Monthly Archives: August 2013

Sunshine Meadows shuttle cancelled for the season

The popular hiker’s shuttle bus to Sunshine Meadows has been stalled all summer by June (2013) flooding that washed out many sections of the Sunshine Road. Shuttle operator White Mountain Adventures had hopes of getting back on the road sometime in August, but damage was extensive and sections of the road are still under construction. As a result, they reluctantly cancelled their bus service for the 2013 season on Wednesday, […]

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Marble Canyon area trail closures lifted in Kootenay National Park

A closure of several hiking trails in the north end of Kootenay National Park was lifted this week (August 30, 2013) just in time for the Labour Day weekend. The closure was centred on the popular Marble Canyon Hiking Trail and was enacted August 20 after a grizzly was discovered feeding on a carcass in the area (see my earlier post  Grizzly closes trails in Kootenay National Park). In addition […]

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Jasper Park’s Jonas-Brazeau Loop reopens

One of Jasper’s most popular backcountry hikes, the Jonas Pass-Brazeau Lake Loop, reopened this week following reconstruction of the bridge at Brazeau River Campground. The multi-day backpack traverses Nigel, Jonas and Poboktan Passes and visits Brazeau Lake, one of the park’s largest backcountry lakes. The bridge was washed out during the June 2013 flood (see my earlier post on the washout along the Jonas Pass-Brazeau Lake Loop) that destroyed dozens […]

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Helen Lake: Feisty grizzly prompts trail closure

Banff National Park’s Helen Lake Hiking Trail is one of the most popular day hikes from the Icefield Parkway. It is also a favourite summer feeding ground for grizzly bears, particularly sow bears with cubs. Sometimes hikers and bears have coexisted peacefully. But a number of aggressive encounters with a mother grizzly and her two cubs during the past month (August 2013) prompted Parks Canada to close the Helen Creek […]

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Kootenay National Park wildfires, 2013

  These photos show the Numa Creek Fire as seen from Highway 93 during late afternoon on August 22, 2013. Kootenay National Park’s Numa Creek wildfire, which has been smouldering since late July, blew up into a major conflagration Thursday afternoon, August 22. By 6:30 in the evening, trees were crowning high above the mouth of the Numa Creek valley, and fire was moving towards the Vermilion River and Highway 93. […]

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Grizzly closes trails in Kootenay National Park

Already suffering trail closures from bridge washouts and the Numa Creek fire, Kootenay National Park has closed several more trails at the north end of the park due to grizzly bear activity. The closure went into effect August 20, 2013. Trails affected by the closure include the popular Marble Canyon nature trail (162) and the adjacent Tokumm Creek trail (164). Also closed are the Marble Canyon-Paint Pots connector and the […]

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Jonas Pass-Brazeau Lake Loop washout in Jasper National Park

Jasper National Park’s most popular loop trip for backpackers, the Jonas Pass-Brazeau Lake Loop, has been disrupted by washouts in the wake of the storm that swept the region in June (2013). The destruction of a bridge at Brazeau River Campground is the most serious and has prompted Parks Canada to list this section “impassable.” Backpackers can still hike from Banff National Park to Four Point Campground via Nigel Pass […]

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Hiking the Canadian Rockies highest trails

By mid-summer, all of the snow has disappeared from the highest hiking trails in the Canadian Rockies parks and most hikers are in a bit better shape than they were in the spring. If you’d like to hike to the highest trail-accessible points in the parks, this is the time to do it. (But make sure you watch the weather.) There’s always a bit of debate about the highest “official” […]

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Hiking above the washouts in Banff National Park

With the closure of the Sunshine Village Road and washouts on Pharaoh Creek as a result of the June 2013 flood, its been a discouraging summer for getting to Sunshine Meadows and Eygpt Lakes. But backpackers travelling from Spray Valley Provincial Park to Highway 93 in Banff National Park via Mount Assiniboine, Sunshine and the Bow Valley Highline, are finding it an ideal summer with a lot fewer people and […]

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Shuttle relieves Red Rock traffic In Waterton National Park

Parks Canada has announced that damage to the Akamina Parkway in Waterton Lakes National Park resulting from spring flooding is major and the road will be closed for the rest of the 2013 summer. In order to relieve some of the traffic that is pressuring the Red Rock Parkway and limited parking at Red Rock Canyon, Parks Canada has contracted the shuttle bus from Tamarack Outdoor Outfitters. The free shuttle […]

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