by Brian Patton | Nov 22, 2020 | backpacking, Home page News
Jim Thorsell began charting a route for the Great Divide Trail while completing a trail use survey for Banff and Yoho Parks in 1967. After tweaking the original route, he published the Provisional Trail Guide and Map for the Proposed Great Divide Trail in 1970. The...
by Brian Patton | Nov 4, 2020 | banff, Banff National Park, Home page News
Stoney Squaw, Tunnel Mountain, Mount Eisenhower, Chinaman’s Peak. Some of the most popular short-hike destinations in the Bow Valley that experienced name changes over the past 40 years or may do so soon. I can’t remember the first time I hiked the 2-km...
by Brian Patton | Oct 9, 2020 | Home page News, Kootenay National Park
As Kootenay National Park celebrates its centennial year, it seems an appropriate time to republish Ron Ede’s account of a long-ago summer working on the park’s trails. I first read “Cutting trail in Kootenay Park—1940” in the “The...
by Brian Patton | Sep 30, 2020 | backpacking, Banff National Park, Home page News
We’ve all had times when the best laid and ambitious plans have to be abandoned. That was the case this August when avid backpacker and faithful blog contributor Gavin Fitch set off from Ya Ha Tinda Ranch with three friends. Despite the problems they...
by Brian Patton | Sep 6, 2020 | backpacking, Banff National Park, Home page News
We’ve had quite a bit of interest in the Castleguard Meadows over the past few years. Several contributors have provided descriptions of this overgrown, difficult 35-km route. In May, Christian Gilroy sent another account of a 5-day in-and-out trip that he...
by Brian Patton | Aug 31, 2020 | backpacking, canadian rockies trail guide, Home page News, Kootenay National Park
Kootenay National Park is celebrating its centennial with a “Kootenay Then and Now: Recreate the Photo” contest. Since we began our fieldwork on the Mountain Parks’ first comprehensive trail guide 50 years ago, I thought it would be appropriate to...
