logo
  • News
    • Community
    • Local Government
    • Sports
    • Alberta Politics
    • Opinion
    • Deke
  • Events
  • Jasper Builds
  • Peaks & Valleys
    • Wildlife
    • Hiking and Climbing
    • Biking
    • Fishing
    • Snow Sports
  • Culture
    • Jasper Arts & Culture
    • Local Dining
    • Local Literature
  • Jasper History
  • Support
    • News
      • Community
      • Local Government
      • Sports
      • Alberta Politics
      • Opinion
      • Deke
    • Events
    • Jasper Builds
    • Peaks & Valleys
      • Wildlife
      • Hiking and Climbing
      • Biking
      • Fishing
      • Snow Sports
    • Culture
      • Jasper Arts & Culture
      • Local Dining
      • Local Literature
    • Jasper History
    • Support
“Historic” maintenance project sees volunteers tackle Great Divide Trail
Hiking and Climbing, Peaks & Valleys
By Bob Covey
Sunday, September 23, 2018
“Historic” maintenance project sees volunteers tackle Great Divide Trail

Through-hikers of the Great Divide Trail are applauding recent volunteer efforts in Jasper National Park to clear a severely overgrown section of Maligne Pass.

Besides being known as an historic section of trail in JNP, Maligne Pass is part of the 1,100 km GDT trail network which traverses the Canadian Rockies from Waterton National Park to Kakwa Provincial Park, northwest of Mount Robson. For years, up until this August, when the Great Divide Trail Association (GDTA) was granted permission to clear the Trapper Creek area, Maligne Pass had seen little to no trail maintenance. Formerly designated as “decommissioned” by Parks Canada, the status has since been updated to “abandoned,” meaning existing trail infrastructure will not be removed, but no maintenance will be performed.

In July, GDT through-hikers Jake Pickering and Mandy Hagen had been anticipating some unpleasant walking as they made their way north of Poboctan Pass, but still weren’t prepared for what they ran into. Sharp, stiff, hip-to-head-high willows and dwarf birch scratched their legs and grabbed at their packs. For kilometres, the trail was completely obscured—posing not just potential navigational challenges, but tripping hazards, not to mention increasing their chances of getting surprised by a grizzly bear. At certain points, Hagen said they were pushing through the wiry branches with their entire bodies.

“It was a frustrating bit of trail,” she said. “The lack of maintenance in the Maligne Valley felt unnecessary and preventable, and did not add much positive to my GDT experience.”

Having said that, both Hagen and Pickering—two of an estimated 60 hikers who trekked the GDT this summer—were elated when they learned that last month, the GDTA got the green light to start clearing the trail near Trapper Creek campground. It took a full year for the paperwork to go through, but on August 11, together with the Jasper Trails Alliance and the Friends of Jasper National Park, GDTA volunteers hacked, snipped and chopped willows for a full day. Despite the 17 hardy souls busting their humps, their work only amounted to 200 metres of cleared trail.

“It was the tip of the iceberg,” said Brad Vaillancourt, director of the GDTA. “If the park likes the work we did and continues to want us to open up those meadows, we feel the justification is there.”

The GDTA was granted permission to clear roughly 6.5 kilometres of trail in the Trapper Creek area, unfortunately, heavy rain spoilt the group’s plans for a second day of volunteer work. Still, the work they did achieve was, in Vaillancourt’s eyes, “historic.”

“For two non-profit trail organizations to go in and do this type of work is significant,” he said.

Maligne Pass isn’t the only section of the Great Divide Trail that’s notoriously gnarly. Through-hikers who make it out of the Howse Pass section, from Conway Creek to the Glacier Lake trail junction, in Banff National Park, tell tales of hundreds of wind-fallen trees, dangerous river crossings and thick, unrelenting overgrowth.

“The forest grew thick and brutal as it cut more into our skin and our souls,” blogged Nicola Winter, a GDT hiker who has done the 4,260 km Pacific Coast Trail, the 5,000 km Continental Divide Trail from Mexico to Canada, and the entire Te Araroa Trail, a 3,000 km hike from the tip of New Zealand’s North Island to the bottom of the South Island. “This was 159 per cent harder than any day I have had on a trail so far.”

Although the horrible travel in Howse or Maligne passes didn’t dissuade Winter and her GDT partner from carrying on, Vaillancourt says such experiences can put an unfortunate blemish on the trip for others. After all, the point of the GDT is to help connect people with nature, not make them hate it.

Valliancourt and the through-hikers are hopeful that more partnerships for improving the GDT in the national parks can be formed, so that one day, more people will be able to experience the magic of the wilderness.

“People won’t care about something they haven’t experienced,” he said.

“And once they care about it they will want to protect it.”

Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

Articles You May LIke ›
Most Read ›
PHOTO GALLERY: Faces of Folk Fest
Arts & Culture
PHOTO GALLERY: Faces of Folk Fest
Bob Covey 
Monday, September 8, 2025
The 2025 Jasper Folk Music Festival marched into town on Friday, September 5. The two day festival was a weekend of whimsy and well-deserved respite f...
this is a test
MOJ receives disaster recovery award
Local Government
MOJ receives disaster recovery award
Joel Baglole, guest contributor 
Friday, September 12, 2025
The Municipality of Jasper has received the Disaster Recovery Institute Canada’s (DRI Canada) Award of Excellence. The honours were bestowed on the mu...
this is a test
Alberta teachers announce strike notice
Alberta Politics
Alberta teachers announce strike notice
Bob Covey 
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Teachers will walk off the job October 6 unless they can come to contract terms with the provincial government. On Wedensday, September 10, Alberta Te...
this is a test
School board chair to pass the torch
Community
School board chair to pass the torch
Bob Covey 
Thursday, September 11, 2025
Long-serving Jasper school trustee Dale Karpluk will not run for re-election in October. Karpluk, who was first elected in 2017 and who for the last f...
this is a test
Latest ›
Rebut the Rebuttal: Do Mark Hall’s criticisms ‘bear’ up to scrutiny?
Alberta Politics
Rebut the Rebuttal: Do Mark Hall’s criticisms ‘bear’ up to scrutiny?
Mark Bradley 
Monday, September 1, 2025
Mark Hall’s reaction to my article on the newly legalized practice of hunting bears with dogs started with the statement that it ‘relies on emotional ...
this is a test
Robson Valley Mushroom Festival to spore no detail
Arts & Culture
Robson Valley Mushroom Festival to spore no detail
Georgia Ristivojevic 
Friday, August 29, 2025
Make room for mushrooms this September 26-28 in B.C.’s fertile Robson Valley. The Robson Valley Mushroom Festival , spore-headed by longtime Jasperite...
this is a test
Tip to tip provincial bike ride for Search and Rescue
Biking
Tip to tip provincial bike ride for Search and Rescue
Bob Covey 
Thursday, August 28, 2025
A team of cyclists riding from Alberta’s southern border to where the province meets the Northwest Territories passed through Jasper on Tuesday, Augus...
this is a test
On the roof of the Rockies
Hiking and Climbing
On the roof of the Rockies
Cameron Jackson, freelance contributor 
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
A father and son’s five-year journey to summit mighty Mount Robson From a distance, Mount Robson looks like something painted onto the horizon. Mount ...
this is a test

NEXT ARTICLE

Jasper ultra-runner grieving fellow athlete’s death

Hiking and Climbing, News, Peaks & Valleys

Most Read ›
PHOTO GALLERY: Faces of Folk Fest
Arts & Culture
PHOTO GALLERY: Faces of Folk Fest
Bob Covey 
Monday, September 8, 2025
The 2025 Jasper Folk Music Festival marched into town on Friday, September 5. The two day festival was a weekend of whimsy and well-deserved respite f...
this is a test
MOJ receives disaster recovery award
Local Government
MOJ receives disaster recovery award
Joel Baglole, guest contributor 
Friday, September 12, 2025
The Municipality of Jasper has received the Disaster Recovery Institute Canada’s (DRI Canada) Award of Excellence. The honours were bestowed on the mu...
this is a test
Alberta teachers announce strike notice
Alberta Politics
Alberta teachers announce strike notice
Bob Covey 
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Teachers will walk off the job October 6 unless they can come to contract terms with the provincial government. On Wedensday, September 10, Alberta Te...
this is a test
School board chair to pass the torch
Community
School board chair to pass the torch
Bob Covey 
Thursday, September 11, 2025
Long-serving Jasper school trustee Dale Karpluk will not run for re-election in October. Karpluk, who was first elected in 2017 and who for the last f...
this is a test
Latest ›
MOJ receives disaster recovery award
Local Government
MOJ receives disaster recovery award
Joel Baglole, guest contributor 
Friday, September 12, 2025
The Municipality of Jasper has received the Disaster Recovery Institute Canada’s (DRI Canada) Award of Excellence. The honours were bestowed on the mu...
this is a test
School board chair to pass the torch
Community
School board chair to pass the torch
Bob Covey 
Thursday, September 11, 2025
Long-serving Jasper school trustee Dale Karpluk will not run for re-election in October. Karpluk, who was first elected in 2017 and who for the last f...
this is a test
Alberta teachers announce strike notice
Alberta Politics
Alberta teachers announce strike notice
Bob Covey 
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Teachers will walk off the job October 6 unless they can come to contract terms with the provincial government. On Wedensday, September 10, Alberta Te...
this is a test
“Meltdown” exhibitors hope art appreciation trickles into climate action
Arts & Culture
“Meltdown” exhibitors hope art appreciation trickles into climate action
Peter Shokeir, Local Journalism Initiative 
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Visitors to the Columbia Icefields have a new way to step into the world of glaciers. An interactive art installation featuring landscape photography,...
this is a test
This site complies with Jasper requirements
Contact us
Privacy Policy
Advertise With Us
About The Jasper Local
Accessibility Policy
Support

Follow Us

Advertise with us

Measurable, targeted, local. Email example@thejasperlocal.com

ePaper
coogle_play
app_store

© Copyright The Jasper Local