SA 6-12 6:34 PM (1999) my little Indiglo Expedition watch tells me. As we drove into RDU we found all of the lots
full except for the remote #4. Hanging on to the wheelchair ramp in the rear of the
swaying airport bus we arrived at terminal A, where the promising but unfinished new
parking lot is under construction. My North Face pack is jammed with all of the
clothes I will need for a week in the Rockies. In my little short hike pack is
almost an equal weight of camera gadgets.
We wend our way the length of the terminal past a hospitality suite for the PGA tournament. At gate A18, after
checking in we find the disappointed passengers bound for Detroit. Their plane has
left the gate to await the clearing of a storm. Northwest
favors us by "playing through" our plane for Minneapolis. We board and sit
for more than an hour before we hear the clunk of the brakes releasing and plane eases
backwards, revs and leaps into the dark clouds in the west.
SA 6-12 8:42
Lakes everywhere as we approach Minneapolis airport with the sun casting a fiery glow over
patches of water. The landscape might have been created by a team of Paul Bunyans
pulling each point of the compass, stretching the skin of earth until it grows thin,
revealing the water beneath.
SU 6-13 6:04 Just as the concierge hails us a cab in front of the Marriott in downtown Calgary, a
truck lays down a carpet of black oil, just for us. We gamely fling our four bags
into the trunk, getting our boots sticky.
SU 6-13 6:30 (AM) Enter our Greyhound bound for Blairmore. The driver, Merv Fesser, is more than
helpful. Sit in the seat to the right of the driver and he will impart all that he
knows of his route and his life. He has a ranch out on route 22, where he raises
80-100 head of cattle. A few of his cattle have fallen prey to a bear and a pair of
cougars. The male of the latter was 250 lbs. At his next stop, in case we
aren't believers, he produces two Xeroxes of the event with his sons behind the
cougar. Along the way, he points out the local fauna, a red fox, 2 hawks perched on
fence posts, a coyote. For most of the 167 miles, we see snow-capped mountains on
our right in the haze. Just before Blairmore, he stops at a great spot to view the
landslide where the town of Frank bit the dust back in 1903. The lone survivor, a
baby at the time, recently died at age 87, we were told. Merv makes plans to stop
just before getting back on the highway to drop us off close to the Crowsnest Centre.
As we pull in front of the sewing machine/bottled water/Greyhound station a
well-built man jumps out of his white van, "You must be Dave and Linda?"
Doug Wilson went out of his way to pick up the two of us.
SU 6-13 4:30 Doug
gives us an orientation talk and has us introduce ourselves and tell a little bit
about ourselves to the group. There are a total of 30 of us, 5 from Canada and 25
from the states. He introduced Gini, his daughter and our hostess, Kevin and Morgan,
assistant hike leaders, and Nel Van Kamer who would accompany us on many of our
hikes. Each night after dinner, Doug would give us some warm encouragement and
described the hikes for the next day so that we could sign up for the right hike for us.
SU 6-13 8:30 PM We just got
back from a short (550 yards) after-dinner hike to see the waterfalls along York Creek.
MO 6-14 7:30
Breakfast was scrambled eggs and bacon, toast, OJ and a good cup of coffee. Departed at
8:45 for the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre.
FSIC is a very professional presentation center maintained
by the province of Alberta.
Lots of geology
is passed on by the competent guide who walks us around the field of man-high rocks which
almost wiped out the mining town of Frank in 1903. The wonder of it is that the
rocks traveled as far as 3 miles from the fall! She discussed at least 3 mechanisms
by which the rocks could have traveled that far. She mentioned a BBC show about
long-runout landslides which presented some of these explanations of Frank. Truth
is, there were 23 survivors, 3 of whom were babies.
MO 6-14 1:00 PM We
leave for our hike to
the ghost town. Somewhat overcast, which made it cooler but I am still suffering
from the altitude. It makes me drowsy. We had to cross 3 rickety bridges
an
d
one stream. Lille is pretty much a field of rubble except for the foundation of the hotel and the ruins of coke ovens built
with sturdy blocks designed by a Belgian company. We joked that after the Moors were
driven out of Spain, they came here, conquered Alberta and you can still see their
influence in the graceful arches of the coke ovens. "That was where they kept
the concubines," quipped our littlest hiker. The thin air does something to
your imagination. We covered 9 miles and climbed only 165 feet, a good warm-up for
the more challenging hikes to come. It took us more than the expected 6 hours.
After dinner,
we are driven in the centre's vans to the Bellevue Mine.
There we don hard hats, miner's lamps and some heavy weight batteries that we strap
around our waists. Mine was for a prodigious miner, maybe size 50 or so. The
air emanating from the mine is a cool and refreshing 40ºF. The guide turns out to
be another one of Doug's daughters, Chrissie. She is very knowledgeable and takes us
on an interesting exploration of the bowels of the earth and the life of coal miners
generations ago.
TU 6-15 8:30 Our day hike today was
Saskatoon Mountain, listed as a moderate to challenging 3 mile hike up 1300 feet to an elevation of
5800 ft. Doug lived but a few houses from the trailhead and asked if he could bring
his dogs, Sable and Sierra. Everyone loved the idea. At first, they didn't seem to want
our attention but later, after they wore themselves out, they were
friendlier. Lots of flowers were in bloom along the way - balsam root
(sunflower-like but only a foot tall), anemones of many colors, crocuses,
lupines and avens.
At the top of Saskie
we had a fine panoramic view of peaks all around - Sentry, Tower, Tecumseh, with Crowsnest
shrouded in clouds. We had our lunch there among the rocks, exchanging stories with
Doug. Before the hour was up our sweep for the hike, Webb, wanted to start back
down.
We bushwhacked
through some dense evergreen forest with lichen-encrusted trees. The forest floor
was
carpeted with what looked like one of our trout lilies on steroids. Our trail was an
old mine road since we found remnants of rail and a collapsed trestle along the way.
At one point, I got a shot of a wild clematis. Here were so many of the flowers I
have tried to grow in North Carolina within the last few years with little success.
Now, I know why. They belong to the Rockies. The trail back down is so much
easier than it was on the way up.
TU 6-15 7:30 We drive over to Lundbreck Falls in the
twilight after dinner. Here all of the water from the surrounding high ground roars
over a limestone precipice, a mini-Niagara.
WE 6-16 9:00 Linda signs up for the hike to Mt. Ptolemy with Morgan. What was to be an all day hike for their group ends when they
are forced to admit that the water is too deep to cross.
I did the trek to the
plane wreck, 1650 feet up for a distance of 10 miles. It was a gradual
climb to where the snow is rapidly melting, a roaring river flanks the trail. We had
to cross the river on 2 bridges. Doug mentioned that there is a record amount of
snow this year. At the base of Mt. Coulthard we find the crash site. Some of us tried to boot ski on the snow field. My boots were too knobby
to slide on. Wish I had my downhill skis. Up above I could see a broad rush of water from the lake that must be up there. Doug amazed me with
his energy. While I was trying to regain my strength for the return trip, he and
Kevin climbed up the snow field to where that icy water was pouring down, another few
hundred yards. They did demonstrate that it was possible to slide down the hill
using your hiking stick as a stabilizer.
TH 6-17 Morning
Linda and I hike the "Lookout",
330 ft up, 2 miles, 2 hours. Nicely paced hike up to a rock outcrop with great
views. Investigated some abandoned mine buildings on the way down. Lunch at
the centre.
Afternoon We hiked to Hastings Ridge, 300 feet,
3 miles, 2 hours. This was over a
winding road - perfectly graded to 12% or so leading to a pile of tailings forming the
ridge. The wind was just right. Had it been any stronger I would have been
afraid to fall off the ridge. When we got to the top Suichi, a young Japanese man
who is staying with Doug, was walking close to the edge and we all wanted him to get back
away from there. I could imagine him rolling hundreds of feet to the bottom of the
mine pit. Doug was telling of a Japanese hiker who was doing some
"screeing" there and did a flip as he went down, landing on his feet. It
was no accident, he knew what he was doing. Before we knew it, Doug had jumped over
the edge and slid down to the bottom of the mine pit, on his feet. Hair raising but
I guess we're not used to "screeing."
Dinner was
memorable this night. The chicken ali baba was delicious. The cook outdid
himself. After this, there were skits, Doug handed out our certificates and then a
tearful goodbye from Nel.
FR 6-18 2:15 We've said our goodbyes and wait for
our bus back to Calgary. The driver is
a treasure, suggesting that we dine at the Conservatory. We take him up on it and
enjoy some really fine dining to celebrate our anniversary. Linda has the pan seared
breast of chicken brushed with buckwheat honey, dredged in hazelnuts and accompanied by
wild rice pilaf and port demi-glace. I have the sirloin of Alberta venison presented
with Saskatoonberry jus, fried shoestring potato nest and carmelized onion
marmalade. Wow. That's good eatin'. Linda had her typical Chardonnay but
I took them up on their wines from Portugal that they were featuring and selected Terraas
de Sá 1996 Douro Doc. It tasted robust, like a shiraz, I think. This was a
wonderful finish for our trip to the Rockies.
I can thank Doug and
his team for a pleasant week of hiking and my calves of steel and the bus drivers of
Greyhound for their knowledge of Calgary's cuisine. Thanks to Elderhostel for promoting at least a few events like
the Crowsnest Learning Centre & International School for more active people.
