The Hiking / Backpacking Thread

[foshizzle11]

I am a bit of a newbie to back country camping but would love to start adventuring a bit more to get to some more remote areas for fishing. I was wondering what our resident CPers think of taking my dog along with me. She would love to, but I don't want to do something that wouldn't be safe. She is a medium sized dog (55-60 lbs), loves the outdoors and would have no issues joining but is it safe, in regards to bears and cougars?

[GGG]

Originally Posted by foshizzle11

I am a bit of a newbie to back country camping but would love to start adventuring a bit more to get to some more remote areas for fishing. I was wondering what our resident CPers think of taking my dog along with me. She would love to, but I don't want to do something that wouldn't be safe. She is a medium sized dog (55-60 lbs), loves the outdoors and would have no issues joining but is it safe, in regards to bears and cougars?

Bring a leash and keep your dog on it. Dogs add risk of encountering a bear when off leash as Bears will chase them back to you. However dogs will help you in a bear encounter provided you are willing to let your dog be potentially killed by a bear.

If your dog won't lose its #### when encountering a bear and will back away slowly with you then there is no added risk to you or your dog.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

Cascade and Temple are very technical and dangerous because of the falling rocks. Not sure I would do those solo. Lot of risk there if there were an injury.

But you are the second person with the opinion it's not rewarding. Might have to see it for myself.

I missed the solo part. Cascade is definitely more technical and less climbed so you are right there. Temple has 1 short technical section that's got a back log of people at it so I wouldn't see that one as a higher risk to do solo.

I didn't summit Rundle, got turned back due to weather but won't be going back. Although I don't have a completionist streak or summit fever.

Borgeau is another one I'd do before Rundle and is basically a walk up with no risk. 1 mile of elevation though.

[stampsx2]

Originally Posted by GGG

Borgeau is another one I'd do before Rundle and is basically a walk up with no risk. 1 mile of elevation though.

Borgeau really caught my attention till I read it's a 25km round trip. Those ones are pretty much sunrise to sunset with no time for error. But thanks for the recommendation.

[foshizzle11]

Originally Posted by GGG

Bring a leash and keep your dog on it. Dogs add risk of encountering a bear when off leash as Bears will chase them back to you. However dogs will help you in a bear encounter provided you are willing to let your dog be potentially killed by a bear.

If your dog won't lose its #### when encountering a bear and will back away slowly with you then there is no added risk to you or your dog.

Thanks, ya we would have her leashed. She is pretty nervous around other large dog breeds and backs away no problem. I have no doubt that she would risk her life to save ours if it came down to it, so I don't mind the added security having her around. If she was on leash I would have no issue getting her to turn and walk slowly the other direction. That I know is something that would need to be done.

I have friends who don't think it is a good idea at all to bring your dog hiking in bear/cougar areas because of the risk of luring in a bear and because I don't know 100% sure how she would react, I am hesitant but would like to try it none the less.

Does anyone else have any experience with this?

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by foshizzle11

Thanks, ya we would have her leashed. She is pretty nervous around other large dog breeds and backs away no problem. I have no doubt that she would risk her life to save ours if it came down to it, so I don't mind the added security having her around. If she was on leash I would have no issue getting her to turn and walk slowly the other direction. That I know is something that would need to be done.

I have friends who don't think it is a good idea at all to bring your dog hiking in bear/cougar areas because of the risk of luring in a bear and because I don't know 100% sure how she would react, I am hesitant but would like to try it none the less.

Does anyone else have any experience with this?

Lots. Having your dog in the back country is a fantastic thing. It's wonderfully bonding for you and your dog...a great shared experience. And it's not very dangerous in the big picture. Quite frankly mountain bikers have more to worry about than your dog. Pay attention to your surroundings. There are areas where you can be relatively certain there are no bears in sight...up above the trees or on passes. And other areas that would be disastrous to surprise a bear and where you have no way of knowing what is around the next corner. You will find your rhythm and it will be lots of fun for you both.

[newts]

A friend of mine has launched a website http://www.10hikes.com

Thought I'd share. Basically details and assesses the 10 best hikes in the regions they cover.

[stampsx2]

Originally Posted by newts

A friend of mine has launched a website http://www.10hikes.com

Thought I'd share. Basically details and assesses the 10 best hikes in the regions they cover.

In my opinion your friend should be making more websites. It's clear and to the point. If you have a day off you can pick a hike by distance, time or elevation. It's not crowded with detail but gives more info if you need it, like weather. Even has a map with the trail locations and how to get there and where to park.

Really well done. Hope he adds many more trails.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by newts

A friend of mine has launched a website http://www.10hikes.com

Thought I'd share. Basically details and assesses the 10 best hikes in the regions they cover.

The websites cool but the hiking ranking isn't great. No one of any ability should do the Lake Agnus tea house. It looks like it just grabs the hiking list of the parks website

[stampsx2]

Originally Posted by GGG

The websites cool but the hiking ranking isn't great. No one of any ability should do the Lake Agnus tea house. It looks like it just grabs the hiking list of the parks website

Ranking is impossible. There's too much differences in abilities. Some like technical, some elevation gain, some distance, some views etc etc. Then there's novice and expert hikers.

It's like ranking the best pizza in calgary. Everybody's going to have a different opinion.

[Wormius]

The design is nice and clean.

I think I would like to see something along the lines of features/scenery along the hike. Eg) creeks/waterfalls/ponds/glacier views/etc.

I try to pick hikes that have some variation in the scenery. If it's just a 20km path through trees, then I would pick another hike.

Should differentiate the two Glacier National Parks a bit more clearly. When I think Glacier, I am thinking BC Rockies, not necessarily Montana considering the proximity to the other hikes on the website. Not a biggie though.

Edit: actually it looks like the Glacier National Park hikes are a mix from Montana and BC (see Iceline Trail and Iceberg Lake).

[marsplasticeraser]

Thanks for sharing my site Newts and for the feedback guys. I rarely post, but I'm on CP pretty much every day.

I did 10Hikes precisely for some of the concerns you raised about 10Hikes. What is out there now is so subjective and random, and trying to figure out what to do takes a lot of time, and usually a guidebook is better than what is online. My goal is that 10Hikes can replace guidebooks as well as open people up to new hiking areas.

The problem right now is that most sites allow anybody to contribute. This means there is a lot of junk and it's hard to figure out what is true. Furthermore, it shows everything. I don't want to spend 6 hours in the trees to see a stream, I want to be efficient with my time. I can't trust the info on other sites.

So 10Hikes only focuses on the best. We go to a region and talk with rangers (actually - most are summer students and don't know much), asking locals (they know a lot more) and chatting with other hikers (they know the most). This way we are able to focus our time on hiking the best and making sure they're great. We only chose the best for our site, and try to have a balance from easy (1/5) to hard (5/5).

We've spent the summer out in the mountains (though I've been back in Calgary for over a week sick). An interesting part is that every area has very similar named places. There are Paradise Valley's, Helen Lakes, Iceberg Lakes in almost every mountain range! Who know the original explorer's were so unimaginative!

Anyways, hope you guys like it. Please share more feedback, I really appreciate it.

BTW - if you haven't headed down to Glacier in Montana you gotta go. It's about 3 - 3.5 hours to get down there and I was astounded how beautiful it is. All the great hiking is on the East side of the park, not the West near Whitefish (as I had done in the past).

[stampsx2]

^^^ more opinions?

Please don't overrun it with Ads or worse yet popups. Ruins the website. Makes it slower to load and ugly. Can't think of a better way to ruin a good thing.

[marsplasticeraser]

I agree on the advertising stampsx2. I can't stand websites with tons of ads and I feel it takes away from the experience. I had so much push-back while developing the site from others insisting that I needed advertising all over the place.

I wouldn't have done 10hikes if it was just a vehicle to sell Google Adwords - that would be a waste of my time and energy. The goal is to do something that is useful for others and really interesting to do. Hopefully I can do this without ever needing advertising and 10hikes can become a way for others to get out in nature as well as explore parts of the world.

[Buzzard]

I think it's a good, handy website, but any site with light text on dark background makes my eyes bleed for hours.

[OMG!WTF!]

I kinda wish people would leave Chester Lake alone. It's on all the "best hikes" lists and "don't waste your time" sort of books. It's totally mangled by all the traffic now. Just send em to Headwall lake. Make em pay.

[Magnum PEI]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

I kinda wish people would leave Chester Lake alone. It's on all the "best hikes" lists and "don't waste your time" sort of books. It's totally mangled by all the traffic now. Just send em to Headwall lake. Make em pay.

No! Headwall is my go-to pack a lunch and jump in a lake hike. I avoid Chester like the Plague because there's way too many people.
It's hilarious, the parking lot will be full and you'll only see a dozen or so people doing Headwall.

[TomLeeMC]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Great bump worth.

Anyone ever go up to Landslide Lake out west of Nordegg?

Yes! Great place, I haven't hiked it from the interpretive trail but have done it from the Cline. Also, Lake of the Falls is a really good one too, great fishing there. If your heading up to Landslide and camping out make sure to make the trek to Hidden lake (more great fishing) just a little further up the trail. If you need, grab the Hiking the David Thompson guidebook from Valhalla Pure and you will have an endless supply of trails in the Nordegg area.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by TomLeeMC

Yes! Great place, I haven't hiked it from the interpretive trail but have done it from the Cline. Also, Lake of the Falls is a really good one too, great fishing there. If your heading up to Landslide and camping out make sure to make the trek to Hidden lake (more great fishing) just a little further up the trail. If you need, grab the Hiking the David Thompson guidebook from Valhalla Pure and you will have an endless supply of trails in the Nordegg area.

We did it the last couple of days.

What a great hike/lake. The fish were nearly jumping out of the lake.

Thanks for the book recommendation. I will pick it up next week.

[Swift]

I must be the only one experiencing issues with that website, because no one else mentioned it. On each trail, a large triangular set of photos pops in from the left obscuring the text.

On crappy IE at work.