Southern Alberta Flood - Trail Update June 27, 2013

Unless you've been living under a rock (or perhaps outside of Canada), you'll know that the worst flooding in the recorded history of the region occurred on June 20-22, 2013. As a result, the mountains, recreational areas, roads, and rivers are a mess. Bridges are gone, campgrounds are flooded and trails are washed out.

In the grand scheme of things, personal property and major road repairs must take first priority. Getting cities, towns and hamlets safe and habitable again is key to rebuilding. Knowing this, it could take some time before attention is turned to the rehabilitation of our recreational areas.

So where can we go while we rebuild? With so many different regions, it can be tough to keep track of what's open to the public. Here's a quick reference for this moment in time:

Banff National Park updated their trail report on June 26, 2013.

In summary, Sulphur Mountain and Tunnel Mountain are pretty much your only in town options, with Bow River/Hoodoo listed as Fair/Poor. All other trails, such as Fenland, Goat Creek, etc, are closed.

Lake Minnewanka Loop Drive is closed.

The popular Johnston Canyon and Castle Lookout trails are closed, while other trails further up the highway are open but muddy.

Lake Louise and area escaped the worst of the flooding, but are still wet. In fact many trails still list snow as your greatest obstacle. Remember that during the heat wave next week.

In Kanananskis, one of the hardest hit areas, there are even less options. Road closures, bridge washouts, and mudslides are extensive. It might be helpful to look at the closed areas first.

Canmore Nordic Centre is open for use! (as of June 27). Some trails wet and muddy with natural hazards. Highway 742 (Spray Lakes) is closed at the Grassi Lakes turnoff.

Bow Valley Provincial Park (as of 2:15, June 27) (too many to list, click link for details -- news is cautiously optimistic)

Spray Valley Provincial Park is closed due to access and flooding.

Cataract Creek is closed due to access and flooding.

Elbow Valley - The highway is closed at either the Bragg Creek turnoff or MacLean Creek depending on which web site you visit. The bridge right before Allen Bill Pond was washed out, so MacLean Creek is the furthest you can go. This impacts the Elbow Falls rec area, as well as the Beaver Flats campground. Paddy's Flats Group use and River Cove Groups use are also closed. Little Elbow is closed. MacLean Creek campground is open, with limited services, no power, water, or sewage disposal. The store will be open, but on generator.

Peter Lougheed Park is completely closed. Click the link for the affected areas.

Sheep River. Bluerock is closed, Sandy McNabb is open.

Lower Kananaskis River. Many of the day use areas shut down. The slalom course was destroyed and washed out in the flood, creating a very messy situation in the area.

I did not see a trail report for Highwood area, but the footage online shows the damage to be quite extensive in the region.

I'll do my best to update as more information becomes available. Make sure to also follow on Twitter (@hiphiker).

Chester Lake - Snowshoeing - February 7, 2010 - From the Archives

With 10-20 cm dumping in the city, and so much more white stuff falling in the mountains (Burstall Pass had over 25 cm base before this most recent storm even hit!), it's time to start dreaming about snowshoeing! While there's still not enough of a base in the mountains for winter recreation yet (and it's still expected to be a snowless Halloween in the city -- with temperatures back up to 9C by the weekend), something about that first real snow fall always seems to get the winter enthusiasts drooling.

So to get through this transition, I thought we'd look back on a snowshoeing favorite... Chester Lake...

Even at the trailhead... deep snow goodness!

Heavy, wet, sloppy late winter/spring snow. It was still hanging in the trees, rounded off and thick.

Pure sunlight and blue sky in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. Perfect day!

 It wasn't quite hoar frost, but something else...spiky, well defined ice crystals clung to the trees...

Damn.

And it was all over our poor frozen snowshoer too.

More ice. More crystals.

At Chester Lake. I'm not even sure the walking stick hit bottom.

Mushroom tree!

Chester Lake -- September 12, 2009

Strangely enough, I'd only ever hiked the Chester Lake trail when it was fully engulfed in winter -- deep snow, lake frozen over, icicles dripping from trees. So when Dave suggested a fall hike, I jumped at the chance to see such a beautiful place without the usual white touches.

My first real education was midway through the hike. A meadow type plateau on the hike that I'd always assumed was windswept, causing drifts that piled into hills:



Those little hills are actually the ground itself!



Equally awe-inspiring in fall:







I can never get over the colours of fall:





The layers of time.



Finally got to see Chester Lake in its unfrozen glory. We were among the last on the trail this day, and got to see the lake in a calm state, only the odd splash from the fish:





So calm, it was easy to catch the reflection of the mountains surrounding it:





Looking forward to visiting this special place in spring....

Lower Kananaskis Lake - February 28, 2009

Not wanting limit our snowshoeing treks to only Highway 40, Dave and I decided to try a short but hopefully scenic route along the Lower Kananaskis Lake. This trail is also located in that deep snow haven, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park.

Trailhead. Oh yeah, we made the right call:



The trailhead sign marker and map were almost overcome by snow... it's easy to see why this is such a favorite area for winter sports:



Beautiful:



Eventually the trail leads along the lake for a nice leisurely look at all the frozen water out there:



It was a pleasant winter day -- it was easy to see there had been a lot of warming and cooling. Many of the trees along the lake had mini icicles dangling from them.... almost like nature's Christmas decorations:



The loop turned around in a small meadow right off the highway... one lone snow-shoer among all that scenery:



Heading back along the lake's edge, we could see the impact of the thawing and freezing cycle on the lake... bigger blocks of ice were being pushed right up onto the banks:



We couldn't have asked for a better winter day. We'll be back.

Highway 40 -- February 22, 2009

Peter Lougheed Provincial Park is a cross-country skier's destination in winter, but us snowshoers can sneak in a trail or two as well. It's less than courteous to snowshoe in the tracks laid down for the skiers, so a few trails have been set aside for us mere snowshoers.

Sometimes even the closed and gated Highway 40 will do.

Highway is closed 6 months out of the year. While most other highways in the area re-open mid-May, we need to wait until June to access sites like Highwood Pass. When you see the amount of snow still there at the end of June you understand why the highway is closed half the year.

Looking back toward the closed highway:



Snowshoeing along the highway lets you take a good look at the scenery you zip past in the summer:



Turning onto a side road:







Amazing:



Heading back to the car:

Snowshoeing in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park (RED trail) - February 8, 2009

First time snowshoeing since our guided tour in Kimberley, BC a couple of weeks prior. Path finding is so much different in snow, especially for random snowshoe trails, but it was worth it:

Rawson Lake -- January 18, 2009

Rawson Lake at the height of winter. Another one of those hikes I'd heard so much about, but never got around to doing thanks to the crowds in the summer, long drive, whatever other reasoning I could think of.

This was where Nat and I had attempted a few weeks back as we hiked along Upper Kananaskis Lake and were turned back by treacherous ice on the trail.

Hopefully in the thick of winter, there would be a lot more snow, a lot less ice.

We couldn't have been more right.

Even the day started better -- clear blue skies and a calm day, unlike our previous journey. The lake looked a lot more inviting -- even when snow-covered:



A recent frost gave everything a "fuzzy" look. Most fascinating was this lakeside bench:





The lake has long since frozen over, however, chunks of ice were pushing out of the lake. Like this beast, a lot of them had this amazing blue tinge:



Some parts never freeze over.... and the view of the Rockies was superb.





The path eventually turns away from the lake and into the forest. Neither Nat or I had ever hiked this trail before, but it seemed like not only we were getting higher.... then snow was getting that much deeper. This fallen tree was a thick, mature tree when it fell... and its trunk is still dwarfed by the snow covering it:



Only as we approached Rawson Lake did we get an idea of how deep the snow was. This fishing sign would normally stand at about chest height of the average man:



Off trail, the snow was deep, but very very loose, unlike the heavy packed snow on the trail. I stuck my poles into the snow to take a photo of the lake, only to have them sink almost all the way in:



Worth it: