you must call the Jasper Trail Office (780-852-6177) for a random camping permit.

Reminder, Annual Wilderness Passes (backcountry camping permits) cost $68.70, but Parks Canada Discovery Passes are free in 2017!

Backpacker Magazine’s Long Trails edition awarded the Great Divide Trail the title of “Wildest Thru-Hike” – Check out the article by Ted Alvarez here.

Few blazes, fewer trail angels: Canada’s Great Divide Trail offers a rare chance to go back in time and experience the birth of a thru-hike.

To commemorate the 150^th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Parks Canada is offering 2017 Discovery Passes for free. For all of 2017 this pass gives visitors unlimited access to National Parks, National Marine Conservation Areas and National Historic Sites across the country. Note that campground fees are not included in the Discovery Pass. Go to the Parks Canada website for more information. 

Every year, horseback riders and hikers from around the world travel through the mountains on the Great Divide Trail behind the Robson Valley highway corridor.

“Fires made travel very difficult through a large section of the trail within Robson Park, so travellers were challenged navigating their way with downed burned timber – like a logger’s version of ‘pick-up-sticks’, boggy muskeg, and river crossings when the trail was elusive and impassable from bog, muskeg, or blow-down on either the east or west side of the Moose River,” explained Eileen MacDonald, Chair of the Robson Valley Chapter of the Backcountry Horsemen of BC (BCHBC).

This past summer, the Robson Valley Chapter of BCHBC, Mount Robson Provincial Park staff, and the Great Divide Trail Association, pooled resources and manpower to work on the GDT for a week from August 12 – 20.

By Fabian Kurte

The bachelor’s thesis is done. The certificate is still not printed but I am already dreaming about the wild North American Rocky Mountains. I want to get away; for a while at least. Experience some of the nicest backcountry, do it at my own pace. Soon I find out about the “big” trails. Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Appalachian Trail, but somehow those sound too worn out, too crowded, too developed and too long to be achievable during my summer break. Luck finds me reading a blog written by Erin “Wired” Saver and I am hooked. At this point, I don’t know if it’s just her good writing and pretty pictures, but I want the same wilderness experience she’s talking about on the Great Divide Trail in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Fabian making his way through the wilderness

I organize the most important parts or my trip and fly to San Francisco. I try to get the rest of my thru-hiking plans sorted while travelling through the US and grow more excited every day, telling people about my big summer plans. Unfortunately a lot of things go wrong. A friend of mine cannot join me as planned, the guide book is sold out, an ultra-light tent I ordered doesn’t arrive, some of the campgrounds I need to book are already full, the Canadian postal service is about to strike and then a knee injury interrupts my training. Staying positive, I see that the long-term weather forecast predicts a warm, dry summer thanks to El Nino.

Suddenly it’s my planned start day. I hitch-hike to Waterton and begin my adventure. I develop a routine as I fight my way north, up a hill, down a mountain, along a river and through valleys. The trail is versatile and every day something new overwhelms me whether it’s a staggering mountain view, a raging river or a meadow of gorgeous wildflowers. I meet many different people from those on horseback for a few days of backcountry adventure, to weekend hikers to a person hiking all the way to the Arctic Ocean. Even though I don’t know much about each person, I feel we are connected. This trail attracts special kinds of people looking for wilderness. I love this trail from the first to last day. The scenery, the wildlife, the trail itself, the solitude and the inspiring people I meet on the trail give me everything I had wanted in this summer.

Fabian and fellow thru-hikers meet up on the trail.

As a bonus to my thru-hike I was incredibly lucky the annual GDTA Signature Trail Maintenance Trip fit into my schedule! Along with 25 other volunteers, I spent five days in the backcountry building new trail, a first in thirty years for the GDTA! It was an extraordinary feeling taking part in this and after my time building trail with these people, I knew I belonged. I feel that this community is something you won’t find very often in your life. The work was hard but the food was amazing (and not just because I ate cereal, energy bars and pasta every day before). We had great talks and learned a lot about the trail and its history. After these days building trail, I continued on my thru-hike with a better understanding of how much work these guys put into the GDT to make it accessible for me and all the other crazy hikers. Thank you once again to all the volunteers and members at the GDTA!

The GDT wasn’t my first long backpacking trip, but there were still a lot of new things to learn and overcome. For example, I had never hiked in big carnivore country before. Hiking through grizzly bear territory gave me an unpleasant feeling but at the same time it also inspired me. Bears, wolves and cougars are part of the wilderness in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and walking in the tracks of these animals is one of the reasons why this hike is so special. I battled with these opposing thoughts often. When the trail disappeared or when I was standing in the mud up to my shins I would think, “why am I doing this?!” while at the same time thinking, “don’t complain, this is what you came for!”

Even though I had seen quite a few bears, I hadn’t run into any problems until the day I got to Aldridge Creek. I was hiking down the washed out creek, looking at this and that, whistling every now and then to warn the bears. Suddenly, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. A big grizzly bear was sitting about thirty metres away above me on the edge of a wash out eating berries. She had her back towards me and hadn’t noticed I was there.  My mind raced along with my heartbeat. Shall I make some noise? Shall I go back or just continue?

Grizzly Bear encounter is all a blur.

I was still standing in the middle of the creek when two little cubs appeared and I knew it was time to go. I walked quietly and quickly continuing downstream while grabbing my bear spray. Suddenly, the bear caught wind of my scent and freaked out. She blared loud and deep and sprinted to the very edge of the wash out. I was frozen in shock at how fast she was and how vulnerable I was standing in the creek. She reached the edge and carved her claws in the ground and stopped. Standing there she blared once again down the river in anger, looking to the left and right searching me out. She pushed herself onto her hind legs and put her nose in the wind. As her gaze moved in my direction, I felt that she became calmer. To my relief she dropped down, walked along the edge, looked at her cubs and decided to leave things be. Looking through my pictures later in my tent that evening, I realized how much fear had taken over. Every picture was completely blurred.

The rest of the trip wasn’t so frightening. I was surprised how fast the time went by and suddenly I was already hiking north of Jasper! The days grew cooler, a snowstorm on the Skyline Trail resulted in an emergency descent and then one morning while I was hiking through thick brush, I realized how brown everything was. Autumn had begun and it was time to go home.

I finished this wild and solitary section at one of the most scenic places on the trail, Berg Lake, in Mount Robson Provincial Park. As I left the GDT behind and walked down to the Highway, I was overwhelmed by the speed of life. Two days later, I was back in Germany caught up in the flow. With appointments to keep, forms to fill and studies returned to, I quite often wish I was back on the trail reveling in a pace of life determined by my own two feet in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

The Great Divide Trail Association’s Annual General Meeting will take place on September 26, 2016 at 7:00 pm at the Alberta Wilderness Association office in Calgary. Everyone is welcome and admission is free.

Join us for an evening with one of Alberta’s 50 most influential people, Kevin Van Tighem, as he shares thoughts from his book Heart Waters and explores what the view from the Great Divide Trail tells us about our land use choices and our water future. This illustrated talk will showcase the ways in which water drains from the Great Divide to the rivers below while exploring how better land use choices could protect against future droughts and floods while restoring trout streams, protecting wildlife habitat, and ensuring that the dramatic beauty of our headwaters landscapes enrich the lives of generations to come.

We welcome the public as well as our membership to take part in the formal portion of our Annual General Meeting agenda following the presentation. Meet the Great Divide Trail Association volunteers to learn more about their dedication to maintaining, protecting and promoting the GDT, and how you can get involved. Enjoy refreshments and good company as we make decisions regarding the future of this special wilderness trail.

RSVP to http://greatdividetrailassociationagm2016.eventbrite.ca

By Christine Smith

My love of the Great Divide Trail happened by chance. It was the winter of 2010 and Rich, my partner in all things great, bought me a book for Christmas. It was Emerson Sanford and Janice Sanford Beck’s Life of the Trail 1 Historic Hikes In Eastern Banff National Park. It was a habit we had that when we went to bed Rich would read to me.  I would lay there feeling the stresses of the day melting away, imagining what it would be like to hike the trails mentioned in the books, the vistas I would see, the mountains towering over me, the glaciers, the trees and wild flowers.

I would witness the birth of rivers at their headwaters as if I was the first one to discover them. Not to mention the wildlife! Perhaps encounters with the rarely seen caribou or mighty grizzly? I could almost feel the sun on my face, smell the fresh air and experience the complete silence enveloping me. Imagine, no city noise, no people, no day-to-day job stresses. I wondered what it would feel like to be truly free. What would it be like to have no  commitments, no responsibility to anyone but myself? What would it be like to walk the face of this earth like the early explorers to this area of the Canadian Rockies?

Once we finished the book, these dreams might have gently faded, but it just so happened that in the back of this book were other suggested readings, one of which was Dustin Lynx’s Hiking Canada’s Great Divide Trail. The words jumped out at me from the page, “Trekking the Continental divide from the US border to Kakwa Lake is a demanding adventure”. I hastily purchased the book at MEC and looked forward to a good read. The book it turned out was a trail guide consisting of detailed maps, trail descriptions, mileages, campground locations. “Hey!” I thought, “It looks like it is all laid out here for us”. It looked like the beginning of a plan.

It was the beginning of a great adventure culminating in our first attempted thru hike on Canada’s Great Divide Trail in 2012 and our second in 2015. Looking back now, I realize I had formulated a very romantic idea in my mind of what hiking this trail would be like. In reality, I can’t remember once singing “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” while twirling around on any of the mountain passes. However, for the most part all my expectations were met. I did see all the beauty of nature from the hanging glaciers on the Rockwall trail to the beautiful blue waters of Michelle Lakes. We pitched our tent in the midst of a field of wildflowers awaking to their bobbing heads. We stood on the highest pass of the Great Divide Trail in total silence where I gazed above the mountain tops, the valleys, and trees and I felt at that moment completely happy I was there; just being and existing in that moment. I even got to have that close up experience with a few grizzly bears as well. Perhaps too close.

Rich and I continue to plan new adventures. There are always new areas to explore and new challenges to meet on the GDT. All I know is when the Rockies are in view they call to me, “Come home!”

By Jen Peddlesden

The idea for this historical look into mountains named for WWI people and events was inspired by a book given to me by friends, Canmore and Kananaskis History Explorer by Ernie Lakusta. The centenary of WWI is an opportunity to look at this world changing event, and no doubt those people who were exploring our Rockies felt that its monumental effect on the world should be memorialized in stone — thus the many Kananaskis peaks of the British Military Group.  North of Mount Indefatigable, discussed in the Spring Pathfinder, along The Great Divide Trail you will see Mount Sir Douglas and Mount Birdwood, our Veteran Peaks discussed in this Summer edition.

Mount Sir Douglas, in the Spray Range, was named for Sir Douglas Haig.  This imposing peak, which you will encounter between the Palliser and North Kananaskis passes, is 3411 m. Haig, commander of the British forces in France from 1915 to 1918, was the 1^st Earl Haig of Bemersyde and the son of a wealthy Edinburgh distiller—his early advancement a result of patronage, and marriage to Queen Victoria’s maid of honour also helped! This mountain and Haig Glacier are named for a man who said ‘every position must be held to the last man…each one of us must fight to the end.’ And so they did. Under his command at the Battle of the Somme, 620,000 British and French men lost their lives. Haig’s ‘attack at all costs’ mentality was criticized by many, even by the British Prime Minister at the time, Lloyd-George.

The first ascent of Mount Sir Douglas was in 1919 when Dr. J W Hickson hired Ed Feuz, a local Swiss guide, to join him in the ascent. They navigated to the twin summits handily by 5pm and left two cairns on each summit which can still be seen from Palliser Pass today.  At the same time, another party, lead by Swiss guide Rudolph Aemmer, and including a colleague of Feuz’s, Val Fynn, was in the area hoping to be first to the top. Passing by the Aemmer/Fynn camp next day, Feuz commented to Fynn’s wife “I wonder why they didn’t go our way, where we went yesterday?” Feuz responded to the dumbfounded wife with a cheeky “Don’t worry, that ridge Rudolph and your husband are on will make a fine second ascent.”

Had Dr. Hickson and Feuz looked north from the twin summits, they would have seen a spectacular looking mountain perched along the Spray River Valley: Mount Birdwood. Ah, finally a name that conjures the picturesque and natural; however, it was named for Sir William Riddell Birdwood. Known as ‘Birdy,’ this British commander lead the Australian and New Zealand corps in WWI. The first ascent of the 3097 m peak was in July 1922 and led by a familiar name, Rudolph Aemmer. Near the top they reached a chimney with smooth sides and few handholds. After 7 ½ hours, Rudolph summited Mount Birdwood by standing on a fellow adventurers back, perching on his shoulders, and finally reaching the top with a supporting shove. Some times you just need that extra friendly push to go the distance on the Great Divide Trail!