Great Divide Nature Interpretation

18/07/2025

It's

It's not every day that you see marmots going at it like they've walked into a cage match at an MMA tournament.

I don't know why they were fighting (exercise? play? dominance?) but it was very entertaining to watch

12/07/2025

Mountain goats!

My group and I saw this nanny and her young-of-the-year kid on today's guided hike. You can see that the nanny is midway through her "spring" moult (in July!), with lots of winter fur to still come off.

07/07/2025

It’s .

Lake O’Hara was today’s destination, and the Cavagnaro family was putting up their best Marvel poses on the Yukness Ledge alpine route. Super fun and beautiful day up there, with beautiful colours in the lakes and wildflowers.

02/07/2025

We're approaching the one year anniversary of the fires that were so catastrophic for the town of Jasper.

There will be some "one year on" stories in the next few weeks, and I thought I'd share one published last month by my colleague Kirsten Schmitten, who runs All Things Wild Inc. Jasper. Kirsten has been watching the changes in the landscape surrounding the town, and highlights how life is returning.

Part 1: Pioneer species on a fire-affected landscape Driving into the park a month after the 2024 Jasper Wildfire, we braced ourselves for a charred-earth landscape. Emotions of loss, devastation, and trepidation followed us in. So when we passed vibrant patches of green grasses springing from newly...

02/07/2025

A happy Canada Day on the trail today.

05/06/2025

It’s , and the big excitement up at Lake Louise yesterday was a grizzly bear with a pair of brand new cubs.

I caught a wonderful view of them at the back of the lake in the avalanche pathways, but they were too far away for a photo.

They made their presence known, however, with a big pile of grizzly bear s**t on the trail down the lakeshore across from Mount Fairview.

**t

19/05/2025

It’s .

Walking on the frozen lake bed of Moraine Lake today. Lovely.

Hiking season is just around the corner…

17/04/2025

My spring newsletter is out, hot off the presses, with stories about cycling on the Bow Valley Parkway, the new fireguard in Lake Louise, and some of the most impressive glacier photographs you'll ever see.

https://www.greatdivide.ca/cycling-on-the-bow-valley-parkway-lake-louises-new-fire-guard-the-international-year-of-glaciers-preservation-and-more/

15/04/2025

What is the surest sign of spring?

For me, it’s the explosion of prairie crocuses on grassy slopes that face the sun. These photos are from Calgary on the weekend, but I’m now on the lookout for crocuses in Banff as well.

Hiking season isn’t too far away! I’ve still got a few dates available in early June.