Bragg Creek: Trailhead Community Article by the Bragg Creek Trails Association Photography by Dr. Robert Berdan except where noted

Mighty forces forged the mountains of 200 million years ago when tectonic plates thrust and folded rocks into pre-glacial peaks. Scoured 12,000 years ago by kilometre-thick, million-year-old glaciers and shaped ever since by Mother Nature and Father Time, the mountains and foothills of K-Country, as most people call it today, have always been a powerful place.

Trails have historically crisscrossed the local landscape, with the Stoney-Nakoda, Siksika, Blood and Kootenai First Nations all having deep connections to Kananaskis. The name comes from the Cree “Kin-e-a-kis” – the name of a warrior who survived an axe blow to the head, and chosen by Captain John Palliser 150 years ago to guide his expedition through the spectacular landscape. The historic Stoney Trail ran from Rocky Mountain House south to the Fort Macleod area, passing through the Bragg Creek area.

White settlers came to the area around 1885 and named Bragg Creek after two brothers, Albert and John Bragg, who came from Collingwood, Nova Scotia, in their early teens. Like most early settlers, they did not remain though, finding life hard and farming and ranching too difficult. From the 1920s, the area became popular with weekend and retirement visitors, who were gradually turning the small settlement into the year-round trails community that it remains today.

Bragg Creek’s position as a trails community was cemented when former Premier Peter Lougheed officially inaugurated Kananaskis Country and Kananaskis Provincial Park in 1978. The multi-use area of K-Country on the eastern slopes of the Rockies has since become known as Calgary’s playground, and for a good reason. The rolling Prairies to the east soon transform into friendly foothills full of lodgepole pine, aspen 22and spruce that offer both shade on hot summer hikes and shelter from the cold northern winter winds. South and west- facing meadows harbour wood lilies, paintbrush, asters and fleabanes in the summer, and the Chinook winds scour them clean in the winter to provide a good grazing habitat for elk and deer.

Ten kilometers west of Bragg Creek, the West Bragg Creek provincial recreation area opens up an expansive trail network that offers a multitude of year-round activities. West Bragg Creek trails stretch north to Sibbald Flats on the historic Tom Snow Trail, which is now part of the TransCanada Trail system. To the west, trails link to Moose Packers trail and stretch up to 2,437 metre-high Moose Mountain towering over the region. As an annual summer ritual, many hikers scramble to the summit, where a fire lookout platform provides a perfect lunch With the development of the new All-Season Trails, spot for viewing the jagged peaks of the Fisher range to the opportunities abound for non-skiers to use West Bragg Creek west. Strong mountain bikers can ride the Mountain Road and trails for winter recreation. If skinny skiing isn’t your activity, up Moose Packers to gain access to the treeline, where they more and more people are discovering why the West Bragg can drop their bikes and hike the last two kilometers. Hikers Creek All-Season trails are perfect for winter snowshoeing, can drive west of Bragg Creek on Highway 66 to the Moose dog walking, trail running, and even winter mountain biking. Mountain Road, where they can park in the upper parking lot for the 6.3-kilometre route to the top. A multi-stakeholder public advisory committee led by the GBCTA collaboratively developed the All-Season Trails Plan The West Bragg Creek area was originally conceived primarily to provide for the expansion and upgrading of the West as a winter crosscountry ski area with trails like Sundog, Bragg Creek Trail System to better meet the needs of all Crystal Line, Elbow Trail, Moose Loop and Telephone Loop, types of nonmotorized users, while reducing impacts on the providing 45 kilometres of foothill skiing through gently local watershed. The Plan includes operating 40 kilometres rolling hills, meadows, aspen groves and dense pine forests. of new world-class summer trails for hiking, biking and Watch for deer, moose, coyote and rabbits. Look for the horseback riding, eight kilometres of new snow shoe trails, saucer–sized footprints of shy cougars that frequent the 17 kilometres of new ski trails, and the widening of an area. The ski season can start as early as November and existing ski trail for skate skiing and other improvements. stretch into April, with trails groomed in partnership between Parks staff and volunteers with the Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association (GBCTA). 23 The Trails Association organizes volunteers to build and maintain the extensive trails network. ______This page, middle right: this team of seven volunteers, under the leadership of Bryce Hleuka (centre back), built 100 metres of all-season trail from scratch in one day. Top right: the team at work. 24 To date, 41 kilometres of new trails have been constructed since 2010 by the GBCTA, with 33 kilometres of All-Season Trails completed, a 5.4-kilometre snowshoe loop, and a two-kilometre ski trail. Over $300,000 has been raised, and over 4,000 volunteer hours have gone into the development of the new trail system that is designed to be sustainable for year-round use.

Markings on aspen bark made by Moose These new multipurpose trails are turning West Bragg Creek into a world-class destination with activities for mountain bikers, hikers, and horse riders. Rising high above the valleys onto sandstone ridges with windswept viewpoints, trail users keep an eye out for eagles, Peregrine falcons, and hawks soaring on thermals high above trails like Long Distance, Ranger Summit and Snagmore.

Black bears are frequently seen in West Bragg Creek, and Grizzly bears show up occasionally and prompt trail closures, whenever they pull down a moose on the aptly named Moose Loop. Of course, smaller, less intimidating animals also make a living in the forest and meadows. Look for squirrel middens littering the pine forest floors. Fishers, ermines, and martens are also occasionally spotted year-round. Beavers ply their trade in their watery underworld, creating ponds that attract more birds and mammals alike.

Under construction since the summer of 2013, the new Bobcat trail will connect the West Bragg Creek trails via Ranger Summit to the Tom Snow and Ridgeback trails further southwest, accessed off Highway 66. This network of trails centred around Station Flats includes old standbys like Sulphur 25 Spring, Tom Snow, and Elbow Trail. Over the last few years, the Calgary Mountain Bike Alliance has expanded the network by building the multi-use Ridgeback trail, which takes trail users out of the lower Tom Snow Trail and high onto the ridges above Ranger Creek.

For thrill-seekers, the Moose Mountain Bike Trail Society has built a network of downhill mountain bike trails that satisfies all those with a need for speed and big air. Pneuma will get your heart pumping as it climbs from Highway 66 up to the top of Moose Packers. Then drop onto Race of Spades or Special K and link back down to 66 with Ridgeback. Or take T-Dub, Shaft, Jean Guy, Billy Dog or Toothless in a thrilling descent to Ing’s Mine road. But don’t worry; if you’re not up to 20-foot gap jumps and railing 10-foot-high ramps, you can always take Family Guy back home.

A few kilometres down the road, Prairie Creek and Powderface Creek trails originate from Elbow Falls, a popular picnic site for many Calgarians. The tough hike up Prairie Mountain is enough to challenge most hikers, and is likely to leave your quads screaming at the end of the day.

Further west, at the end of Highway 66, lay the big mountains and even bigger trails. Crossing into the Don Getty Wildland Provincial Park and the Elbow-Sheep Wildland Provincial Park, hundreds of kilometers of trails beckon hikers, scramblers, mountain climbers, horse riders and backpackers. The names here are iconic and well- known to Albertans: Banded Peak, Little Elbow/Big Elbow Trail, Forgetmenot Mountain, Wild Horse Trail (yes, there really are wild horses), Powderface Ridge, and Nihahi Ridge are all world-class hikes worthy of any calendar. The scenes are big and the views even bigger, thanks to the Volcano Ridge trail leading to the spectacular 140-metre-deep abyss of Three Point Creek, where bighorn sheep look like white specs on black shale stretched across the canyon. ______

All photographs on this and the following spread courtesy of 26 the Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association. The Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association maintains the cross-country trails throughout the winters, ensuring that they are in best possible condition for all to enjoy.

27 This is wild country with mountains rising almost 3,000 metres GBCTA is currently working on a connector from the school to the high, and where plants and animals struggle daily to survive. Bragg Creek Provincial Park to create roughly a seven-kilometre While Highway 66 is closed west of Elbow Falls from December trail circuit. 1 to mid-May to provide critical winter habitat for ungulates, that doesn’t stop the hard-core trail users, who continue to flock to Another key link in Bragg Creek’s trail network currently under the area to hike or ski the road, trail-run, or snowshoe around development is a link from the hamlet to the West Bragg Creek Powderface Creek and Prairie Creek. trails. As part of the TransCanada trail, the GBCTA hopes to have the trail built in time for ’s 150-year sesquicentennial celebration in 2017. It will be a fitting tribute to a community that has evolved into a trails paradise for all to enjoy. For maps and more information on the Bragg Creek trails mecca, please visit www.braggcreektrails.org or watch the associated video below. We look forward to seeing you on the trails! –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Closer to home, the GBCTA is working with the Hamlet and Bragg Creek Trails video tour available at: www.braggcreek.net/trailhead Rockyview County to extend the network of trails from Bragg Creek westward to K-Country. The GBCTA built the popular Centennial Trail linking Bragg Creek to the Bragg Creek Provincial Park just southwest of the hamlet. Unfortunately, part of the trail was washed away in the 2013 flood along with the historic Trading Post, where the trail began. Efforts are currently underway to rebuild the Centennial Trail, enabling hikers to wander along the river before stopping in for ice-cream and café lattes. The Banded Peak trail links the hamlet to the Banded Peak school, and the

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