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Spreading Creek Wildfire, Banff National Park

The Spreading Creek Wildfire, ignited by lightning on Alberta forest land east of Saskatchewan River Crossing on July 3, 2014, has expanded into Banff National Park and resulted in the closure of several popular hiking trails. Parks Canada has closed trails around...

Hydrating with Steripen in the Canadian Rockies

Hydrating with Steripen in the Canadian Rockies

This week’s warm weather brought memories of a day hike last summer during similar conditions. As has been my habit, I didn’t bring enough water for the day, and by the time we were halfway through our hike, my water bottle was empty. And has been my habit over many...

Hiking in Hokas: A Canadian Rockies review

Hiking in Hokas: A Canadian Rockies review

Hiking in running shoes is nothing new. We started using Nike and Adidas runners on day hikes when we were preparing the second edition of the Canadian Rockies Trail Guide. As they say, one pound saved on your feet equals 10 pounds in your pack. On one occasion, we...

More spring hikes in Jasper

More spring hikes in Jasper

I don’t get to Jasper National Park nearly enough these days, especially for spring hikes. Time was we would spend a good chunk of our summers hiking and backpacking in the park. And one summer we worked in nearby Mount Robson and made frequent day trips there. That’s...

Wood tick time in the Canadian Rockies

Wood tick time in the Canadian Rockies

A minor miracle this spring with wood ticks in the Canadian Rockies. I've hiked three notorious “tick” trails and returned without any of these annoying little critters crawling on my body or in my hair. Now that trails on southerly-exposed slopes are opening up in...

Jasper’s Discovery Trail—An early season hike

Jasper’s Discovery Trail—An early season hike

There aren’t many places you can hike on dry trail at this time of year. But if you find yourself in Jasper, the lowest community in the Canadian Rockies (1060m/3,480ft), you can get a jump on the season by hiking around the townsite on the Discovery Trail. The...

Canadian Rockies’ Great Divide Trail revisited

The Great Divide Trail was an idea proposed by various individuals and groups in the 1960s. After studying route possibilities, Jim Thorsell published a brochure-style guide in 1970 Provisional Trail Guide and Map for the Proposed Great Divide Trail (click on link for...

Classic hiking guidebooks by Don Beers

Classic hiking guidebooks by Don Beers

Don Beers began his hiking career in the early 1950s under the tutelage of Leonard Leacock, the well-known music composer and instructor at Mount Royal College, who may well lay claim to being the earliest recreational hiker in the Canadian Rockies. Many of Don's...

Technology on the trail

Technology on the trail

I was working for Parks Canada at Lake Louise in 1994 when a phone call arrived at the Visitor Centre. A climber on the summit of Mount Temple was calling in to say he was running late and wouldn’t be checking in from his climb until later in the evening. I suppose we...