July/ August 2021 CORE Newsletter
Executive News
September 28, 2021 at 7 pm CORE’s Monthly Member Meeting (By Zoom)
Banff Film Festival & World Tour Program
Members join us for September’s monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 from 7 pm to 9 pm. Meeting will be open at 6.40 pm for members to socialize prior to the film festival starting. Meeting will be held virtual (by Zoom). More details regarding the type of films and a link to the zoom meeting will be emailed to members by CORE calendar.
CORE is planning a Field Winter Fun Weekend
Mark your Calendars for December 3rd to the 5th, 2021!!!
Plans are in the works to hold a CORE Winter Fun Weekend in Field, B.C. for members who enjoy x-c skiing, snowshoeing, downhill skiing or simply love the beauty of winter landscapes. Arrangements have been made with the owners of Truffle Pigs Bistro and Lodge to accommodate CORE members over the weekend. Watch for further details on the CORE calendar.
New Car Pooling Rates
Effective September 1, 2021 CORE’s executive is recommending a new rate of .30 cents per km. With the price of gasoline being much higher than when we set the contribution rate at .25 cents per km. To calculate the car pooling rate go to CORE’s car pooling and location page.
CORE 2021 Summer Weekend Event at Radium B.C.
CORE held their summer weekend event in Radium Hot Springs, B.C. on August 13 to 15, 2021. 20 members attended Hiking trips to Scrambling to Paddling a kayak/canoe on the Columbia Wetlands, with a potluck supper on Saturday night. Now we know who the singers and card sharks are!!! The weekend was a huge success. Many thanks go out to Julia, Carol and Anne-Marie who organized the event and all the coordinators who planned different events for the weekend.
Go to CORE’s photo album for more photos from the Radium weekend events (5 hikes, 1 hike and scramble and 1 paddle).
Members you can now View CORE photo albums and event calendar using your Mobile Smartphone
For mobile Smartphone users, there is a Fotki APP available for Android and IOS users, which allows members to login and view CORE photo albums. Just open the APP store on your phone and search for the Fotki App.
The CORE calendar can be accessed on your mobile phone using website browsing navigation. It is best used for viewing the calendar. Although events may be posted and edited this is best accomplished on your desktop where you have all your planning resources available.
Hiking Apps – Something for Everyone
Ever wondered when technology would reach the backcountry? The good news: it already has. There are plenty of apps and hiking companions that offer navigation and guidance without the need to be connected to WiFi. Click here for a comprehensive guide.
CORE, ACTIVITIES/EVENTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC:
CORE executive has put in place guidelines and recommendations for trip coordinators, and COVID-19 guidelines for keeping members safe, when participating in CORE activities/events. CORE executive would like to thank all CORE members that put on hikes, bike rides, urban walk’s, etc. for their club members during this unprecedented time.
Last part of Summer and the beginning of Fall is now with us. More activities are planned for the coming months. Continue to watch your emails and CORE calendar for activities/events.
Members are encouraged to read the Guidelines “Hiking with CORE in the Time of COVID-19 pandemic.”
If the province of Alberta mandates different requirements, the organization may have to make appropriate changes. If the situation changes a newsletter with the updated information will be sent to the members.
CORE Photo Album
All CORE members participating in CORE activities are welcome and encouraged to post photos taken on your outings in the CORE website Photo Albums. There are Photo Management instructions on the CORE Guides web page. If you have any trouble uploading your photos, please ask the event coordinator or other experienced CORE member. Some guidelines when posting photos:
- Post just the highlights of the event
- No parking lot photos. We should not identify members vehicles
- Do not post unflattering pictures of other members
- If you mention a person’s name, use only the person’s first name
Contacting your Executive
CORE has a couple of different purpose-oriented email addresses through which you can contact various executive members. If you have a general question’s about the club, for instance upcoming presenters planned, event, etc, please email us at mailbox@corehike.org. If it is a question about membership or joining the club, please direct your query to membership@corehike.org.
Remember that our CORE Executive members are volunteers who also have day jobs and a life outside of CORE, so please be patient if it takes a few days to respond to your queries.
ACTIVITY SCOREBOARD
Highlights of Activities/Events
Here are a few highlights from the CORE calendar of hikes from June 12, 2021 to August 31, 2021. Please visit the CORE photo albums for more pictures from recent and past activities.
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News and Notes
Canmore Has Trained Its Elk to Use the Crosswalks when in Town
Well done Canmore. Thank you to our member in sending this photo in.
Remember to get your Kananaskis Conservation Annual Pass
Remember if you are going into Kananaskis Country Provincial Park, you will need to purchase a Kananaskis Conservation Pass. Sales of the pass started June 1, 2021.
Passes are available online or can be purchased in person or by using Wi-Fi at Kananaskis Visitor Information Centers (Barrier Lake, Elbow and Peter Lougheed) and the Canmore Nordic Center Lodge. To purchase the Kananaskis Conservation Annual Pass online or for more information click on the link.
- Day Pass – costs $15 (registers one vehicle only) – day passes expire at 11.59 pm on the day the pass was purchased
- National Park Day Pass is 24 hours from date and time of purchase.
- Yearly (Annual) Pass – cost $90 (registers up to 2 vehicles) – valid for a full calendar year (365 days) from date of purchase. E.G.: You purchase an annual pass on June 1, 2021, expires on May 31, 2022.
- Note: You can change your vehicle plate number on the annual pass once per year.
- National Park Annual Pass, expires one year from month you purchased and runs to the end of the month you purchased. E.G. Bought June 1, 2021 Expires June 30, 2022.
- Both Passes: you will Not receive a hanger tag or sticker, it is done by a database holding your license plate number.
- Both Passes: when you purchase your pass, you will receive via your email a confirmation of your purchase. You can print this confirmation out and use for backup.
This pass applies to all personal vehicles stopping in parks and public lands in Kananaskis Country and the Bow Valley Corridor.
Passes do not apply for vehicles traveling thru the area without stopping and people arriving in the area without a vehicle (on foot, horseback, bicycle)
To see the Areas of Kananaskis country and Bow Valley Corridor that are affected by the new pass and to purchase your day or annual pass go to Alberta Parks website.
Note: I was at Ribbon Creek Parking lot, in Kananaskis Country, and saw a parks official taken license plate numbers and punching them into the computer. Please ensure you have purchased a pass.
Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park:
Friends of Fish Creek Park is offering different events regarding the park’s history, wildlife, archaeology and other events in the park this spring/summer/fall.
Visit Friends of Fish Creek Park event calendar for daily and weekly events.
Friends of Kananaskis Park Event Series:
For more information go to Friends of Kananaskis Park event calendar.
Trailhead Parking Security
It has been reported that car break-ins and theft has been happening at trail-head parking lots. Be sure to lock up your belongings and ensure nothing is visible when you leave your vehicle to mitigate the visibility of tempting items for thieves.
Mist Mountain and Mount Lipsett are Closed to Public Usage
Due to a grizzly sow with cubs that bluff charged hikers in this area, Alberta Parks has closed the area northeast of Hwy #40 to the west side of Mist Creek, including Mount Lipsett and Mist Mountain trail and routes. This closure is effective as of August 27, 2021 till further notice.
Rockwall Trail Closed
Effective September 5, 2021, Rockwall Trail located in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, adjacent to the Peter Lougheed Discovery Center is closed due to multiply Grizzly Bears frequenting the area. Closure is in effect until further notice.
Report all bear sightings to 403-591-7755.
Trail Closures and Trail Report Link
Alberta Parks and Banff National Park are urging people to be bear aware. There have been multiple sightings of bears, and other wildlife in the parks. Depending on which park you are in, contact either Alberta Parks (403-591-7755) or Parks Canada Banff office (403-762-1470) if you come in close vicinity of a bear, cougar, elk or wolf.
- Avalanche Canada Reports
- Alberta Parks Trail Reports
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Parks Canada Trail Report
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Greater Bragg Creek Trail Report
- Johnston Canyon Upper Falls Catwalk Closure – effective October 2, 2020
- Yamnuska Mountain closure
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Adventure Stories
For all CORE members, this spot is for you. If you have a little story to tell about something you’ve seen on a CORE outing, or some article or book you may have read that you would like to share, please send it along and we’ll publish it in the next newsletter. Keep it to a couple paragraphs, and stick to topics related to the outdoors or the environment. mailbox@corehike.org
Hither and Yon
The Story of “Boss, the Bear”
The Boss, known by his identification number, Bear 122, is an adult male grizzly, who weighs over 600lbs (272kg) and lives and hunts in the vicinity of Banff town. Estimated to be around 20 years old, he is the biggest bear in Banff National Park.
Parks Canada states “He is the boss of the landscape and he is the most dominant male grizzly in the Bow Valley and there is nothing else in the food chain that could push him off.” The Boss is a lot about size, but he also has a reputation. A few of his accolades has made him Banff’s Top Bear including surviving getting hit by a train. He has attacked a number of black bears and he has a way with the lady bears as he has fathered a considerable number of offspring.
When Banff had the heat dome on June 27 2021, he wandered into Johnston Canyon and sat in the creek and kept submerging his head in the creek for half an hour, cooling down from the heat. Then wandered off not bothering anyone, per Parks Canada spokesperson.
All these stories, along with his massive size have fed into his status as a local celebrity. There is even Boss merchandise sold at some tourist stores in Banff. Parks Canada says “The Boss spends more time around Banff and gets see more often.” A grizzly this big becomes more familiar with the local people, therefore he gets recognized more easily.
In most situations, large dominate male bears are elusive and are never seen unless on wildlife cameras or during the mating season. But the boss has become a celebrity due to his appearances and actions in Banff national park.
The boss is part of a collared tracking study of 26 local bears, with the goal of finding ways to prevent park bears from being killed by trains. Since 2000, 21 grizzlies have been killed by trains within the park, as bears spend alot of time on the tracks. The tracks serve as a fast and efficient travel corridor along the valley floor, where snow melts earlier and there are few obstacles. The tracks are also, a reliable source for food. Bears can find carcasses of other wildlife killed by trains, but grain is frequently spilled off the top of trains, which bears will feast on.
The Boss (whose collared tracking data reveals), he patrols a large area of 965 sq miles (249.9 sq kms), maintaining a presence not only in Banff but Yoho and Kootenay Parks. The tracks serve as a fast and efficient travel corridor for him. This means the Boss makes his way into Banff along the tracks. It has been said at one time, he nonchalantly wandered right thru downtown Banff, undisturbed by humans or cars.
Who would have thought, when the railroad was built, that it would not only help humans travel from coast to coast, but help the bear and other wildlife population travel as well!!!!!
A reminder of every member’s responsibility to keeping yourself and your fellow hikers safe, during this unprecedented time.
Every member in this photo is a minimum of six (6) feet/two (2) metres apart, for social distancing guidelines.
Reminders:
Bring a mask in case you cannot social distance – 6 feet/2 metres, or you need to go into an indoor area and even for use in the parking lot area.
Stay six feet/2 metres for social distancing when hiking and other events. Also, at rest breaks and lunch.
Remember, This Too Shall Pass!!