KANANASKIS COUNTRY – A rockfall hazard is delaying the reopening of a popular trail in Kananaskis Country that has been closed for several months due to construction activities.
On Friday (Feb. 10), Alberta Parks announced it was lifting closures for Goat Creek day use area and connecting trails, including Ha Ling and others, but said closures for Grassi Lakes would be extended until summer 2023 due to rockfall hazard near the west side of the upper lake.
The areas were closed in April 2022 to undertake much-needed improvements to trails, parking and public transit access through a $4 million infrastructure project funded by revenues from the Kananaskis Conservation Pass.
Alberta Parks’ regional director of Kananaskis Michael Roycroft could not confirm an exact reopening date for Grassi Lakes, but said it is likely to be much sooner than what was announced as Parks has a mitigation plan in place for the rockfall hazard.
“It will result basically in a relocation of the end of the trail experience to be a little bit closer to the other side of the lake,” said Roycroft. “It will still give plenty of access to the lake and will still give people a chance to go through a gate if they have proper equipment like helmets.
“It’s not preventing any access, but it simply will give people very clear guidance on what the risk is from a rockfall hazard above.”
The rockfall is due mainly to erosion. Water, including snowmelt, is absorbed by porous rock such as sandstone and limestone, where it can then freeze and expand, causing chunks to separate.
While it is a natural occurrence, in this case, one large chunk of rock did fall near the west side of the upper lake which has created some instability in the surrounding rock face.
As per provincial plans, when Grassi Lakes reopens to the public, the main trailhead parking lot will be paved and expanded from about 50 parking stalls to 120, with six new additional washrooms. Portions of the trail have also been refurbished and the overflow parking lot is now paved, with additional parking for oversized trailers and buses.
The main parking lot is also being reconfigured to allow for a transit loop. Roam public transit is expected to launch its route to Grassi Lakes by 2024, further easing traffic and parking pressures to the popular hiking destination.
“That will facilitate a regular transit service during the busier periods in the summer,” said Roycroft. “That will give people another opportunity to get to their favourite hiking trail without having to drive their car.”
Road crossings and trail connection between overflow and mains lots for Grassi Lakes, and Goat Creek have also been added to reduce the number of trail users walking on nearby roadways.
“The work we’ve been doing over the last year or so at these two sites will put us in a great position to accommodate visitor use over the next five, 10, 15 years,” said Roycroft.
“We all saw how busy sites across Kananaskis Country got during the COVID-19 pandemic and we saw that day use areas like Goat Creek, like Grassi, just became overwhelmed.”
Roycroft recalls one Saturday early in the pandemic when Parks observed 550 vehicles in one of its parking lots that had capacity for less than a tenth of that number.
“We needed to do something different, and even though usage has dropped a little bit off what we saw during the pandemic, we are still seeing a trendline of increasing use,” he said
According to Parks, K-Country saw 4.2 million visitors in 2022 and had record-breaking visitation in 2020 and 2021, with more than five million visitors each year. With steadily increasing visitation has come increased pressure on existing trails and facilities. The improvements to Grassi Lakes and Goat Creek aim to ensure the sustainability of some of the region’s most popular trails while conserving the landscape and protecting the environment.
The gravel parking lot at Goat Creek, which used to accommodate about 60 vehicles, is now paved and has 240 parking stalls, with additional features for shuttle services and larger vehicles. Public restroom capacity at the trailhead has also doubled and two pedestrian bridges wiped out by the 2013 floods along Goat Creek Trail have been replaced.
“The little bit of Goat Creek that runs from the parking lot down to the Banff National Park boundary was pretty nastily wrecked in the flood – bridges got washed out, there were some major gullies that crossed trail paths,” said Derek Ryder, Friends of Kananaskis Country communications director.
“It’s a small portion of the trail, maybe about a kilometre and a half, but with the trailhead being closed it was one of those great opportunities for Parks to go in and fix it.”
Trail closures are still in effect for Junkyard Trail, and Reclaimer and Riders of Rohan mountain biking trails. Also closed are the Grassi Lakes and Ha Ling climbing areas, as well as the East End of Rundle (EEOR) climbing area, though the EEOR scrambling route has reopened.
Ryder, a vocal advocate for mountain safety, advised trail-goers to do their research before heading out to any one of the recently reopened trails or routes, or whenever venturing into the outdoors.
“It’s important to know the EEOR route that reopened, is a scramble, not a hike,” he said. “Knowing the difference and how to prepare can be a matter of life and death. That route has been the site of a few fatalities and accidents over the years.
“It’s highly braided in lots of places, so if nobody’s gone up there since it opened, you’re kind of making your own route.”
The term braided refers to when trail users create multiple paths that all go in the same direction and then split off and rejoin the main trail or route.
“Ha Ling is not like that, it’s a well-designated trail with well-built switchbacks,” said Ryder. “And avalanche risk is mostly, but not entirely mitigated until your above treeline.
“EEOR is a different story … and there’s some very, very steep sections that will be deep with snow and icy at this time of year.”
In an announcement last week, Alberta Parks said those planning to visit any of the recently reopened trails should expect winter conditions, including deep snow at higher elevations, and to be aware paths may not be as packed down as normal due to limited foot traffic in the area.
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. The position covers Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country.
