The Great Divide Hike
Aug 10/2013
I needed to start this story of My Adventures to The Great Divide Trail with my favorite photo taken on this trip.. I was so tired! I couldn't even bend down or hunker down to see what I was taking a photo of! I put the camera on the ground and snapped away....How lucky I was to achieve just what I saw from the top.. An idea that worked....One of my favorite flowers as I have said before is the Dryads and this year, at this time, they have gone to seed...In all their glory, they create a little cloud over their little world.. A secret garden underneath their years bounty..
Now I have to start at the beginning. Last year Ruth and I on our trips, tried twice unsuccessfully to hike the Great Divide in the Kicking Horse Pass by Field BC. Both times the bears had other ideas than ours...The trail was closed due to bear activity. Undaunted, Ruth and I made the best of those trips and toured the area and of course got the required number of photos to bring home to add to our treasure.
So this year, I have to admit I was a little nervous! There were no closures but fair warnings to watch for bears in the area.... I made efforts to let me drive just to get my shots and leave quickly, but didn't work.
I am getting ahead of myself as usual. I have been working on a family scrapbook of our family heritage on the guise of my grandchildren, but to be honest I am loving every moment of it. How interesting it is to find little tidbits about my wonderful family.
One of those tidbits is a photo I found of my father and I taken probably about 1952, at least 60 years ago.
The old archway located on the old highway in the Kicking Horse Pass was resplendent in it's glory. It had metal brackets, lamps, chains and plaques. It is on divide creek which flows both into the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The trail is now restricted to traffic since the Trans-Canada highway was built in the early 60's.
I wanted to update this photo for the scrapbook when I heard the old archway was still there and standing up well despite her age. (sounds familiar;-)
So Ruth and I were off again with our third attempt. We left it a little later this year so the bears would not just be out of hibernation hungry and grumpy.....
We took our new van "Willow" to Monarch campground in Field B.C. for the weekend of
Aug. 9th 10th and 11th 2013. Monarch campground is probably one of my favorites, it is only an overflow from Kicking Horse Campground but the view is beautiful and because of it's location it usually creates a thunderstorm or two just to make the photos more interesting.
Lots of space, lots of sky and a whole mountain pass for the storms to roll down through.
We started our walk earlier in the morning because it was promising to be a hot one.
We parked the van at the Lake OHara parking lot, left Oliver in the van with lots of water and plenty of windows open to keep him comfortable. Oliver is 13 years old now and I knew he would be unable to walk the 6K , especially in the heat.
Thankfully some of the trail was shaded, I made sure I had my hat, sunscreen, water etc. and walked in the shade as much as possible. Even then as we are walking we are realizing we forgot our cell phones, pedometer, in our rush to beat the heat.
Ruth and I often find ourselves wandering in our own little world, looking for photos looking up once in a while to see where the other one is.....
60 years and the flowers are gradually inching their way in.....gracefully.
My first glance of the archway. Gave me such a feeling in my heart!
The trail narrows dramatically in places, hard to imagine this was a major highway to B.C.
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| I Made it!!!!! |
I stood on the same spot Dad and I had stood on so many years ago....
He is standing right behind me, but only I can see him ;-)
Same curve in the road on the BC side, trees are a little bit larger and a little more overgrown. She is standing well despite her age (I'm talking the archway now) but all of her adornments have been removed.
My first thoughts are wishes for her, I wish that the Yoho National Park restores this treasure to it's original state. We have a unique site that could be quite the tourist attraction, and I hope it's recognized more. I made such a suggestion on the Yoho National Park site and received a positive reply so hopefully in the future it will be a possibility....Perhaps they can use my old photo to help with the restoration!
The Alberta side appears to have had recent attention! The yellow paint has been retouched and cleaned. Looks loved.
Where exactly am I....!
We walked the 6 K from Lake OHara parking lot. I believe it is about 9 K from
Lake Louise. Numerous people had biked from Lake Louise. another idea....
Dare we dig out our bikes and fix the flat tires........buy a bike rack....Yes!
Calgary is at an altitude of 3557 ft.
The last Spike?
I am so grateful for Ruth to follow me to the divide. I don't know if I would have accomplished on my own. This was something I wanted to do to finalize that chapter of my scrapbook. I have been told I am a storyteller, and thanks to Ruth I can finish yet another one. Thank you Ruth, may we have many more adventures.
Tops of my favorite photo...they almost look like a fluffy cloud overlooking the forest....
The way back looks longer and hotter! When we got back to van, temps were reading 34C.
About 1 K from the van my head was down and tired and Ruth quietly said "Oh Oh"
and there was Mr. Bear with
the biggest ears! We backed up quickly, all of a sudden not remembering one thing we were supposed to do in this case.
He was just as curious as we were, but more interested in the bunchberries on the side of the road. Two or three times he would come back out and peek down the road to see where we were then head back to bushes.
I was worried, it was the only way out and I was at the point of wondering if I could walk all the way back!
At times it looked like he was going to follow his curiosity and wander down to us....
I honestly think it was to hot for him on the pavement, He soon wandered into bush. Ruth and I waited for another bit then started singing every old song I could think of at the top of our voices. (Ruth made up her own words!)
I am not sure if it was the singing or the heat but he did not come out again, we passed on the opposite side of the road, quickly and very relieved.....One thing it did do was make me forget all the stiffness, soreness heatness for the rest of the way back to van......
Throughout it all there was a beautiful cool breeze. I was proud of myself, the walk turned out not to be to bad. Trail was perfect for sure, easy walking...I was tired but not stiff....The worst part for me was the heat....
We stopped at Field on the way back to report the bear sightings...but no one seemed as interested as we were!!!
Can you get any better than this....?
As you are relaxing in the campsite, you can't help but reflect on what came before us. With the zoom on my camera you can see the airshafts on the side of the mountain used by the early miners in the area. Apparently Kicking Horse campground was the lodging for the miners camp.
How difficult a life that must have been....
You have to also recognize the pioneers that found the Rogers Pass in their explorations and finally the highway workers to build it and the spiral tunnels! We live in a good day and age.
Another great day and trip.
