Southern Alberta Flood - Trail Updates July 8, 2013

More rain to the Kananaskis region has definitely hampered repair efforts, but some progress is being made, especially on Highway 40, where the road is now open to Wedge Pond. Most recreational areas however are still shut.

While the Delta Kananaskis remains open, the surrounding area is mostly still closed -- Mt. Kidd RV park, the golf course, the Evan-Thomas bike path and the majority of hiking trails and camping areas are close. The north Terrace Trail around the village was open, but we didn't venture out. The hotel itself is very very quiet for July.

Here is the official closure map for Kananaskis, including roads and campgrounds.

Some other updates:

Bragg Creek Provincial Park is now open. (as of July 1). The West Bragg Creek Recreational Area is open, but the vehicle bridge is out. (as of July 3)

In the Bow Valley area, Yamnuska day use is open, while Heart Creek day use and Wind Valley day use are closed. (Note: You can see from the highway Heart Creek day use isn't even accessible due to a rock slide across the road). Quaite Valley backcountry campground is also closed. (as of July 1).

Further updates to Bow Valley include Bow River, Bow Valley, Lac Des Arcs and Willow Rock Campgrounds (open), Grouse, Owl, and Elk Flats group use areas (open), Three Sisters campground (closed), Porcupine group use (closed), Barrier Dam, Gap Lake, Grotto Mountain and Lac Des Arcs day use (closed), Bow Valley admin office (closed).

Ha Ling Peak - June 22, 2008

Canmore - Ha Ling Peak. Trail Details: From Canmore, head west on the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Trail (Highway 742), past the Nordic Centre. Turn right into the Goat Creek Day Use parking lot. Trail begins across the highway.


When I first started hiking the thought of making it to the actual summit of a mountain in the Canadian Rockies seemed inconceivable. I had visions of climbing gear and ropes and hanging precariously from a sheer rock face with a valley far far below.

Truth be known, there are a quite a few trails in my part of the world that summit formidable mountains. They are far from easy, they usually involve hours of steep inclines, trekking poles and even some scrambling, but they're out there, and the average person can do them.

If I remember this summer's hiking for anything, it will be for the fact N, D and I hiked some of the highest trails in the region and summited a number of mountains I would have thought impossible.

Ha Ling Peak is an achievement for so many reasons. For starters, the hike begins at the base of the mountain, not after driving up half the mountain via a logging/forestry road (such as Moose Mountain). Second, it's such a visible mountain, towering over the town of Canmore along the Trans-Canada highway.

The mountain measures at 2407m/7897ft, which isn't that impressive by mountaineering/climbing standards, but the short trail (just under 3 km) means you're climbing over 700m in 3 km.

Ha Ling also has one of the more storied histories of the region. During Canmore's coal-mining days in the 1880s, a Chinese cook named Ha Ling won a bet after proving he could summit the mountain and return to camp in under 12 hours. The mountain was named Chinaman's Peak in his honour, though this wasn't made official until about a hundred years later. In 1997, due to the sensitivities of the name, the name was changed to Ha Ling Peak, but not without opposition from those who believed the historical name should stand. Personally, I like that the name reflects the actual person it's named for...

Amazingly, I went through my photos and I don't have a single shot of Ha Ling from a distance. Until then, rmbooks.com has some nice photos (plus a write up on the naming controversy) at Peaks of the Canadian Rockies.

Clearly, N and I had no idea what we were getting into.

As we loaded up in the parking lot, we spotted 3 mountain goats making their way down a fairly steep rock face on the other side of the highway. It was magnificent to watch them navigate down the rock, taking a path no human could hope to descend. As a hiker, I learned a lot just by watching these 3 beasts. They stood back and let their cohorts fully navigate the tricky areas before starting down, and they kept a certain distance from each other in case of falls. These guys look pretty mangy - it was June and they were still shedding their winter coats. ;-) (click the photo for a better view)



I guess the nice thing about steep trails is that you get instant payback. Ours came in the form of this Spray Valley vista:




Don't be fooled - the cloudy day was a blessing. No way could we have done that climb in direct sunlight.

I didn't take as many photos as I usually might. With the trail climbing up the west slope of the mountain, the view didn't vary that much. Also, Ha Ling Peak is an extremely popular trail, and despite our early start, there was seldom a time when there wasn't another group nearby. Every time we stopped, we'd need to step aside to let another 10-15 people by.

But the big thing was the wind. Once we got above the treeline, the wind was unbelievable. Anything not firmly attached had to be tied down, and walking along the scree meant enormous concentration to not lose balance. N and I complained so much about the wind that weeks later when my husband asked about the hike, he thought it was called "Howling Peak".

So photos weren't forefront on my mind.... until we got to this view at the top. That's Canmore down there, with Grotto Mountain in the background:



Looking south with the Goat Range in the distance and the edge of Rundle Mountain on the right side of the photo. If you look at the lower right corner, that's the type of terrain we were hiking for the windy part of the hike (and at that angle!). Just beyond the Goat Range is Sulphur Mountain, part of which is located in Banff:



Looking south from Ha Ling. This is the other half of Goat Range, with (I believe) the Sundance Range in the distance behind it:




The other memorable thing from this windy, steep hike? Hiking up took us about 2 hours. Hiking back down took us just as long. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat...

The bears are out there...

This crazy long weekend (for us anyway) seems like an excellent time to mention a fabulous site: Wildsmart.ca.

Wildsmart tracks wildlife sightings and movements throughout the Bow Valley (generally, the area from the East Banff Park gates to Yamnuska). While the site focuses on the bear activity in the area, there is also information on cougar sightings, kill sites and aggressive elk and moose.

For anyone hiking/camping/fishing/riding/whatever in the Bow Valley area, this site is essential.

It's also worth your while to stop by trailex.org, where outdoor enthusiasts can log any wildlife encounters they've had on the trail recently.

While the long weekend is coming to an end, the buffalo berries are still in season and the bears are coming lower in the valleys to get them (I read an article that said the berries are like "ice cream" to the bears). Pay extra close attention when out and about...

Grassi Lakes -- May 11, 2008

I was hoping for more practice with the camera I was testing, and Grassi Lakes seemed like a good choice. When you hike it in just the right light, the natural colours of the lakes are stunning.

Grassi Lakes is just outside of Canmore (close to the Nordic Centre), and right on the border to Banff National Park, so yeah, we were expecting to snow (thanks to the incredibly late thaw this season -- or have I whined about that enough?).

However, because the temps were consistently above freezing, the snow wasn't frozen, just incredibly slushy. I didn't think we'd been able to take the path that leads alongside falling water (too frozen), or the stone staircases (too slippy), but N suggested we give it a try and it was no problem at all.

Of course, there was still plenty of snow. I don't think anyone will be using this bench for a while:



The payoff, as always, was great. I got to try the camera out on a number of different things, including those amazing lake colours. These photos don't even begin to do the area justice. A short hike, but just what we were looking for.

Yamnuska -- March 15, 2008

After Sunday's gorgeous hike up Yamnuska, D and I thought we'd give it a try on Saturday. After all, a week of gorgeous weather could only mean the trails would be in ever *better* shape, right?

Not so much. Temperatures dropped below zero the night before (we even had snow in the city), and all the lovely melting snow solidified into the dreaded ice. Not to mention the weather that Saturday was bizarre.

The hike started out well enough -- it was early afternoon, and it had warmed up enough that all the mud at the lower part of the hike was positively mushy. It wasn't long before our Yak-Traks were caked in mud and sliding all over our shoes. Off they came.

Naturally, as trail got steeper, the snow became more and more prevalent, as did the ice. There was a stretch about 1/3 of the way up where I don't think we let go of the trees once, for fear of sliding back downhill. But once through there, we hit a bare (and dry) section that lasted the majority of the hike.

But the skies remained grey and overcast:




On Sunday, once N and I hit the treeline, or troubles appeared to be over -- the snow at the top was deep and crispy, typical March snow without any worry of ice. What a difference six days makes! D and I encountered even more ice as we approached the summit, and once again resorted to clinging to trees to navigate the icy patches.

This was a relatively bare patch near the treeline, can you spot the ice:



We're not ones to back down from a challenge, but about 10-15 minutes from the summit we decided to turn around for safety reasons. The approach to the rockface might be the steepest part of the climb. It wasn't as icy as some stretches down below, but thanks to the steeper incline, any footholds were much less secure and the white ice underneath the snow was treacherous.

It had already taken 2.5 hours to make it to this point... usually we're at the rockface in under 2 hours.

At the top, the sun was beating down on us, and it felt like it could be 7-8 C easily. Much different from the grey skies we saw on the way up the mountain. However, when the weather turned, it turned quickly. First the temperature of the wind seemed to drop by 10 degrees in minutes, and became very reminiscent of certain gusts down Portage Ave in Winnipeg. Strangely enough, the hike down seemed less icy (the ice had melted a little perhaps), and we made it through the extremely icy parts quickly. Just in time too... just after we made it past the last of the really bad ice, a snow storm came out of nowhere.



Weird.

We didn't make it to the rockface, but it's certainly a hike we won't be forgetting for a long time!

Yamnuska -- March 9, 2008

The weather here has been ridiculously warm. While the eastern part of the country (and continent) suffer through countless snowstorms and arctic temperatures, we've hardly seen any snow and the thermometer has only dipped to the truly chilly for a handful of days.

When it does snow, it's usually thick wet late spring type snow, which causes problems on its own through avalanches. Even the warm weather has its price.

I didn't appreciate the weather until my trip to Winnipeg. I just kept thinking it would end eventually and we'd go back to the cold -- this nice weather was just a tease. A weekend in Winnipeg made me appreciate the gift of chinooks and the unseasonably warm weather. This past week it's been warmer here than in Arkansas.

It was with this renewed enthusiasm N and I picked Yamnuska as our Sunday hike. Enough with the make-do hikes until the weather improves! The sun is shining, the snow exists only in tiny little patches, if at all. To the mountains!

This is the Yamnuska that greeted us in the first week of March. It's hard to believe:




The snow did deepen on the way up, though still not as much as we had expected. The real danger was the ice. As long as the sun was hitting the snow, it was nice and slushy and posed no problem, but once the snow was in the shade, the path would get much slicker. Going up the mountain was mostly fine. Coming down a few hours later was the tricky part.

N spotted this tree about mid-way up. It had split twice in the same spot, allowing it to bend rather than break. The split looked old too... this tree has just kept on growing:



View of the Bow Valley, with the "heart-shaped" pond front and centre. The pond actually leads to a river and from other angles looks nothing like a heart, but this is always a nice shot, especially when frozen over. The view is unbeatable already:




The Rockies from Yamnuska. Again, shouldn't there be more snow in early March?




Near the treeline the snow deepened, but again, it was thick and slushy and actually much easier to navigate than the slicker stuff further down the mountain. Even here, near the top, the snow never really got knee-deep unless it had drifted:




At the top. Still little to no snow. Definitely colder though, thanks to the ever-present wind:



The hike down was, well, interesting with all the ice. It might be the first time it took longer to hike down Yamnuska than up. But to hike Yamnuska in March? Totally worth it.

Heart Creek -- February 10, 2008

Sure, Heart Creek is only a 2.5km stroll one-way, but load it with at least a foot of snow and a cold day and it becomes a choice hike for a casual Sunday.

It was rumored the temperature was going to hit plus 4 in this part of the mountains, but it wasn't anywhere close to that when N and I got to the trailhead near Lac des Arcs. Thankfully there was little wind, but we bundled up and hit the trail, which for the first 20 minutes or so runs excitingly along the Trans-Canada highway, has a few inclines and views, and plenty of snow:




However, once it turns along the creek and into the canyon, everything changes for the better: the highway was left behind, the trail became a lot quieter and within a couple of minutes, the temperature seemed to jump by at least 5 degrees. Or that could have been from 20 minutes of shuffling through mid-calf deep snow (at times).

We encountered these ice climbers about 2/3s of the way through the hike -- the only other people we would see on the trail that day:



Heart Creek has lots of bridge crossings -- I believe the trail crosses the creek 7 times -- and the deeper we went into the canyon, the more creek was exposed, with the snow melting away and the clean, crisp (and probably very cold) water running underneath:



It's a short hike, but it was a nice wintery change from the usual winter hiking and still gave us some good exercise and great photos.

Culling Coyotes in Canmore, updated

I posted about the 3 children nipped by coyotes in Canmore a few weeks ago. At the time I commented that it was unusual for coyotes to attack kids, especially one as old as 13.

Well a couple of articles from local Canmore papers shed a lot more light in the situation. From the Rocky Mountain Outlook:

Wittner said the coyotes were not attacking the children, instead, the animals were likely begging for food.

"It was probably a 'please feed me', trying to encourage this person to drop some food. It's so atypical for a coyote to approach a person in the first place. So if they are doing it, it's a learned behaviour," she said.

The normally shy and secretive coyote learns that behaviour from people who are actively or inadvertently feeding them. Wittner said she knows of at least one person in Canmore who is feeding coyotes and she believes there are likely more doing the same.

From the Canmore Leader:

Wittner said residents are also more likely to see coyotes if they’re out walking their dog, more incentive to keep dogs on-leash.

“Coyotes are attracted to dogs, and see them as an intruder. That’s why they’ll come and check them out. They’ll leave people alone, but you’re more likely to see one if you have your dog.”

All of this makes a lot more sense than coyotes outright attacking humans. It's clear the kids were scared (as they should be) and parents have a right to keep their children safe. However instead of hunting down coyotes and killing them or creating barriers in the coyotes natural environment, maybe humans need to look at how their behavior is attracting the coyotes in the first place.

It blows me away that people are actually feeding coyotes. As the article points out, dealing with coyotes is similar to dealing with bears. If you knew someone who was purposely feeding bears, or elk, or wolves or even foxes, wouldn't you be irate? Then why would it be any different with coyotes?

Warnings

It's the time of year when warnings are everywhere, so I thought I'd pass a couple along:

The Kananaskis Country website has posted a cougar warning for the Canmore/Bow Valley Provincial Park area, particularly the Peaks of Grassi and Quarry Lake areas.

It's also not a bad idea to check out the avalanche warnings before heading out on any trail.

Finally, the Banff National Park website has some excellent warnings about hiking, skiing or boarding in the backcountry this time of year.

Seven bridges trail

Bow Valley - Heart Creek Trail - Trailhead is just off Highway 1 at Lac des Arc. One way trail, 4 km total (return). Little incline.
Kananaskis - Barrier Forestry Trail - Near Barrier Lake just off Highway 40 in Kananaskis. Look for signs leading to Colonel's Cabin historical site. All three loops are a total of 2.7 km.


Think about the Eagles song and the title makes sense. Really.

What a beautiful day for hiking! I had been bugging D to try out Heart Creek for a couple of weeks now. No real reason, I just wanted to do a hike that was near Lac des Arc, and Heart Creek is an early-spring hike that seemed easy enough, yet interesting.

The trailhead is immediately off the Trans-Canada (you can see the parking lot from the highway) and while this makes it easy to get to, it also means the initial part of the hike is marred by plenty of highway noise. After the first ten minutes or so, the hike veers away from the highway and into the creek. The scenery is still amazing -- this photo was taken from the parking lot at Heart Creek trailhead.

Heart Creek is an easy walk -- few inclines. It crosses the creek many times over the course of the trail and each bridge is a sturdy log bridge such as this one (ok, they're a lot wider than they look in this photo -- trust me!). Each crossing provides a great vantage point of where you're going and where you've been.

D and I dipped down creekside at one particular turn, right beside a huge rock wall. No photo could do the rock wall justice, but you'll know it when you see it. The day had started out grey and misty, but as we walked the sun started to come out, even while a little rain was falling. Inside the canyon, it was a calming yet energizing feeling, if you can have the same two feelings at once.

This photo is from the rock wall, looking North, the direction we'd come from. The skies were just clearing and everything on the trail smelled amazing. It's hard to believe we're maybe only 10 minutes from the highway. We spent a good deal of time at this corner of the trail -- taking photos, testing the water, just looking over the area in detail.

We'd gotten to the trail early enough there was not another soul around, which only added to the moment.

The rain had literally just stopped falling when the sun came out. Droplets were dangling from tree branches, leaves, pine cones, log bridges. I'm still getting used to the close-up feature on my digital camera, but this image came out ok.

Another bridge. I just couldn't believe the care put into building these crossings. Each bridge was sturdy and perfectly maintained.

And, of course... snow. In April I guess no hike is complete without some sort of snow sighting. Can't see it lingering the background against the canyon wall? Here it is a little closer:


There is a waterfall at the end of the trail, but it's hidden from view from the trail. There is a series of rocks one could scramble up, I suppose, if one had that ability. I would have tried to climb further, or make it up another way, but the rock face was way too slick from the rain. Without the proper equipment -- or dry shoes even -- it just wasn't safe.

At least that's what I keep telling myself. Ultimately this is a walk where the journey far outdid the payoff at the end. Those might be the best hikes anyway.

We spotted next to no wildlife on the way in or out, but this little creature did fly by us at one point, only to hide in the grass beside the path. He's tough to see in the first photo, but once he spread his wings...



From there we headed back to Kananaskis. My next bright idea was to do a quick hike to a viewpoint over Barrier Lake, but the gate blocked the access to the rec area and boat launch. 2k of walking on a paved road to do a 1k hike? Didn't really thrill me, so we moved on. Only after did I realize we could have hiked out through the boat launch area, but oh well.... the gate will be opened up on May 11, so we'll head back then.

Just down the road is the Barrier Forestry trails - a combination historical site and forestry education trail. The area was used as a POW camp during the Second World War, and some structures remain, despite going through multiple incarnations and sometimes multiple locations around Kananaskis. The Colonel's Cabin now acts as an information centre for the area. The tower also looks like it houses historical photos and relics. Both were closed when D and I were there.




The trail actually consists of three loops, one historical, one forestry, and one eco-system. The forestry and eco-system loops are actually the same loop -- when you hit the end of one loop you have the option to continue onto the next one, or loop back. The historical loop is a small loop at the beginning, and I hate to say, the most disappointing. After the two buildings, the trail sort of went off in multiple directions and you really only knew which path to take by looking for the next sign. The signs themselves were weather-beaten and some outright impossible to read. I know it's tough to keep up such things, but it was disappointing.

The forestry hike was better -- trail was clearer anyway -- but the signs were not terribly informative, the ones we could read anyway. Now, after the fact, I've found the University of Calgary has a document that goes along with the hike located here: http://www.kfs.ucalgary.ca/pdfs/TrailGuide.pdf. If you're super interested in forest cycles and management, then bring it along. Actually, I'll bet as a guided hike (for schools and such), the whole thing kicks-ass. I imagine there are a lot of things to point out.

D and I? Well, from the looks of it, we even missed the viewpoint of Mt. Baldy. But I did take this lovely photo from another viewpoint of Barrier Lake.



I forgot to mention the any colony right at the beginning of the hike! Definitely cool to watch. I didn't even notice the swarming stump until I started reading the sign and learned there were a few thousand ants crawling around right beside me. I noticed D started scratching as soon as he saw the colony! Clearly not for the squeamish, but I still got a couple of close-ups.



That was to be the end of our hiking in Kananaskis, but we made one last stop at the Barrier Lake Dam turn off. There was still some ice covered part of the lake, and I wanted a closer look. It seemed like the ice was floating on the water. I wanted to see how it all went together.


Sometimes those last minute stops are the most interesting. There's no real beach on this side of the lake, just rocks. But once in a while there would be a collection of ice crystals among the rocks.

When we got to the edge of the water, we saw why. The ice floating on the water wasn't one large sheet of ice, but thousands of little ice crystals, maybe 10 centimetres long at the most. Every time another wave came in (and it was *windy*) these crystals would shift and smash together and some would wash up on the beach. On the biggest waves it would all sound like breaking glass as those crystals smashed together. To be honest, I probably could have sat there and watched for hours (ok, maybe not in that wind).



From there we hit Kananaskis Village where we sampled some of the best desserts ever... but that's a whole other discussion.