Alberta's Land Use Plan - How To Get Involved

With the provincial election ramping up and the overdue land use agreement still in the works, there is no better time for hikers, cyclists and other recreational enthusiasts to educate themselves on the issues surrounding the areas we love to play in.

The Calgary Sun has an excellent look at the logging that is running practically unchecked in the West Kananaskis area in their piece City's playground faces trying time. Calgary MLA Dr. David Swann makes some surprising and disturbing comments about the province's logging plan.

CPAWS Calgary has also put together an excellent resource for Alberta voters to help each Albertan research the environmental issues and vote as green as possible. Make sure to stop by My Vote Is For The Environment. There's a lot of information to wade through here, but it's a real eye-opener.

Deer Ridge - August 6, 2007

Deer Ridge Loop - Trail Particulars: Trail is accessible from the Sibbald Lake Recreation Area (Just off Hwy 68), and shares part of the Eagle Hill trail. Loop is about 6.5 k and takes about 2-3 hours to complete. Moderate, except for one section of uphill that lasts about 1k.

The heat wave was finally breaking and not a moment too soon. N and I wanted a relatively short but new hike and picked Deer Ridge in the Sibbald area. It was right next to the Old Buck Loop trail. The nice thing about this area is despite the numerous trails and plenty of campgrounds in the area, we never seem to see other people out hiking.

The only word to describe the beginning of this hike is "wet". Fifteen minutes in, both N and I were soaked from the knees down, thanks to a very narrow trail running through waist high weeds and grasses. The trail is similar to Old Buck in that it starts off in a dew-filled field and winds its way around the nearby ridge. With Moose Pond immediately to our left, there was no shortage of moisture in this field.

Eventually the path splits away from the shared trail with the Eagle Hill trail. The trail comes to a junction (thankfully signed) and a gate. Going through the gate means continuing along Eagle Hill (popular with the cyclists). The Deer Ridge trail turns away from the gate, crosses a small bridge, and almost seems to double back the way it initially came.

After a short walk, the trail turns uphill. Be sure to keep an eye out for the orange diamond-shaped trail marker against a tree to your right -- the trail itself seems to disappear into the field and it's easy to miss the right turn uphill.

Some may wish they had missed it. This is by far the most difficult part of the trail, about 1 km of steep uphill climbing. It's a great workout for the legs though and totally worth the effort when you make it to the top.

At the top, look for a wooden bar (used as a place to hitch horses), as this marks the detour to the viewpoint.



At the viewpoint there is an assortment of rocks and surfaces to sit yourself down and enjoy the fruits of your labor, which is what N and I did. The previous shot was of the range to the west of the viewpoint. If you look straight down and a little to the south you get to see the amazing view of the river winding its way through the valley.



The hike down is uneventful, looping back on the opposite side of Moose Pond. One of my guide books indicated there were remnants of a structure from aboriginal sun dances, but we weren't able to see it. Late season flowers and berries were sprouting though, and I snapped a few photos.



Deer Ridge was a great view and that one hill gave us a good workout. This is an excellent short hike, but definitely not for those looking for a full day hike. And if you're hiking first thing in the morning -- prepare to get very wet!

Jumpingpound Creek - July 15, 2007

Jumpingpound Creek - July 1, 2007

My second trip around the Jumpingpound Creek was much different than the first. Then, back in early May, only a few signs of summer were poking through the dry brown that was still left over from winter. This time -- I think we managed to hit the trail at its peak.





It wasn't just the wildflowers that made the trail seem completely new -- it was the complete change in the environment of the trail. What had been a snowy view was now sunny and rocky. What had been dry and brown was lush and green:



Shot from a slightly different viewpoint back in May, but the same range:




Same part of the trail back in May:



Along the creek these sort of differences were less notable as the trail had been fairly damp and shaded for the majority of winter and spring, and the only real change was the repair of the broken bridge across one part of the creek. However, that humidity brought something different to the creek as well. This section of the hike was amazing, and this might be one of my favorite photos from July:

Old Buck Loop - June 23, 2007

Sibbald Flats - Old Buck Loop - Trail Particulars: From the Trans-Canada highway heading West from Calgary, take the Sibbald Flats turnoff (Highway 68 - Sibbald Creek Trail). Follow road to the Sibbald Viewpoint Recreation Area and turn into parking lot. Trail begins at viewpoint.

This might have been the last hike N and I got in before the big heat wave hit, and in that case, we picked a really good one. This short loop in Sibbald was virtually untouched -- it looked like no one else had taken the trail all season -- and it was lusher and greener than any other hike we'd done this summer.

Of course, it being tick season, that brought a whole new set of issues. A good chunk of the hike was through knee high grassy fields -- pretty much the last place you want to be when tick season starts.

But it was worth it.

We began our hike at the Sibbald Viewpoint overlooking Sibbald Flats. That would be the gorgeous view here (which looked much different a month later after weeks of scorching hot weather). From here the trail leads north, crosses highway 68, and leads to the Sibbald Forestry Exhibit trail. There are a couple of interpretive signs. The trail then leads to the campground. About 1 km in, a trail splits off to the north. That's the trail for Old Buck Loop.





Once you cross that bridge, it's long grass and a very narrow trail for some time. We went first thing in the morning and all the greenery was still very damp from the morning dew. After only a few minutes our pants and shoes were soaked. As with other trails, this path was extremely colourful with the first blush of spring flowers. Old Buck Loop ascends the side of Old Buck Mountain, but doesn't come close to reaching the peak. It climbs a side of it and provides a view towards Moose Mountain. So initially there is not much of a climb on the trail, but once the path turns NE (after winding NW for about 1 km), it's steady uphill for the next 1.5k or so.

Besides the views, there's plenty to see on this lush hike. As the trail ascends it crosses through what could only have once been a riverbed. There is no sign of water here (despite how damp the area feels), and the forest is surely taking the area back over, but it's clear water once cut a swath through many sections of this trail.
Sadly, the payoff is more the accomplishment of making it to the top than any real view. The trail itself doesn't climb high enough to provide any real views, and what is there is blocked by the trees. This is a trail for the solitude and greenery, not the view. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

As the trail descends, it returns to the more meadow-like path. This is actually a nice change from being in the forest -- the scenery is different, and there's a feeling like you're seeing something virtually untouched, something only a few people have been lucky enough to see.



This spot was fully enclosed by trees and hills and made this part of the hike seem very isolated and distant. Usually while hiking, you're looking so far off into the distance -- here you were forced to look right around you and it was very cool.

At this point, our trail also turned into a creek:



A marsh might actually be a better word, as the ground all around the trail was also saturated with water. It wasn't so much the water was running down the trail like on an earlier hike on Jumpingpound Creek. No, this was like the whole ground was soaked and you could only see the water on the trail because it was the lowest point and there was no grass covering it. Since our shoes were already soaked from the earlier part of the hike, N and I mucked through as gently as we could. Messiest hike yet!

Soon after, we were back at the beginning of the loop, just across the bridge from the earlier photo. Wanting just a little bit more of a hike, we treked along the main trail running alongside the Sibbald Lake campground until we reached Sibbald Lake itself.



Old Buck is great for isolation, and wildflowers. For hiking though, it leaves you wanting a little more of a workout and a little more of a payoff. It will likely be worth another loop in the fall, just to see the differences in the scenery.

Jumpingpound Creek

Sibbald Flats - Jumpingpound Trail - take Highway 1 West to the Sibbard Flats turnoff. Go about 16km on the dirt road until you get to the Pine Top day use area. Trail is about 10k for the full loop, but there is a trail that loops the back to the high way and essentially splits the loop in half.

Sibbald seemed like a good place for a hike. It got us out of the Elbow Valley, wasn't as far as Canmore or Banff and provided some nice, lengthy hikes. We picked Jumpingpound Creek loop since it was a lengthy loop, good for early spring hiking and hopefully would give us a little more workout than previous trails had.

Good to know us hikers rank high in the grand scheme of things... ;-) The trailhead is just beyond this sign, leading up the hill. The parking lot was closed at this point (this was back on May 5... I've been terribly lazy about updating), so we pulled over by the gates leading to the campground, across the street from this cattle sign.


In my mind, the hike was split into quarters. The first quarter was very much as you see here: lots of trees, hills and fields. The beginning of the hike there was a lot of space, little shade, evidence of plenty of gusty days and lots of blue sky above. What a gorgeous day.

The trail ascends steadily up a slight hill for the first 20 minutes or so. It's not intense enough to be a strenuous uphill climb, but over time we noticed how high we'd climbed.

Those looking for scenic vista payoffs are not going to find much to like about the Jumpingpound Creek loop. The trail peaks fairly early on and doesn't give much of a view of the mountains in the distance. This shot was about as good as it got, and it was within the first 20 minutes of the hike. Where the hike truly scores is the range of terrain and areas you find yourself in.

In that first quarter we found it remarkable that in a matter of seconds we could go from the white birch drier terrain to a mossy, green forest terrain in a matter of seconds, with a few meadow crossings thrown in for good measure. A couple of those meadows were already sprouting colourful wildflowers.




The paths were very dry for the first half of the hike, so it was a little surprising when this impromtu creek popped up right along the path. We couldn't establish where it came from -- the path got a little muddy at the top, had some pools of water a little further downhill and was running practically clear water about half way to the bottom. D took this very cool shot of what our trail had turned into.

The pseudo-creek ran along the path until the bottom of that particular hill and then found another way out. As we headed back up another hill, the path dried out again.


The second quarter of the hike was a lot more low-lying and green than the first. The area had a lot more moss and pine trees, and the ground was a lot muddier. Most of this part of the hike was shaded and there seemed to be less hills. Our first snow sighting was actually snow that was completely covering the creek bed. It was a warm day, but we were shaded enough and low enough that just being close to the snow was enough to make it feel like the temperature had dropped 10 degrees. It was a nice reprieve and tough to believe only five minutes before we'd been starting to cook in the sun.

The second quarter eventually climbed back uphill for one last view and then dropped down to cross the highway. The remainder of the hike didn't ascend or descend much more, and stayed close to the campground nearby. In fact, for a good chunk of the third quarter, the hike meandered through a dry field bordering along the forest. With the wind blowing and the long dry grass resting everywhere, the area looked like sand dunes if you squinted just a little.

The fourth quarter of the hike was a perfect way to wind up 10k. It drifed a little away from the campground and towards the creek -- remember Jumpingpound Creek? The name of the trail and all? It wasn't that little stream on the trail after all! Instead we now had the odd bridge and water crossing to contend with. It started out small, like this pretty little babbling brook here, but eventually became a bigger force to contend with.



Most of the creek was free of snow throughout the hike, but in some shady areas some snow would appear along the creek, and sometimes even the trail itself. But nowhere was the snow more impressive than this shady little area near the end of the fourth quarter of the hike. Thank goodness the bridge was resting on top of thick thick snow, or we might not have been able to cross. Even more impressive: the water from the melting snow was running overtop of the bridge. It was tough to take photos of without getting too close, but the water had carved canal-like paths through the snow. I'm not sure how passable this section will be in a few weeks. These shots are not nearly as impressive as the scene itself is, but it gives some idea of what it was like.

Eventually we left the creek behind - it met up with this body of water that flowed several hundred feet the trail for a good chunk of the last part of the hike. We frequently saw it from many beautiful vantage points, but never got anywhere close to it.

There was very little wildlife along the trail. While we saw few people on the actual trail (only one other person if memory serves), the area itself was popular, with a large family gathering at the campground that day. A rifle range is just down the road as well (we could hear some of the gunfire throughout the hike), so I imagine this is never going to be a great hike to see wildlife, but there was some evidence of animal life, like the log which had been carefully emptied out by some sort of little gnawing mouth. I nicknamed it the "Squirrel Condo".

All in all, a great hike with lots of different types of terrain and environments to see. The whole loop is about 10k and takes about 3 hours to complete.