The Highwood Valley

Sat. 14 May:  The Highwood Valley

Imagine having, on a sunny Spring Saturday, to yourself, an entire valley, complete with a modern highway closed to traffic, a swiftly flowing river running through the valley, snow-free foothills rising enticingly above it, and framed all around by jagged snowy mountain peaks – to say nothing of the wildlife running about all over the place.  Too good to be true?  Not if you come to the Highwood Valley in the Eastern Slopes of Alberta in May.  Today was such a day for me - yet another in a long line of memorable experiences.

Thursday May 12th marked the opening of the camping season in Alberta, with a couple of campsites opening up.  One of these was Etherington Creek, on the forestry road south of the Highwood Junction.  I was surprised it was open so early, given all the snow still lying around.  But I took a chance, and after work on the Friday I drove south to Longview, where I turned west into the Highwood Valley.  The road was almost empty.  The mix of fields full of cattle, with a backdrop of dramatic snowy mountains, was spectacular.  

Arriving at Etherington Creek I found the campsite was indeed open, although empty apart from a couple of other campers.  When I met the custodian later, a friendly middle aged Quebecer, he told me that they had a bob-cat in there a few days ago, to clear all the sites.  As a result, each campsite, although useable, was ringed by snow drifts.

I set up the tent and settled for an early night.  As the light faded, the temperatures dropped quickly under clearing skies, and I was glad of my warm sleeping bag and extra blanket.

Up early the next morning, I drove the short distance back down the forestry road and parked at the winter gate on the Highwood Road.  All the snow had melted on the road, and on the lower slopes of Junction Hill – quite a contrast from only three weeks ago when I tackled the wintry Bull Creek Hills just down the road from here.  

I had chosen my hybrid road bike for this trip, which proved to be a good choice.  My plan was to bike northwards up the road towards the distant Highwood Pass – highest point on a paved road in Canada – and then perhaps to go hiking in the Cat Creek Hills.  I knew that snow would still be lying on the road higher up the Pass, and I was curious to see how far I could get today.

As it turned out, I was able to bike just over fifteen kilometers up the valley until, at a high point between Lineham and Lantern Creeks, I was faced by total snow cover.  It was a pleasant ride, with plenty of deer grazing by, or on, the road, and early morning clouds clearing away from the mountain peaks.  It was a photographer’s paradise.  And I had it to myself.  The silence was broken only by the distant sound of the woodpecker and the wind in the treetops.

Turning around at the point where the snow still lay on the road, I whizzed back as far as Cat Creek, where I parked my bike in the picnic shelter, changed from biking to hiking gear, and set out onto one of my favourite trails in Alberta.  Crossing over Cat Creek, I headed east along the old roadway, now a grassy trail, into the Cat Creek Hills.  At the point where the road used to cross Cat Creek, I turned up onto the hillside, onto a long disused mine/logging trail.  

From here the views were more and more spectacular, as I rose up above the forests, onto the open hillsides.  The bare trees still allowed the ideal views.  The main feature was the Elk Range of jagged peaks to the west, and the Highwood Range to the east.  After negotiating a snowy section in the forest, the snow now soft and melting rapidly, I turned directly up onto the open slopes of the Cat Creek Hills. 

These are the perfect hiking hills, not only for the views they give, but for the interesting outcrops and ridges, as well as all the deer which winter here – and leave their droppings all over the hillsides.  I did not try to reach the highest point in the range, but was happy to make the high viewpoint which is visible from the road below.  From here the views were fabulous, down into the valley, across to the Elk Range, and north to the spectacular jagged outline of Mist Mountain (10,302 ft.) – which I climbed many years ago!

The return down the steep slopes and back through the forests was a pure delight.  This would be the perfect trip for a newcomer to the Rockies.

Back at Cat Creek, I saw the occasional bikers speed by, as I relaxed by the edge of the Highwood River, already racing past, and probably too dangerous to try and cross.

By now a strong southeasterly wind was blowing.  It had tried to catch my baseball cap on the ridge top, but I had it anchored to a length of string so instead it just flew behind me like a kite!

It didn’t take me long to bike back down the road to the car, where it surprised me to learn that I had been out in this magical countryside for almost seven hours.  I could have stayed much longer.  After packing up my campsite, and relaxing in the warm sunshine, I returned on peaceful roads to the city.  Finally the fields are showing some green, and the country is coming alive as if someone has suddenly switched the land from black and white to colour.  And I didn’t need either my long underwear or my snow shoes today!

 

Statistics
The Highwood Valley
Sat. 14 May
Total Dist.	31 km (bike)   +   6 km (hike)   = 37 km
Height Gain	1,630 ft.
Max. Elev.	6,230 ft.
Time	6 hrs. 54 mins.

Other Stats.
Start bike:       7.32 am Cat Creek:       8.06 am Turn around:  9.18 am Cat Creek:     10.16 am Start hike:     10.30 am Top:              12.12 pm Cat Creek:      1.29 pm Ret. to car:      2.26 pm	Temp.+5 to + 16 deg. C Cloudless all day, with a south-easterly wind Ht. gain (bike):  600 ft. Ht. gain (hike):1030 ft.

Signs of Spring?

Fri. 6 May:  The Sheep Valley Road

Winter was still alive at the far end of the Sheep Valley road.   Luckily, further east down the valley, there were some early signs of Spring.  The most obvious sign was that the road was now bikeable beyond the winter gate.  This was good news, since the gate, closed since last December, is due to open in just over a week from today, and I really enjoy having the valley to myself before it is invaded by vehicles.

I set out up the road on my mountain bike, but carrying my snow-shoes, as I knew there would very likely be a lot more snow further west.  It was a leisurely journey up the Sheep Valley, on a cool morning.  The forecast was for showers in the afternoon, but some sunshine and cloud in the morning. 

It felt like a cold March day in the Scottish Highlands, with very little hint of Spring.  There were sections of road which were still partly snow covered, and the trees were still entirely bare.  Not far from the start, near the Foran Grade Ridge trail, I spotted a moose, lurking in the trees beside the road.  He was standing still and silent, trying to look invisible I suppose.  My photos came out blurry because of the trees and branches half hiding him.

Passing the foot of Windy Point Ridge, I negotiated several fallen rocks on the road.  Since the snow must have only just melted off the road surface, nobody had had a chance yet to come and clear the road.  Later, as I was biking back down the valley, a grader was making its way westwards most likely to take care of these rocks.  It is at this point where the Sheep River runs through a deep canyon.  There are some very dangerous slopes here which drop away steeply down to the river.

As one travels west along the valley, the views of the Front Ranges dominate the western horizon.  There are several good viewpoints along the road.  After about nine kilometers, I reached the abandoned ranger’s cabin and the two barns across the road.  It is sad that they are letting these buildings fall into disrepair.  In a few years they will be ruins. 

Just past the junction of the Gorge Creek Trail, the road drops steeply down to Gorge Creek, and then just as steeply up the other side.  I was surprised to see a white van parked below the University of Calgary buildings.  Just up the hill I came upon two warmly dressed women sitting in a meadow on two high wooden seats, facing each other, recording the habits of the ground squirrels!    A little further up the road was another van with a man scouting other ground squirrel sites.  The vans were from the University of Sherbrooke, Quebec.  These researchers have keys to the winter gate.

Continuing westwards along the valley, I found more snow on the road, with one set of vehicle tracks through the snow.  Later, around Indian Oils, the tracks stopped and the snow completely covered the surface.  Here I left my bike behind and continued up the road on my snow-shoes.

For the next couple of kilometers I was taking off and then putting on my ’shoes as the surface was alternately snow covered then bare.  Nobody had been along here for several months, I guessed, and I was alert to the presence of bears.  It was here last year, just up the Indian Oils trail, that I came upon a mother black bear with cubs.  But apart from some white-tailed deer I saw no signs of other animals.  

But I enjoyed the antics of a woodpecker with a very bright red plumage.  He was sitting on a post which carried a diamond shaped metal road sign, and was bashing away with his beak on the sign, making quite a racket.  It seemed he was communicating with a distant woodpecker, and given the volume, he deserved to find a good mate this year!

Finally as the spectacular peaks of Gibraltar Mountain (8,743 ft.) and Mt. Burns (9,633 ft.) came into view, just past the Bluerock campsite, I turned around.  The road ended a few hundred metres ahead, but this seemed a good place to stop.  To my left, the waters of the Sheep River were flowing freely between snowy banks.  I stopped at the gate to the campsite.  The snow still lay deep around here, and it would be several weeks yet until anyone could camp up here, even though the camping season officially opens next weekend.

The final three kilometers had been accomplished with a mixture of MICROspikes and snow-shoes, or just hiking boots on the bare sections.  There will need to be a couple more weeks of warm sunshine to allow anyone to drive to the end of the road.

By now, some clouds were starting to build up, and I kept an eye on the weather, knowing that showers were forecast for the afternoon.  The return journey was, not surprisingly, quicker, as I headed back down the valley in an easterly direction.  This road gives one a good workout as there are uphill and downhill stretches in both directions.  By the time that I had returned to the viewpoint below Windy Point Ridge, high above the river, showers were sweeping across the mountains and heading up the valley.  But I stayed dry, whizzing down the final straight stretch to the winter gate.

There is still a lot of construction activity at the Sandy McNabb campsite although it is meant to open next week.  Whatever they have been doing in there must have been spectacular, as they have been working on it for the past year.

As I drove back into the city, the rain showers were rapidly obscuring the mountains.  I had made a good decision to make an early start.  But would this be my very last snow-shoe trip of the long winter?

Statistics
Sheep Valley Road
Fri. 6 May
Total Dist.	30 km (bike)   +   4 km (hike)   +   2 km (‘shoe)  = 36 km
Height Gain	560 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,250 ft.
Time	4 hrs. 55 mins.

Other Stats.
Start bike:       7.14 am Gorge Ck Jn:   8.29 am Park bike:       9.24 am End of road:  10.02 am Back at bike: 10.32 am Gorge Ck Jn: 11.10 am Ret. to car:    12.09 pm Up:       2 hrs. 48 mins. Back:     2 hrs. 7 mins.	Temp. 0 to + 9 deg. C Cloudy, plenty of sunshine => clouds building up (showers looked certain for later in afternoon).  Cool start to trip.

Looking Back

January 10, 2011:

The Passionate Hiker is taking this first part of January to finish off his outdoor diary for 2010. It runs to 394 pages and will go to the printers this week. In the meantime he is making a list of outdoor adventures for 2011 and will soon be out there again - so stand by!









For anyone interested, here is an extract from the summary of my 2010 diary:

2010 Statistics

Distance: 1,099 km, broken down as follows:

• 626 km (hike) +
  
• 321 km (bike) +


• 75 km (cross-country ski) +


• 77 km (snow shoe)
  

Height Gain: 94,428 ft. (28,782 m)

Highest Point: 8,415 ft. (2,565 m)

Time on the Trail: 300 hours

Nights camped: 19

The Year of the Fire Lookout

In 2010, I decided to make my main focus the fire lookouts of the Canadian Rockies. This was inspired by my finding, in 2009, a guide book on this subject. As I started to read it, I became intrigued by the challenge of how to reach some of these remote places. It seemed a perfect combination: a well-graded trail leading to a hilltop with a good view, and often someone to chat to when you got there.

In past years, I had already travelled to some of these lookouts, but this past year I explored a lot more of them. Not that all my hikes involved fire lookouts. Far from it. I enjoyed many other adventures this year, into some well-known and much lesser known corners of the Canadian Rockies.

My goals for the year were to try and get out every weekend of the hiking season either to hike or to mountain bike (or a combination of both) somewhere in the Rocky Mountains and Foothills, or occasionally within Calgary itself. In the winter I would cross-country ski or snowshoe somewhere.

At the start of the year I developed a listing of the places I wanted to visit, and the details of how to get there, trail length, elevation gain, and so on. By the end of the year I had accomplished a large portion of the list.

Although, as in 2009, I did most of these trips alone, I did have some company this year on a few of my journeys, which added to the enjoyment. It was not my plan always to travel alone, but that’s the way things generally worked out, and I enjoyed every minute of it all.


Areas Explored

My adventures this past year spanned a wider field than in 2009. Many of the fire lookouts are in remote corners of the Rocky Mountain foothills and in the various mountain ranges. As a result, I traveled south almost to the US border, north to the foothills beyond Nordegg on the David Thompson Highway, and west into the Columbia Valley of B.C.

I made full use of my National Parks pass with several trips to Banff Park in Alberta, and to Yoho and Kootenay Parks in B.C. Of course I was a frequent visitor to most corners of Kananaskis Country west of Calgary. And when I wanted a change, I made good use of the pathways of the City of Calgary.

2010 Statistical Highlights

Here are some of the statistical “peaks” for the year:

Highest Point: The highest point reached all year was the rocky 8,415 ft. Paget Peak, in Yoho National Park, B.C. on September 10th.

Greatest Height Gain: The greatest height gain in one hike was 3720 ft. on my exciting trip up to Tocher Ridge fire lookout, also in Yoho National Park, on August 14th.

Longest Single Day Trip: The greatest distance achieved in one single day was on September 25th, when I traveled 61.5 km in making the circuit of first Mt. Rundle by bike and then Sulphur Mountain on foot.

Other Memorable Statistics:
On one sunny day in late June, I traveled 41.6 km by bike and on foot up Flat Creek and onto High Rock Ridge, climbing 2841 vertical feet.
My August trip up to Tocher Ridge fire lookout involved 36.6 km and gain of 3720 ft. in one busy day by bike and on foot.
And my three day epic adventure to Forgetmenot Mountain involved a combined bike/hike of 58.8 km and a gain of 2490 ft.


Comparing 2010 with 2009

However impossible it seemed at the end of 2009 that I might ever have another year like it, in 2010 I have exceeded most of the 2009 statistics.

And now, in two years, I have traveled over 2,000 km, with a height gain of an equivalent five and a half Mount Everests (from sea level), and have camped out for 41 nights.


Highlights of 2010 Adventures

It is always hard to pick out just a few highlights from such a crowded year, but here are some which stand out in my mind:

- Discovering the challenges and the enjoyment of exploring fire lookout trails
- Finally running into a bear, on Indian Oils Trail in the Sheep River area, and having to retreat as gracefully as possible given that the bear was coming down the trail towards me.
- Adding MICROspikes and snow shoes to my hiking arsenal, and as a result, opening up the winter months to some serious adventures on steep and icy trails.
- Having the comfort of the SPOT emergency GPS system, and not having to use it except to let L know I was safely off the hill.
- Showing my godson Joe, from England, some of my favorite corners of the Rocky Mountains.
- Hiking up the Windy Peak Hills with my 70+ year old cousin PT from Leeds, into a sea of wildflowers and butterflies.
- Successfully figuring out the way to the summit of Forgetmenot Mountain, and surviving an August snow storm at lonely Wildhorse campsite.
- Seeing the wild horses which gave their name to this remote valley
- Finding new corners of familiar foothill country to explore.
- Losing, then finding two weeks later, at the second attempt, my snow shoes on the steep slopes of Junction Hill in the Highwood.
- Discovering the wide, open ridges of the Whaleback region of Southern Alberta, and a huge bear paw print in the mud.
- Crossing fast-flowing rivers safely.
- Whizzing at great speed down the new Legacy bike trail from Banff to Canmore alongside the busy Trans-Canada Highway.
- The silence of the Highwood valley beyond the winter gate, before the road opened in June.
- And many more wonderful memories


Looking Ahead

I wrote last year that I do all these trips for two reasons: because I enjoy doing it (what better reason?), and because it might make a good read for someone in the future.

Next year I will be sixty, whatever that may mean to my current pace of adventures. When I was a teenager hiking in Scotland, someone told me about the old Glaswegian, whom you might see on the hill any weekend of the year. He might be going at a slower pace that you would choose to go with your young legs, but you can be sure that he will pass you later in the day as your energy level starts to drop – and he won’t look tired at all. When I heard this, I remember thinking how much I wanted to be able to hike the hills when I was as old as sixty. Now, with less than six months to go to that once distant milestone, I too am still hiking the hills – and I have never enjoyed the outdoors more than I do today.

By the way, for bloggers out there, I recommend the SharedBook system of getting a nice bound copy of your blogs. I received my 2010 Blog book today - only took a week from ordering it.

The Passionate Hiker

Above the Lakes of Kananaskis Country

Fri. 8 October: Upper Kananaskis River Viewpoint

I don’t go all the way down to the Kananaskis Lakes often enough. After this Thanksgiving weekend the last of the campsites close down. So this was my last chance this year to spend a couple of days hiking around the heart of Kananaskis Country.

Interlakes campsite stretches along the forested shoreline of the Lower Kananaskis Lake, and as the name suggests, the Upper Lake is just over the hill. This is a fine camping area, and I had plenty of ideal sites to choose from. By the time that dark descended, I had a fire going and was enjoying my usual gourmet dinner - some chunky chicken soup out of a can followed by a marmalade sandwich (more marmalade than bread).

There was a breeze during the night, and I could hear the water lapping along the shoreline just a few yards from my tent.

My plan for Friday was to bike up the short hill to the Upper Lake, then head west above the northern shore to Invincible Creek. From here it would be an unofficial hiking route up to a high viewpoint above the Upper Kananaskis River and Upper Lake.
Not far west of the penstock, where the trail started to climb, I hid my bike in the trees and continued on foot. The north side of the Upper Lake gives fine views across to the Continental Divide across the lake. Today some low lying clouds were trapped in the pass below the Elk Range, and overhead it was a mixture of sun and cloud. The trail crosses several impressive rock slides, and sooner or later there will be another one – hopefully when I’m not on the trail.

A sturdy little footbridge crosses Invincible Creek. Immediately after crossing this bridge I turned right off the main trail and followed the edge of the stream to an abandoned fire road. This road steadily climbed the mountainside, making good hiking, apart from all the deadfall across the trail. But having negotiated Mt. Daer fire road, this was no problem. In the latest version of Gillean Daffern’s guidebook, she suggested that a seniors hiking club was planning to clear the trail. No sign of that yet.

After a kilometer and a bit, the fire road ended and I was facing a murderously steep cutline, which had apparently been created as a firebreak during a previous fire. I just put my head down and kept plodding upwards until the grade finally relented. Here in an overgrown meadow, the guidebook told hikers to find a cairn indicating the start of a trail into the forest. The cairn was just a low pile of stones, and the trail was barely discernable. In fact, I decided to make good use of my red blaze tape. This turned out to be a good decision, as on the return journey I would have been lost a dozen times. This so-called trail, marked by about two bits of old blaze and a few piles of stone, made its way along the mountainside in thick forest, just below the open scree slopes above.

Finally I came to a tiny clearing, at the far end of which a dry streambed rose up the hillside. Following this streambed, I eventually came up onto a high point between the huge mountainside to my right and my destination ridge to the left.

I first climbed up the hillside too early and found myself looking west across a shallow valley to my correct ridge. So I headed back down to the col and then swung south and up the forested ridge to a superb viewpoint. A cairn marked the summit, which was surrounded by the grandest of mountain peaks, many snow covered, and some with glaciers.

I could follow the Upper Kananaskis River valley northwards to distant glaciers and mountain peaks with cloud pouring over them. Directly to my west was 9,646 ft. Mt. Putnick, and my southern horizon was filled by the huge Mt. Lyautey, 9,990ft. Far below me to the east was the Upper Kananaskis Lake. This is one view of the vastly popular lake that not many people will ever get, unless they are prepared to expend quite a bit of energy.

Returning back down to lake level, I was glad of all my new blazing through the upper forest, and I hope other travelers may also thank this unknown hiker for all this red tape.

I stopped for a picnic at my favorite park bench, at the junction with the trail to Point backcountry campsite. This is a good place for a birds eye view of the lake and of the twisting path that leads through the desolate rockfall landscape to the western end of the lake. Returning down the trail I met my first humans, a young couple with their younger children and older parents, all having a grand time except for one child who was running along the trail crying her eyes out. Picking up my bike I was soon back at the campsite.

I relaxed by the edge of the lake for a while. Later, a pink glow spread over the water and in the clouds above the mountains, as the light faded. A few more people had arrived at the campsite during the evening, but it was perhaps only about one third full. Many people had declared camping season over by now, and so it was perhaps only the warm weather which had encouraged this many people out into the mountains this long weekend.

Statistics
Upper Kananaskis River Viewpoint
Fri. 8 October

Total Dist. 12.8 km (hike) + 4.2 km (bike) = 17.0 km
Height Gain 1720 ft.
Max. Elev. 7300 ft.
Time on trail 6 hrs. 11 mins.


Sat. 9 October: Frozen Lake

This lake got its name for a reason. It’s usually only ice-free for about three months each year. Frozen Lake is cradled in the arms of Mt. Fox, held in by a steep headwall. What a find it must have been when some early explorer first stumbled upon it. Looking west to the mountain wall, you would never guess that it hid such a spectacular lake.

The approach to Frozen Lake took me on familiar trails, but ones which I had only previously traveled on skis in winter. I arrived at the Elk Pass trailhead, just down the road from my campsite, soon after sunrise. The first part of the trail rises steeply to the power-line summit, before dropping down into Fox Creek. This lower portion of Fox Creek was wet and muddy, which puzzled me, given the recent dry weather. But then I remembered seeing the cloud from my lookout trail yesterday, and I guess that it might have been raining here under that cloud. Also, it seemed that there had been a lot of truck traffic along this power-line access road, and this had churned up the surface.

But soon I was traveling along the gentle Fox Creek on a drier trail up the winding valley. The ski trail signs have all been removed and I suppose they put them back up again quite soon. Nevertheless I recognized the Blueberry Hill trail junction with its picnic table. Just a few hundred yards further on, I came to the West Elk Pass junction. Leaving my bike behind some trees, I turned right off the main trail, and before long I found myself on the Alberta-British Columbia border.

This is called West Elk Pass, but it is an almost imperceptible high point in a wide, flat valley. An information board and lots of good signposts directed me westwards along a cut-line directly headed for the mountain wall. Almost immediately, the trail down into BC and the Elk Lakes turned off to the left, while I continued straight on. Crossing a broad, damp meadow, the trail made one short, steep climb, and then a longer and steeper ascent, to an old boundary marker post. This dilapidated concrete post, covered by a zinc lining, was erected way back in 1916 by surveyors marking the Alberta-BC border.

From here, the trail rose steeply up the mountainside, before cutting diagonally across the steep forested headwall to the edge of the lake. Under sunny skies, it is probably a dark blue color, but today under a mostly cloudy sky, it was a deep green. The front side of the lake is a pleasant strip of trees, including many larches, now past their best. Steep, bare mountain slopes ring the lake on all other sides. The remains of a glacier sit directly behind the lake.

As I sat above the waters, admiring this grand setting, some mist rose up from the floor of the Elk Valley and drifted into the mountain bowl, before dissipating up the mountainside. The guide book suggests that you can scramble up to a grand viewpoint to the left of the lake, called “Taiga Viewpoint”. I did give some thought to clambering up there, but in the end decided that I would give it a miss. It didn’t look too impossible, but it was a bit more than I felt like doing today. In any event, my perch above the lake was spectacular enough.

I dropped back down the steep slopes and onto the cut-line. It didn’t take me long to return to the trailhead where I recovered my bike. Here I met two elderly couples heading for Frozen Lake. “Oh, WE should have brought our bikes, too”, exclaimed one of their party. And so they should. For my return journey back down to the car was an enjoyable coast along Fox Creek, with minimal effort. After the short hill back up to the power-line, it was one frantic breakneck ride back to the car. Halfway down the hill I flew past a group of young people idling up the hillside, one of them clutching what looked like a 12-pack of beer. I had completed my journey just in time to avoid the busy afternoon trails.

Returning to the warm and sunny campsite, I stopped to enjoy the perfect lakeside setting. Packing up, I was soon on my way back home. The journey over the Highwood Pass and down to Longview was leisurely as I was enjoying the clear atmosphere and recognizing all my hiking routes of the past year. It wasn’t as busy as the previous weekend, but judging from the number of parked cars, there were plenty of people out enjoying the long weekend. A sports car roared past me, but I soon caught up with them as they had been stopped by a police car hiding along the Highwood Valley.

I was glad to arrive back in town for a hot shower, and to enjoy the rest of the Thanksgiving Holiday at home.

Statistics
Frozen Lake
Sat. 9 October

Total Dist. 5.0 km (hike) + 9.8 km (bike) = 14.8 km
Height Gain 1620 ft.
Max. Elev. 7170 ft.
Time on trail 3 hrs. 47 mins.

Around the mountains of Banff

Sat. 25 September: Circuits of Mt. Rundle and Sulphur Mountain[continuation from Tent Ridge/Tryst Lake blog]

All night the wind roared through the tree-tops, swirling through my Tunnel Mountain campsite in Banff, buffeting the tent. The bright moonlight reflected the dancing pine branches on the inside of the tent. This wind blew all day, often with violent gusts. But it was a warm wind, and welcoming to a biker wanting to travel eastwards from Banff to Canmore, as I will relate.

Today was quite a marathon. In one busy day, I made a 48 km circuit of Mt. Rundle, and then a trip over and around Sulphur Mountain. Along with the shapely Cascade Mountain, Rundle and Sulphur are perhaps the best known mountains in the immediate vicinity of Banff townsite.

Rundle is actually a long range of high ridges running along the south side of the Bow River valley between Canmore and Banff. Its most famous profile is seen from a position due north of Banff, where its razor-sharp ridgeline soars above the Banff Springs Hotel. My plan today involved some complex logistics. I would start above Canmore, using my mountain bike to travel down Goat Creek to the Spray River and so into Banff. Changing to my road bike, I would then bike all the way back to Canmore beside the Trans-Canada Highway on the new “Legacy Trail” bike path.

The one tricky bit was to figure out how to get from Canmore up to the start of the Goat Creek Trail, without having to slog over a thousand vertical feet up a gravel road from the town below. Good research had revealed that there is just one taxi company in Canmore that will take you up there for a fee, and this worked perfectly.

The red sky over the Bow Valley was breathtaking as I drove east from Banff to Canmore early Saturday morning. Having dropped off my bike up at Goat Creek, I returned down the hill and parked at a handy hotel, the Rocky Mountain Canmore Inn. My Cougar Creek taxi driver arrived within five minutes and we had a great chat about the local trails as he drove me back up the rough gravel road.

It would probably be a rare day – especially a warm sunny Saturday - for a person to bike the Goat Creek trail and never encounter another person. I achieved this today. This is almost the perfect trail for amateur mountain bikers, since it is downhill all the way. Of course, nothing is that perfect, and there were a few uphill sections along the 19 km route, but it was a fun ride down a steep-sided mountain valley.

There were a few small bridges along the way, with pretty streams or rivers running under them. The occasional splash of autumn color from some of the trees added a beauty to what might otherwise be a green corridor.

I was soon crossing the Spray River, and onto a better forestry road, making very good time the whole way. Reaching the second Spray River junction – which I had visited this time last year - I kept on the west side of the valley, below Sulphur Mountain. I was almost at the Banff Springs Hotel when I met a long string of horses carrying an assorted collection of tourists. I dismounted and politely let then amble past, before continuing on into Banff.

The town was alive today, with what I later learned were 4,500 runners competing in the annual Melissa's road race. Thousands more people were collecting along the roadside, barriers had been erected, a band was playing in front of the museum, and everyone looked to be having a wonderful time. Runners with numbers pinned to their vests were heading down to the pleasure grounds for the start of the race. I negotiated this happy crowd safely, and detoured up onto the Tunnel Mountain road for a long uphill journey through Banff. It was then a pleasant downhill glide past the trailer campsites back to my tent. The 25.5 km journey by bike through the mountain valleys had taken me only two and a quarter hours.

After only a short break at my campsite, I changed bikes and set off down the road to Canmore. With a blustery wind at my back, this was one fast trip. The Legacy Trail bike path was really only just completed yesterday. On my journey west I had noticed the final touches being made to the half dozen bridges and the last sections of paving were being finished off. So I was one of the very first people to travel the length of this brand new trail.

What an improvement from hugging the shoulder of the frantic Trans-Canada Highway. The path follows the highway closely but stays off the shoulder. Thanks to the wind, I was pedaling in the highest gear as fast as my speedy bike would go. There were quite a few people coming in the other direction, struggling against the wind, as I raced past them at lightning speed. As a result, my journey from one end of the trail to the other, ending at the Banff Park gates, took me only 34 minutes, and the whole 22.5 km trip from Banff campsite to my car in Canmore took only sixty four minutes.

Biking time for the 48 km journey from Goat Creek to Canmore town centre, via Banff, was a mere three hours forty two minutes.

But I was far from finished for the day. Back at my campsite in Banff, I changed into my hiking gear and was soon off in the car to the Sulphur Mountain gondola. Sulphur Mountain is a long, high forested ridge which overlooks Banff. Sulphur and Rundle form the two sides of the Spray River valley. The Spray River and the Bow River meet just below the Banff Springs Hotel.
The gondola up Sulphur Mountain is a major Banff tourist attraction, and sure enough it was a busy place this afternoon, especially on such a lovely sunny day. But it didn’t take me long to buy my ticket and there were no line-ups for the cable cars. My plan was simple – to take the easy route to the top of Sulphur Mountain, and then explore the “back side” of the mountain where a fire road would take me back down to the original Banff Hot Springs (called "Cave and Basin") and from there back to the gondola.

A gale was blowing on the mountain top. I joined the crowds of international tourists as they shuffled along the sturdy boardwalks connecting the circular restaurant with the observatory on the summit of Sanson peak. They have gone to a lot of trouble to erect an extensive network of broad wooden steps and viewing areas which was impressive to observe, and nice to walk along. The fierce wind tried to blow everyone off the mountaintop, but the views were spectacular today, with perfect visibility.

This observatory has also, in the past, acted occasionally as a fire lookout, which is why I wanted to visit it this year. It is a tiny stone building which sits right on the highest point of the ridge. There is a glass door so people can look inside. They have recreated the cabin as it once used to be – a bunk bed, table and chair, stove – a minuscule room but actually quite cosy. It would be a better place to have lived than the typical wooden lookout buildings which were (and still are) the usual home for lookouts.

Halfway down the boardwalk I now turned off onto the old fire road for my return journey down the west side of the mountain. I instantly left all the tourists behind me, and passing a middle aged couple, I had the trail to myself from top to bottom of the ridge. This road was in good shape and mostly free from undergrowth at the higher elevations. Lower down, some bushes had grown along the surface, but this was a luxurious descent compared with many of my fire roads this year. The road descends to the Bow Valley in one main diagonal cut down the mountainside – a route plainly visible from the Trans-Canada Highway as one approaches Banff from the west. A few trees in Fall foliage made this a colorful scene, with spectacular mountain views the whole way down.

At the base of the mountain, about 3000 vertical feet below the ridge-top, I joined the paved road leading down from Sundance Canyon to Banff. It is closed to traffic and so was a quiet route along the forested valley floor. This road runs between the northern edge of Sulphur Mountain on the right, and the Bow River on the left. It’s a wonderful place for a stroll. The path leads to the famous Cave and Basin, site of the original Banff hot springs. It closed this July for some major renovations, and won’t be open again until 2012. Quite a long but leisurely stroll took me through the woods back into Banff townsite and up to the Banff Springs Hotel. The town had quietened down a bit from this morning’s bedlam, but it was a lively place with people enjoying the scenery or hurrying to their next shift at one of the hotels.

The final part of my trip took me up the steep forest trails back to the gondola car park. This was the same route I took last year on my way up Sulphur Mountain the hard way. It had been an active day and so I was glad to return to my campsite and relax in front of a fire. All day the wind had been blowing strongly in the treetops, and it was only during the night that it finally died down a bit.

After a good sleep I was on the road early next morning. Today the red sunrise was even more spectacular than the previous morning. Luckily the traffic was light as I snapped away with my camera. I was home shortly after 9 a.m.


Statistics Mt. Rundle Circuit
Sat. 25 September

Total Dist. 48 km (bike)
Height Loss (1100 ft.)
Max. Elev. 5450 ft.
Time on trail 3 hrs. 42 mins.


Statistics Sulphur Mtn. Circuit
Sat. 25 September

Total Dist. 13.5 km (hike)
Height Gain 700 ft.

Height Loss (3000 ft.)
Max. Elev. 7486 ft.
Time on trail 3 hrs. 13 mins.


Statistics - TotalRundle/SulphurSat. 25 September

Total Dist. 13.5 km (hike) + 48.0 km (bike) = 61.5 km
Height Gain 700 ft.
Height Loss (4100 ft.)
Max. Elev. 7486 ft.
Time on trail 6 hrs. 55 mins.