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Great Divide Trail Celebrating the 45th Anniversary of Project: Great Divide Trail By Grace Wark, AWA Conservation Specialist he following article is based to the Great Divide Trail. I admired Jenny Scouts of Canada in 1966, it was brought to on the stories found in the col- and her account of that summer. She was life in 1968 in the mountain national parks by T lection ‘Tales from the Great one of six undergraduate students, all under Jim Thorsell, Lake Louise’s first Park Natural- Divide’ (2019) as well as Dr. Jenny Feick’s the age of 21, who risked limb if not life, ist. After a season of assessing Waterton Lakes presentation at the 2019 Great Divide to spend a summer outdoors. They hiked, National Park’s trail system for his master’s Trail Association annual general meeting identified routes, and survived on what she degree, Jim proposed to his director at Parks (AGM). Thank you to Jenny, the Orig- called “Protein-ette.” Canada that similar surveys be conducted for inal Six, and the many others who have This year is a milestone one for Project: the remaining mountain national parks. Jim’s worked tirelessly for the Great Divide Great Divide Trail; 2019 marks 45 years since inspiration for the Great Divide Trail came Trail and Great Divide Trail Association, the Original Six conducted their feasibility from the American academics that started the for sharing your stories. study. While they weren’t the first to trail- Appalachian Trail. He thought that Alberta There’s something delightfully paradoxical blaze the Great Divide, their work helped and BC’s longitudinal geography gave rise to about hiking with close friends in the back- pave, or rather map, the way for today’s an excellent north-south hiking opportunity. country. There’s a balance of good company well-established and internationally known With Parks Canada’s support, Jim spent two and isolation, and a stillness that may be bro- long-distance trail. years surveying trails along the Great Divide ken in a moment’s notice by the vibrant life In the 1960s, the Great Divide Trail (GDT) in Banff, Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay Nation- around you. was only an idea. First proposed by the Girl al Parks. To Jim’s surprise, Jean Chrétien was My most recent trip was filled with those distinctive backcountry moments. I enjoyed a gruelling, winding switchback, saw my first pikas and westslope cutthroat trout, dipped my toes in a frigid tarn, and enjoyed the dis- tinct satisfaction of dropping my pack at the end of the day. That backcountry trail offered a taste of our remaining wilderness; a trail that while winding through untamed coun- try, offered me the reassurance that comes from regular trail markers. This September, I attended the AGM of the Great Divide Trail Association (GDTA), a group well-known for maintaining, protect- ing, and promoting over 1,100 kilometres of trails along the Continental Divide on the Alberta-British Columbia border. The AGM featured a presentation by Dr. Jenny Feick, one of the “Original Six” from Project: Great Divide Trail. Jenny spent a summer as a young Have you ever looked down at a backcountry trail and wondered how it got there? Today, the Great Divide adult surveying potential trail routes between Trail (GDT) is a world renowned long-distance trail along the Alberta-British Columbia Border. In 1974, six Waterton and Banff as a southern extension students were doing their part to make this possible. PHOTO © AWA FILES. WLA | Dec 2019 | Vol. 27, No. 4 | FEATURES A7 enthusiastic about his trail plans. Chrétien did this to better their chance of receiving tion for these lands had been recommended then was the Minister of Indian Affairs and it. The $400 budget for three months of as early as 1896 in order to safeguard Alber- Northern Development. But, Parks Canada food afforded them very little in the way of ta’s water supply, and was officially legislated scrapped the proposal over concerns that luxuries. At the time, Cliff’s father was the for its management as a Forest Reserve under trail shelters would cause overcrowding in manager of Sunshine Ski Area and had an the Forest Reserves Act of 1964. It wouldn’t Banff’s understaffed backcountry. account with a local grocer. While the stu- be until later in the 1970s that management However, this wasn’t the last word on es- dents weren’t able to afford the nicer prod- measures such as A Policy for Resource Man- tablishing the Great Divide Trail through ucts sold to the ski chalet, they were able agement on the Eastern Slopes (1977) and Ka- the national parks. While Jim Thorsell’s trail to acquire items like Hamburger Helper, nanaskis Country (1979) would start to pro- plans weren’t approved, Jim’s route became canned mackerel, and peanut butter, not mote conservation in provincial lands amidst popularized after being published in the to forget the “Protein-Ette” textured soya. the Rockies. Canadian Rockies Trail Guide by Brian Patton It came in the glamorous flavours chicken, Project: Great Divide Trail concluded with and Bart Robinson in 1971. beef, or ham. Much of their summer re- the submission of the group’s final report in It wasn’t until 1973 that a young Cliff volved around food, its limited supply and 1974. But, the work didn’t end there. Cliff White was inspired by Jim Thorsell to ex- how to make the most of your last remain- White continued to assess the data and in- tend the Great Divide Trail south of Banff ing package of Protein-Ette, dried gravy, de- formation they had collected that summer; towards Waterton. Armed with enthusiasm, hydrated mashed potatoes, pepper, and a he used it for his thesis at the University of Cliff enlisted the help of his fellow University sulphur water spring (a dish lovingly named Montana. Jenny, Dave Higgins, and Mary of Calgary Geography students, Jenny Feick the Cliff White Special or Midnight Gruel). Jane would go on to present their findings and Mary Jane Kreisel (neé Cox). They ap- With backpacks of dried goods, maps and to various groups in 1974 and 1975. They plied for an Opportunities for Youth (OFY) equipment, the team was now equipped to raised awareness about the project and the grant from the federal government. Their start their long trek. They divided into three need for further action, including establish- ambitious goal, “survey every trail, seismic groups of two. Each group was assigned an ing the GDT as a protected corridor. In 1976, line and road” within their 2,000 square mile area for the week to carry out their work. the torch was passed to the Great Divide Trail (5,180 km2) study area, reaching to either They would work five days a week, travel Association. Incorporated in April 1976, the side of the Great Divide. Their plan was to 15 miles a day (24 km), and got little rest GDTA sought to bring the trail design to life. document historic trails, inventory cultur- on their weekends in the Kinnear’s back- One of the early members of the GDTA was al and historic features, and map, by hand, yard. There they spent most of their time Dianne Pachal, AWA’s first Executive Direc- a potential route for the Great Divide Trail. replenishing packs and planning the next tor. For three seasons, Dianne was part of the With the grant’s approval in 1974, Project: week’s hikes. In the end, each person had initial trail crews that laid the groundwork Great Divide Trail could officially begin. covered roughly 500 miles (805 km) re- for the actual establishment of the Great Di- It didn’t take long for Cliff, Jenny, and Mary sulting in 3,000 miles (4,828 km) hiked vide Trail. In less than ten years, dedicated Jane to convince others to spend a summer in total. Just thinking about that distance volunteers established 150 km of the trail getting paid, in part, to hike in the Rockies. made my legs ache. network. Their work included bright orange In the words of Dave Zevick, who could turn Where Project: Great Divide Trail converged trail blazes to mark the way and registration down “$90 a week; all the bologna you can with AWA’s work in the 1970s was in the proj- boxes. They even built bridges. eat .” The final crew consisted of six: Cliff ect’s astute observations and ground-truthing The GDTA has experienced its own chal- White, Jenny Feick, Mary Jane Kreisel, Dave of industrial activity on the Eastern Slopes; lenges in keeping the trail maintained. In the Higgins, Chris Hart, and Dave Zevick – on conservation just happened to be an unin- 1980s the trail suffered collateral damage the condition he would provide a car. An- tended outcome of Project: GDT. The group from industrial logging. Parts of it have been other student, Peter Kinnear, had initially had never set out to be outspoken wilderness taken over by motorized trail users. Financial planned to join the team, but was drawn advocates, but once they began to witness support has waxed and waned. And, there away to a job that would better support his what they called “The Devastation”, there never seems to be enough hours for even next year’s tuition. However, through Pe- was no way to separate the project from the the most dedicated to accomplish as much ter the team found an incredibly important overdevelopment that flanked their trails. Oil as they hope to. However, the GDT’s resur- home base at Peter’s parent’s home in Cole- drums turned over in the riverbed, massive gence in the late-1990s and early 2000s has man.
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