This summer I went on a four-day backpacking trip with my good friends Dave and Paul to Turbine Canyon in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. I first hiked the trail when I was sixteen and since then I have hiked it so many times I have lost track. As we hiked, memories rushed back to me and I realized a lot has changed since I first hiked in Kananaskis.
I was especially looking forward to backpacking with Paul and Dave this year, especially after the fiasco on last year’s planned trip. As Paul and I were driving to Red Deer to pick up Dave, I started feeling feverish, and to be safe, I tested for Covid when we got to Dave’s place. I tested positive. Unbelievable! After years of trying to convince Dave to go backpacking, I had to bail. Getting sick was bad; missing the hiking trip was beyond disappointing.
The good news: Dave enjoyed the backpacking trip with Paul and they both readily agreed to do the Turbine Canyon hike this year. To avoid getting sick like last year, I took extreme precautions two weeks before the hike. This time when Paul and I picked up Dave, we continued to Canmore, where we spent the night in Dave’s condo so we could start hiking early and avoid the blazing heat.
I couldn’t believe it was forty-six years since I went on my first hike during a camping trip with my family. My parents liked to fish, play games, and visit with relatives during summer vacations. Rest and relaxation was their motto. I was bored hanging around the campground, so I went exploring and discovered the Turbine Canyon Trail on Upper Kananaskis Lake. At first, I just hiked around the lake, but eventually, I discovered another trail leading to Mount Indefatigable, which I climbed the next day. I didn’t have hiking boots, bear spray, proper clothing, or even water, but the mountain was like a magnet, and I wasn’t stopping until I reached the summit. On that day I fell in love with hiking in the Rocky Mountains.
Now, Paul, Dave, and I set off for the Turbine Canyon trailhead at the north parking lot on Upper Kananaskis Lake. Turbine Canyon is the furthest campground on the trail and is ideally located to reach Maude Lake, the North Kananaskis Pass, and Haig Glacier. Just before we reach the parking lot near the trailhead, we are excited to see two young grizzly bears munching on vegetation alongside the road.
As we began our hike, the sky was clear, with no smoke from forest fires to obscure the view of the mountains, unlike two years ago, when Paul and I hiked into Kinglet Lake and could barely see the mountains. In the past, weather was my sole worry, but now air quality has become a concern. Not only is the scenery ruined, but it’s also not healthy hiking in the smoke.
The first time I hiked the entire trail to Turbine Canyon, I was studying education at the University of Calgary, and Bernie, a fellow education student, invited me to accompany him on a hike. It was a fall hike, and I nearly froze to death sleeping on a thin mattress and a poor-quality sleeping bag. However, Bernie gave me my first lessons on backpacking in the Rocky Mountains and it wasn’t long before I was venturing out on my own.
The first half of the trail circles around Upper Kananaskis Lake and then follows the Kananaskis River upstream to the Forks Campground. Just before crossing the Kananaskis River, we take a break beside a mountain stream to have a drink of ice-cold water, one of my greatest pleasures while hiking on a hot day. As we sit by the stream, Dave, a biologist, points to a Dipper hunting for insects. He enjoys educating Paul and me on the names of different mountain flowers and butterflies along the trail.
During our break, I recall a photo of Michelle and me taking a break at this very spot in 1985 when we first started dating. I wanted her to experience backpacking and for some unknown reason, chose this strenuous trip for her first experience. Despite my lack of judgment, she easily hiked the entire distance, which included a steep climb during the hottest part of the day. There was a terrifying moment one night when we heard something rustling against the tent, and I immediately grabbed for my bear spray and shouted, which scared it away. In the morning, we had to search for one of Michelle’s hiking shoes and found it with chew marks from the porcupine hanging around the campsite. At our wedding, Dad welcomed Michelle into the family and joked I was testing her before I asked her to marry me. If it was a test, she passed. We have since gone on many adventurous trips, including hiking the Skyline Trail.
It is an easy hike to the Forks Campground, but here the trail begins its accent to the North Kananaskis Pass and Turbine Canyon, making it a perfect spot to have lunch. When Paul, Dave, and I arrive, we see a family with children and I recall our first trip with our older two sons when they were four and six years old. We went to Points Campground, the easiest campground to reach on the Turbine Trail. Later, when our third son was old enough, we went all the way to the Forks Campground.
We always made sure that they were well fortified with Smarties and raisins and we took frequent breaks. They were so cute carrying their own backpacks filled with their favorite blankets or stuffed animals. Now, Brett, my oldest son, has two children, and Michelle and I have already bought backpacks for when they are old enough to go backpacking with Grandpa and Grandma. I am looking forward to bringing Eleanor and Oscar along on their first trip, and I’m sure they will bring Bunny and Elephant in their backpacks.
After lunch, Dave, Paul, and I start the climb to Turbine, a challenging climb even in my youth. According to the park’s website, the hike is 15 km, but my Garmin says 19 km, and my body agrees. Despite the challenging hike, we all enjoyed the spectacular mountain scenery and the abundance of plants and animals. Dave identified over one hundred distinct species of mountain flowers. I failed miserably when he later asked me to identify flowers he pointed out. Paul was a much better student.
Upon our arrival at Turbine, we found the campground bustling with other hikers, either eating at the table or setting up camp. When I hiked it with Michelle, we were the only hikers at the campsite. There weren’t any bear lockers, only poles, and we had to pitch our tent on the bare ground. There were no picnic tables, and although there was an outhouse, some backpackers avoided it and used the bushes instead. Today the campsite is pure luxury: picnic tables, a wastewater disposal station, bear lockers, and wooden platforms for tents. There is also a new metal washroom set high off the ground that is emptied regularly using helicopters.
Our plan is to stay two additional days at Turbine–one day hiking to Maude Lake and North Kananaskis Pass and the other to Haig Glacier. Unfortunately, the weather turns bad and we have to change our plans. We do hike to Maude Lake, but it is too windy to hike to the pass — I can see water being whipped off the lake. Some other backpackers tell us they saw a grizzly bear along the lake. Even though we have a clear view of the lake, we don’t see the grizzly bear. It’s too bad because we are far enough away to observe it safely.
The bad weather reminded me of my worst hiking experience when I hiked over the North Kananaskis Pass from the Palliser River. When our group finished climbing the pass after two days of rainy weather, we kept hiking to the parking lot rather than camping overnight at Turbine. I was miserable the entire trip and am amazed I didn’t get hypothermia. Following that trip, I invested money in proper clothing for hiking in cold rainy weather.
The rain arrives that afternoon, so we hike back to the Forks campground the next day instead of the Haig Glacier. I am disappointed that I can’t show Dave and Paul the Haig Glacier and the Beckie Scott Training Center where there is a helicopter pad, huts for sleeping and eating, and equipment to set a cross-country ski track on the glacier.
My last hike on the Haig Glacier is still fresh in my memory. I was with Don, a hiking buddy from work, and while he went fishing at Maude Lake, I hiked up to Haig Glacier. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I spent the whole afternoon hiking on the glacier and watching the cross-country skiers train. The glacier doesn’t look too impressive from below, but once on top, it’s massive. The science teacher in me understands it has taken thousands of years for the snow to accumulate to that size. I enjoy the afternoon so much that I don’t want to leave.
Compared to the ascent to Turbine Canyon, the descent to the Forks campground is enjoyable; not only is it easier going down, but the temperature rises, and the rain dissipates. The evening is even more enjoyable. Instead of huddling in a tent to stay dry, we sit around the campfire enjoying Paul’s delicious Venison Shepard’s Pie with a drink– Yukon Jack for me, a single malt Cragganmore Scotch for Paul, and some strange concoction for Dave. The warmer weather allows me to set up my hammock to try a novel experience of sleeping outside in the mountains. I’m sure Paul and Dave will enjoy the extra space in the tent, and I am especially relieved not to be stuck between them as I was the previous nights.
The next morning, we pack up and return to civilization. The trip didn’t go exactly as planned, but that’s okay; anytime you hike with friends in the Rocky Mountains, it’s a successful trip. When I get home, I learn that the Becky Scott Training Center was closed this summer due to lack of snow and that its future is in jeopardy because of climate change. That’s worrisome because once the glaciers disappear, the Kananaskis ecosystem as we know it will vanish. It makes me sad to think that when my grandchildren reach my age, they may never see a grizzly bear in its natural habitat, or even have the simple pleasure of drinking ice-cold water from a glacier-fed stream. I now feel a sense of urgency for Michelle and I to return with Eleanor and Oscar to the trail I’ve grown to love before climate change alters it forever.
One Last Kick 