PNC Days 66-68 – Remote Canada

We followed the GDT and the continental divide north further into Canada. The trail is in a rugged and very remote area, but ATV trails, RV campers, and other backpackers have proven to us that Canadians love to get outside and enjoy their beautiful lands! This section went through Blackfoot & Ktunaxa ɁamakɁis ancestral lands.

Day 66 – GDT Mile 91.3 (PNC Mile 1,339.5) – Coleman, Alberta

For the first time since we started heading north on the GDT, we had a relatively easy trail. We mostly followed ATV trails with a few sections of gravel roads mixed in. Unlike the past few days, we did not have massive cross-country climbs to summit peaks or any bush whacking/cross country sections. Maybe I’m getting soft, because I kind of liked it. We learned that in Canada cattle guards are called “Texas Gates”. That’s a cool name! For much of the day we had excellent views of the Continental Divide towering above us to the west. It was a dry and exposed day, but the temperature never became terrible. At around 6:00 pm we arrived in the town of Coleman and got a motel room — it’s our second night staying indoors this trip. We always prefer sleeping outside and on the ground, but we decided that it would be nice to have showers, laundry, and power outlets all in the same room for a change. We had to hitchhike one town over for the grocery store, but that went smoothly and we quickly picked up everything we needed. For dinner we had a TON of grocery store snacks. Yum! We’ve realized that restaurants are often a disappointment because the portions never match our hunger these days. -T

Day 67 – GDT Mile 108.7 (PNC Mile 1,356.9) – Chips

We still had some internet chores to take care of this morning in Coleman, but we got out of town at 11:30! After a paved road walk out of town, we had a mixture of gravel roads and single track trails. The views were outstanding. We continued walking just east of the divide with the rocky peaks above us. There was a bit of haze in the air… probably from a wildfire. We carried out a huge bag of chips that we didn’t quite finish in town. It’s nice to have something extra to munch on, but they probably won’t last long. We planned to camp at an alpine lake that we saw on our map, but there was a group of 20+ girls camping there. We didn’t want to crash their party, so we filled up water and continued on to the mountain pass above the lake. We got there just before dark and ate chili for dinner. We had a beautiful star-filled sky as we went to bed. -R

Day 68 – GDT Mile 132.5 (PNC Mile 1380.7) – Camping above the trees

We woke up to an amazing sunrise from our beautiful campsite. We have become addicted to camping at high elevation, in part because of the reward when the sun comes up. The sky was glowing an orangish-pink color except where it was blocked by the peaks surrounding us. Not bad. The GDT threw its typical challenges at us: tons of ascent, uneven trail, and some challenging way finding. That said, we’re loving it. It feels like we are in a totally remote place… that’s probably because we are. There just aren’t many towns nearby, which means the mountains just go on forever. We met a few other GDT hikers on the trail today. It is always fun to meet other hikers out here. As dinner time approached, we remembered our new addiction to high-elevation camping. We pushed up to a pass above 7,000 feet and once again we plan to be rewarded with a glowing dawn sky as we wake up. For dinner we had creamy spaghetti. Yum! -T