Sat, Apr 27 2019 - Wild About Nature: Plant Lecture + Plant Walk + Dinner + Evening Hike (View Original Event Details)
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We set out to learn about wildflowers and returned in the first big blizzard of 2019.
With a leisurely start, we headed out to Canmore for the Wild About Nature festival at the Canmore Nordic Centre. This will likely be an annual event put on by the Interpretive Guides Association (IGA), who were also celebrating their 20-year anniversary. We spent an hour browsing the booths, which included the COC (thanks to all of you who stopped by), Parks Canada, the ACMG, Canmore Cave Tours, and more. Door prizes were incredible: a night at Chateau Lake Louise in summer along with buffet and other things, cave tours, bike rentals, IGA gear, and more (I’m still waiting for my call for the Chateau ;-) ).
Our first event was a lecture on the cultural knowledge of plants. It was more like an anthropology class, but learned interesting things about different smudging in different regional areas, and more.
The highlight of the day was the guided walk led by Julie Walker (for those of you who asked, this is her website: Full Circle Adventures). It was the perfect day for that, as the cloudy sky brought out the colour in the flora and fauna. We learned about a bunch of plants, tasted some, and came back with a whole bunch of interesting knowledge: how to make coniferous tree tea, differences between moisture-filled and dry berries, seeds, resin and its properties (anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-septic), how to use plant components for waterproofing (i.e., canoe repairs, waterproofing boots), vitamin content of plants, and salves. Would love to go on more of these to learn more.
At the end of our guided walk it started to snow lightly and with the moisture felt much colder than it was (0°C). We went for dinner at the Rose & Crown to warm up. Great conversation with a great group. It sounds as though this group has been all over the planet! After dinner half our group parted ways, while half of us set out to to a small post- dinner hike at the Yamnuska Natural Area. The goal when the event was posted was to see if we recognize those plants we learned about earlier in the day.
And this is where the real adventure started. The road out of Canmore (1A) was just wet, so nothing unusual. We parked, donned some rain gear, and set out to see a lake. Snow was deeper and the wind just made it unpleasant. It has been wicked windy on hikes in that area for the past two weeks, but wasn’t quite expecting this wind in the valley bottom. Once we reached the first lake (a mere 500m from the car) we had decided that was enough and to leave it for another day. As we packed up, a conservation officer was doing his rounds and informed us that the Trans-Canada highway was closed between Calaway Park and Calgary. A bus had rolled. As we were on the 1A anyways, we decided to head back via Cochrane. Still nothing unusual on the roads and it was just wet as we left. 23km west of Cochrane the fun began, with temperatures around -3°C and big loads of snow turning to ice. I think it may have taken us 40 minutes to go like 8km, but we were always moving. Listening to updates on the radio, the 1A between Cochrane and Calgary got closed before we got into Cochrane. Stopped in Cochrane to pick ice off the car, then decided to head south towards Springbank and try that way. We got stopped just before the Trans-Canada (where the road was literally an inch- deep sheet of ice), had a quick chat with a fireman, who allowed us to continue that way, just having to promise that we wouldn’t go onto the Trans-Canada. Springbank Road was alright until a car ahead couldn’t get up ahead. Then the plow couldn’t get up it, then more cars got stuck. So we went to plan D and went to lower Springbank. Got excited once we were at least within the city limits, and worked our way towards Sarcee. The uphill on 17th Avenue was closed, the hill of Bow Trail was closed, and uphill side of Sarcee was closed. Miraculously we were moving the entire time, and although we took a very circuitous route, made it home. Passed probably 100 vehicles in the ditch, a car facing our direction on our side of the road, a jack-knifed truck on 17th Ave, other cars stalled on the side of 17th Ave, and other winter driving oddities :-). For the record, yes, conditions deteriorated very quickly later in the evening (an emergency alert came out just as we had passed Cochrane), but those who drove to the conditions seem to have managed fine. Here’s a video taken the morning after: Trans Canada.
It wasn’t a strenuous day out in the mountains, but an adventure to remember for some time.
Thanks for sharing in this day,
everyone!