As I emerge from an Internet rabbit hole of freeze-dried dog food, tent materials and accessories, as well as recommended alternatives on my hiking route, I realize that the exciting, intense, and sometimes stressful period of preparing for the hike has begun. I’m lucky to have done long hikes before, encountering many landscapes, climbs and weather situations, so I’m not too worried about overcoming some challenges. Still, it is a new path and one that is considered “hard” compared to others.
This summer, I will hike half of the Great Divide Trail in the Canadian Rockies with my dog Ksanka. She is a 3-year-old Border Collie mix that I adopted a year and a half ago from a shelter in Idaho. She’s enthusiastic, agile, and a tireless runner, so I’m curious to see if we can use up her energy on any of our hiking days.
The only time I saw her tired and ready to be in the tent was after a day of relentless rain hiking in Montana (she’s pretty thin, which means she doesn’t have much fat to keep her warm; she was wrapped in space blankets and extra clothes at the end of that day).
The Great Divide Trail runs 1,100 km from the United States border at Waterton Lakes National Park to Kakwa Provincial Park north of Jasper, exactly 54 degrees latitude. Our chosen section runs from the southern tip at the US border to Field, BC, totaling about 550 km. Our current plan is to complete this section in 23 days, including two “zeroes” (hiker slang for rest days with 0km covered).
Hikers who have considered a GDT hike will know that obtaining the required campground reservations is the biggest hurdle in GDT planning. As a hopeful hiker, one should be online the day Parks Canada reservations open in February and quickly reserve several campsites that fill up quickly. We had a stressful morning in February, updating the waitlist and keeping all the notes on hand to reserve the spots needed for our hike. That also means that, unlike other hikes like the PCT, you need to know in advance where you’ll be each night of the GDT hike. It’s almost impossible to plan for all the things that could slow down (or move forward) a hiker on a long trail, but until the GDTA can resolve this with Parks Canada, that’s the thing to do. I think it would really increase the popularity of the trail when those agencies can put together a general permit!
As for logistics, we’ve booked a trip with a friend to Alberta and hope to hitchhike the last leg to Waterton on our first day. The inaugural section is the short 6km walk from Waterton village to the border and back (12km in total), camping in Waterton. A fairly comfortable start with many accessible amenities… after that, the more serious travel begins!
For more information about this hike, see the GDTA website.
Thoughts and plans for my team will be discussed in my next post! Additionally, I will share my food preparations for the dog and myself separately. For now I’m going through all my gear, hiking clothes, and memories of things that worked or didn’t work on previous hikes! 😁
Happy trails!
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