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Backcountry Bliss in the Canadian Rockies

Article Description:
====================

The idea of an Alberta hike – as a family – began last spring
when my husband and I decided we desperately needed a challenge:
Something that would recharge our sluggish lives, reunite us a
family and test each individual's staying power.


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824 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line
Distribution Date and Time: 2006-12-05 15:00:00

Written By: Travel Alberta
Copyright: 2006, All Rights Reserved
Contact Email: mailto:travelalberta@...



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Backcountry Bliss in the Canadian Rockies
Copyright (c) 2006 Travel Alberta, All Rights Reserved
Written by: Travel Alberta
http://www.travelalberta.com




Consider these "optics" (as my children are wont to say). To
arrive at this rustic wonder, called Skoki Lodge (on National
Geographic Traveler's Top 10 backcountry getaway list for 2004),
we had to slog over two mountain passes, traverse around a lake –
being mindful of the boot-sucking boggy bits that can happen on
any early-season hiking trail. "So what?" you sneer. Belt that
challenge out to my triumphant eight- and eleven-year-old and
they'll tell you this was no beaten path in the woods to some
Xbox-loaded resort.

The idea of an Alberta hike – as a family – began last spring
when my husband and I decided we desperately needed a challenge:
Something that would recharge our sluggish lives, reunite us a
family and test each individual's staying power.


Rocky Mountain Hiking

With gaiters wrapped around our boots we slowly plodded north up
the valley from Temple Lodge (the daylodge at the backside of
Lake Louise Ski Resort, two hours from Calgary, where this Banff
hiking trail begins), cutting through groves of delicate larch
trees which thinned out as he hoofed over Boulder Pass. Behind us
was the last vistage of Lake Louise and at the toe of our boots
was the confluence of several high alpine valleys,
glacier-spackled peaks and Ptarmigan Lake.

Skoki, meaning swamp by a local First Nations group, sits in a
high alpine valley, cradled between the peaks of Skoki, Fossil
and Pipestone mountains. Far removed from roads, the area was
first scoped out by Swiss guides in search of a safe, protected
swatch of the Rockies – aimed at gonzo skiers who weren't
adverse to working for their turns. If these creaky floorboards
could whisper I'm sure they'd tell tales of Banff's hiking
trails as well as the many mountain legends like Jim Deegan who
managed the lodge in the 40s. Deegan is said to have skied the
38-km round trip from Skoki to the townsite of Lake Louise every
day during the winter of '46, lugging in perishables. My
favorite is the day he was hauling in a 115 lb. quarter of beef
with a leg sticking out of his pack. The story goes that half way
down Deception Pass, Deegan fell and the protruding leg knocked
him out cold. It was two hours before he came to and dragged
himself down this Banff hiking trail to the lodge.

"So we can do it," I holler to my little clan in the swirling
wind at the top of Deception Pass, having just repeated this
motivating tale. With hoods laced up in the wind we skipped down
into the valley scanning the woods for the idyllic lodge we'd
heard so much about.


Skoki is a Classic Banff Hiking Trail

"There it is," yelped our youngest. "It's not a mirage (a new
word we had just been discussing), I really saw the cabin." But
then we'd turn a corner, haul out our hiking map, and the vision
of a candle-lit END would vanish. For 10 long minutes that image
of Skoki taunted us until there it was – a shadowy scene out of
Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Yes, our eight-year-old had to
test all six mattresses in our cabin, all overstuffed chairs in
the lodge and . . . well, I could say porridge but I'd be
fibbing. Our welcoming dinner at the end of this five-hour Banff
hiking trail was a feast of silky pork tenderloin (drizzled with
a sweet berry sauce), stuffed grilled peppers, a yam bake and a
fresh mixed green salad followed by a lemon torte swimming in a
raspberry sauce. The quality of food has always been high at
Skoki with homemade breads a given and hearty breakfasts the
perfect send-off before embarking on another Banff hiking trail.


With boots off, a glass of wine in hand and a place near the
great stone fireplace you realize this is the real thing, the
perfect terminus to end a classic Banff hiking trail. As Skoki
manager, Leo Mitzel, said later that night: "Skoki still gives
people what it always has . . . a sense of perspective. Maybe
it's the simplicity of it all or the fact it's surrounded by
nature but I think it's a place where you can make sense of
things."

Plus, adds the man who has spent most of his 37 years working
with horses, "certain types of travellers seek challenges and
want to accomplish things . . . when you're standing on top of
Deception Pass you get to take credit for that."

I was reminded of that later when 10 of us adults gathered around
the candlelit dining room table to swap stories about, well . . .
other Banff hiking trails, travels, life and art. Time at Skoki
is one of those great equalizers where folks from all
socio-economic backgrounds somehow, astonishingly, find common
terrain which always makes me wonder if visits here are more than
happenstance.





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Copyright (c) 2006 Travel Alberta, All Rights Reserved

Travel Alberta (http://www.travelalberta.com) is the destination
marketing organization for the Province of Alberta. Guided by the
Strategic Tourism Marketing Council, Travel Alberta is the steward
for the effective delivery of tourism marketing programs. For
information about our organization, please visit our Travel
Alberta industry web site at http://industry.travelalberta.com


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