Exploring the backcountry of Kananaskis Country to find a lake, a canyon and some wacky weather.
I would like to acknowledge that this hike past through the ancestral and traditional territories of Indigenous Peoples. The Blackfoot Confederacy, Tsuut’ina, Stoney (Ĩyãħé) Nakoda, Cree, Ktunaxa, and Métis who have called the Rocky Mountains home since time immemorial. I acknowledge the many Indigenous Peoples in Canada whose footsteps have marked these lands for generations and I am grateful to be a visitor in these lands.
It had been a couple of years since we had done a family trip with Margaux. Last year Laura and I did a bucket list trip taking a river cruise down the Rhine Valley. This years family backpacking adventure was suppose to be a trip to the Egypt Lake area. The trip as booked was not as I had hoped for. We had one day at Shadow Lake CG and one day at Egypt Lake CG. I had hoped to book two days at Egypt Lake CG so we would not have to move campsites. I thought I had the trip I wanted all booked back in January when the Parks Canada Backcountry reservations became available but somehow I lost the booking. The snafu with the bookings ended up being a non issue as the dates we had picked were forecasted for solid rain. Not wanting to spend three days in the rain I looked around any last minute availability for the following week. I was able to make a new booking for a two day trip in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park staying first at Three Isle Lake CG then Turbine Canyon CG. I had been to Turbine Canyon back in 2020 when Micah and I hiked Section C of the Great Divide Trail. I remember being struck by the beauty of the high alpine around Turbine Canyon CG and I was very excited to share the experience with Laura. Laura had a connection to Three Isle Lake CG as her son had backpacked there with friends in 2021.
Peter Lougheed Provincial Park lies entirely within the Alberta Rocky Mountains and is part of Kananaskis Country. There can be some confusion about what is Kananaskis Country and the areas that are within it. Kananaskis Country is a multi use area that allows for activities ranging from resource extraction, agriculture, power generation, residential and recreation. To accommodate all these diverse activities Kananaskis Country contains numerous different land use designations. There are five provincial parks, four wildland provincial parks, one ecological reserve, several provincial recreation areas, four public land use zones and two public land recreation trails. Each of these different land use designations have a different purpose and different management priorities so therefore they receive different levels of environmental protection.
When planning the trip even though it was on short notice the aim was to hike to a location and stay for two nights so that we did not have to tear down the tent. I was not able to find a suitable location for a two day stay but I was pretty happy with the fairly moderate hiking days the trip entailed. Both of our first two days were around 12 km. While the third day would be longer at almost 17 km but it was the last day of the trip and was predominantly downhill or flat.
When hiking with Laura we push the limits towards glamping as much as we can. We carry 1 L of wine so we can have a glass each day. To aid with the wine drinking we have stainless steel wine glasses. The first day’s meal is always a fresh meal that only needs to reheated not rehydrated. We really like to have bananas when hiking. Having a banana on the first day is easy as we just eat the bananas at the car as we prepare to leave but the second day is more challenging. Backpacks are not kind to bananas. I knew kids at school brought bananas in small curved banana specific containers. After striking out at the local stores I purchased two banana containers online. When the containers arrived they had a very odd banana shape having a very tight curve located closer to one end. They looked more like a hockey stick then a banana. To make sure we got bananas that would work we actually took the containers to the grocery store to size up bananas to get a couple that fit well. It was a tiny bit of extra work but the fresh bananas on trail sure tasted good on day two.
The day came for to leave for our trip. The weather forecast was a little suspect. The first day was clear but there was an increasing chance of rain on the final two days. We headed out with high spirits for the hike intending on making the best of the the weather we had. There was a lot of motivation to do the trip as it was too late in the season to book another three day trip.
What I/we learned
- Margaux’s mat that she sleeps on seemed to pull moisture through the tent floor. Purchased a groundsheet for the tent when we got home and on subsequent trips the problem seems to have resolved
- It was only a short move between campgrounds but still want to do a two night trip staying in one campground