We protect what we love

FRIDAY . 24 . 09 . 21 .

👋🏽

Good morning wonderful folks!

What a crazy week it's been. Melbourne was rocked by an earthquake, excitement is growing over freedom day (for those vaccinated) and "cows can be potty trained to use MooLoos" actually made news headlines.

To escape this week's craziness, FWP board member, operations guru and and all-round amazing human, Hilary, is taking you to Canada!

OH, CANADA 🍁

High on my list of places to explore post-pandemic is North America – I’m already mentally mapping out my van set up and compiling list of ‘must do’ trails across the expansive continent. But nowhere in my idyllic dreams of van life do record breaking heatwaves, dangerous air quality or devastating wildfires get a mention, despite that being the current reality of summer in the US and Canada. A harsher climate accompany travel plans now and into the future. But the opportunity to experience incredibly wild and rugged places isn’t going to keep me away, and nor should it you! So today I hope to transport you to Alberta, Canada to inspire some future adventures along the Great Divide.

In 2017, I travelled to the Rocky Mountains in western Canada to visit my sister and her family, whom called Vancouver home for a few years. Before moving back to Australia with their two young kids, they were enjoying a summer in Canmore - a small town nestled amongst the majestic Rocky Mountains. 

Wildfires

It was July, peak summer, and mornings were spent exploring the many beautiful trails and afternoons at the nearby Quarry Lake, (when the access tracks weren’t closed due to a bear sighting). Towards the end of my stay, catastrophic wildfires consumed British Columbia, blanketing the blue sky with harmful smoke and throwing a hazy filter over the summer sun.

Walking home from Quarry Lake, consumed by wildfire smoke

This was the first time I’d experienced poor quality air due to wildfires, which since has become somewhat of a summer staple. At the time, the correlation between increasing frequent and large wildfires was not explicitly linked to climate change, but as these ‘unprecedented’ events continue to occur, summer after summer, the impact global warming is having on our eco and weather systems is increasingly obvious, and harmful.

Before the fires

Before being resigned to watch Pepper Pig reruns indoors due to poor air quality, I had the opportunity to explore some beautiful trails around Canmore and nearby Banff. I wasn’t a trail runner at the time, and with two young kids in tow, hiking was a much more achievable, and enjoyable way to take in the incredible mountains. Anna and I would strap on a kid each and head off for the morning, jabbering away constantly to keep the bears at bay. From waterfalls to glaciers, alpine lakes and rushing rivers, there really was an endless array of incredible trails to explore. Plus, hiking with a toddler on your back made for an excellent workout, as my Australian legs weren’t quite used to the Canadian mountain terrain!

Exploring the many trails of Banff & Yoho National Parks. Takakkaw Falls (centre) is one of the highest waterfalls in Canada, and is part of the Iceline Trail

Next time

There is no shortage of epic single track around Canmore, and next time I’m keen to pull on the running vest and explore a bit more. High on the list is the Iceline via Little Yoho Trail – a 20km loop with ~1000m elevation in Yoho National Park, on the western slopes of the Canadian Rockies. We did the first few kilometres up to (the diminishing) Little Yoho Glacier which was spectacular, with vast moraines and crystal blue alpine lakes. Further east near Lake Louise is the picturesque Moraine Lake, which is swarming with tourists. But venturing just a few kilometres along any of trails will soon have you surrounded by snowy peaks, with not a soul in sight. We went as far as Minnestimma Lake, but further on you’ll find Grand Sentinal and an array of technical switchbacks with jaw dropping views across the surrounding Banff National Park.

Walking through the Valley of the 10 Peaks, en route to Minnestimma Lake

Or if I’m in the mood for life changing mission, there is always the Great Divide Trail – 1100 kilometres of trail between Alberta and British Columbia, traversing the vast wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. While I write this, I’m sitting at home with a broken leg and the Canadian Rockies feel incredibly far away. Revisiting these places memories has been a welcome distraction and provided some much needed inspiration for adventures to come! And I hope they’ve provided some travel and trail inspiration for you too!

Hilary

GOVERNMENTS INCREASINGLY BEING HELD LEGALLY ACCOUNTABLE

There seems to be a growing number of international cases that aim to hold governments to account for not doing more to address global heating. My interest in this was piqued when, late last week, I read a news article that detailed an Indonesian court found their president and other senior government officials negligent at controlling air pollution, arguing that it could cause conditions such as asthma, heart disease and lower life expectancy. The ruling obliges the president to establish national air quality standards, implement strategies to control air pollution and other measures such as periodic testing of older vehicles for emissions. You can read more about this ruling here.

This follows an Australian court ruling (in May 2021) which found the government has a duty of care to protect young people against future harm from the climate crisis. Eight teenagers, led by 16-year-old Melbourne student Anj Sharm, argued that the environment minister Susan Ley "would be breaching a common law duty of care if she used her powers under national environment laws to allow Whitehaven Coal to extend the Vickery coal mine" in northern NSW. The expansion of the coal mine had the potential to add an extra 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (about 20% of Australia's annual climate footprint) into the atmosphere. This was apparently the first time in a common law country that such a duty of care had been recognised. You can read more about this ruling here.

It's exciting that environmental responsibility is gaining traction in court.

☠︎

NEXT WEEK

We are already super excited to bring you next week's newsletter. Maj is taking you trail running in Chamonix, we're introducing you to our new logo and we have a very exciting announcement (that we've been working very hard on). Lot's happening in October! Bring it on.

Until then, thank you for taking the time for wild places.

Stay safe and connected.

Hilary, Elanor & the For Wild Places crew.

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We acknowledge the the First Nations people who have been custodians of land, waters and culture for tens of thousands of years. We pay respects to First Nations Elders past, present and emerging.

This newsletter was written on the stolen lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung people of djandak country.

To these people, we pay our respects.

Always was, always will be.

By For Wild Places

We're a group of adventurers who love to

protect wild places we run on