… and I must go.” – John Muir, a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States of America. In summer 2019, I started a road trip through Western Canada with two friends. I met Achim and Thomas in early 2018 on a trip to Colombia and next to the love for pubs, we shared a common interest for nature, landscapes and extensive hikes (beer tastes better when it is deserved). Our varied and fun trip from Calgary, Alberta, to Vancouver, British Colombia, might be a separate blog post. In this post I want to focus on the one thing that made the holiday trip spectacular: hiking in the Rocky Mountains.
Right after our arrival in Calgary, we drove straight away to Banff National Park. It was only our second full day in Canada when we decided to go for our first major hike. Unfortunately, Achim did not feel very well in the beginning of the trip. Still, he did not want us to refrain from our main reason of staying in Banff: a great hike. So while we were having breakfast, we looked for a trail with a starting and end point not very far from Banff town, in order to enable Achim to drop us off and pick us up more easily. Looking for hikes, the AllTrails app proved to be quite useful. Quickly, we found a hike which looked promising: The Cory Pass loop – 13 km in distance and 1.168 meters in elevation. The description promised a hike for “experienced adventurers” – something which we thought to be, most likely, a bit exaggerated. Nevertheless, we were excited. With enough water and snacks stored in our backpacks, we drove a few kilometers to the starting point, tied our shoes and headed off into the forest.
Soon, we experienced why the Cory Pass was rated as difficult: the way up was extremely steep. Hiking up at a mountainside was quite rewarding though, the view towards the Bow River valley became better and better. Eventually, we passed the tree line and walked along a narrow path towards the mountain passage, located between the peaks of Mount Cory, Mount Louis and Mount Norquay. With increasing elevation, our nervousness increased, too. Canada’s endless wilderness is home to many animals, including black bears and grizzlies. Both can be extremely dangerous and there is no way to run from a bear once it decides to come for you. The weather on the day we did the hike was mediocre, so the trail was not crowded at all. Throughout the whole hike, we did not meet more than a handful of people. Next to that, we missed Achim – the bigger the group, the lower the danger of a bear encounter (in general, they avoid humans). So all we could do against our nervousness was having a loud, constant conversation (bears do not like surprises, being noticeable might scare them away), and, equally important, carrying a bear spray we purchased on the day before. In case of a bear encounter, a bear spray might be your best and last hope for a happy end. Holidays in Canada can be expensive, but not carrying a bear spray for hikes is definitely money saved at the wrong end.
In the stone field right after the Cory Pass itself we had one of our rare breaks. As already mentioned, the weather was pretty mediocre and up there it was cold and windy, there was even fresh snow at the passage itself, and hence all of our breaks were quite short. The risk of rain was quite high, too, so we intended to finish the hike as fast as possible. Having a few cookies and water, we thought that we had spotted a bear in the stone field ahead of us. We immediately packed our stuff and discussed how to proceed. Having no binoculars with us, we could not verify our sighting. However, we agreed that we could not head back the same way as our steep way up would have been absolutely horrible to go back down. As a result, we headed into the stone field, making a loop as big as possible around the area where we thought that the bear might be located. On our way up to the passage, we saw various indications of bears in the area, like imprints of paws and animal excrements of reasonable size, which did not exactly help our nerves in that moment. Thomas had the bear spray ready to use and we made slow but steady progress on our way through the stone field. Soon, we reached the beginning of the forest. The path downwards was a bit muddy here and there, but overall quite smooth. Luckily, we neither met a bear in the stone field nor in the forest.
We reached the hike’s starting point in record time and looked for a spot with phone network reception to call Achim. It was only our second full day in Canada and during the hike Thomas and I agreed that this was enough adventure for the whole trip. No question, the description of the hike and the recommendation that the trail is only suitable for “experienced adventurers” was not exaggerated. Yet, we were thrilled by the exhausting but beautiful experience with all of its spectacular views. Two days later, we were in Jasper National Park and passed a “hike not recommended” signpost on our way up to mountain peak (obviously, not out of recklessness but after proper research), seeking an even more challenging hike with even more stunning views. A story to be told on another day.
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[…] were not as high (Nepal’s Annapurna mountain range, Colombia’s Andes) and not as thrilling (Canada’s Rocky Mountains), but, first and foremost, not less […]
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