My last experience camping was on the May 24th weekend some 5 or so years ago. Upon leaving the campground after 3 days of shivering in the cold and getting soaked by the rain, packing up a flooded camp on the last day and loading as much mud as there was equipment into my freshly detailed car, I decided that I was never, ever going to camp again. Ever.

Directions for such a statement: “Insert foot into mouth. Proceed to eat words”.

Having since moved to Alberta and seeing an impromptu 3 days off during the week, with a terrific forecast on the radar, we decided to head off into the wild blue yonder and camp in the mountains. It was a great chance to reconnect with nature, do lots of hiking and scrambling, and just plain relaxing too.

My style of camping isn’t necessarily what the average Albertan would think of as camping. There exists many a camper out here who would define camping as sitting around a big fire outside of a big tent, with as much beer as can fit into the truck. Oh yeah – and guns. Possibly fishing poles too.

Now, that isn’t what every camper is like by far. The sheer number of campgrounds (and variety of amenities therein) in Alberta is massive. Looking at a back road map, you will see campgrounds dotting the road every few kilometres. And that’s if you’re not the truly hard core backcountry camper, who hikes in all your gear, pitches a tent wherever there is enough space, and breaks camp the next morning only to hike further in and pitch camp another 20kms away the next day.

This camping trip was somewhere in between the “guns and beer”, and “backcountry isolation” styles.

We had the entire campground to ourselves; a really special treat for me, but not terribly uncommon in Alberta given the grandiose geography of the area. Each morning we arose, cooked up a fabulous breakfast using both stove and fire, and then left the campsite for yonder. Using a map book we sought out the trails that nobody thinks of hiking. We followed canyons, looked for caves, hiked to waterfalls, and searched for fossils. Each day held 5-7 hours of hiking and exploring before returning to camp for a gourmet meal cooked over an open fire.

What struck me more than anything else on this trip is how massive the mountains are. I don’t mean just the sheer size and grandeur of each individual mountain; I mean how big the mountain ranges are, and how many tiny undiscovered pieces of paradise you can find therein.

We weren’t even in Jasper or Banff National Parks, which are the typical “touristy” destinations for anybody wishing to get away to the mountains. We were off the beaten path near Nordegg, just beyond the frontal range of the Rockies. In our immediate area there were no less than 3 dozen trails, hikes, backcountry adventures, fishing lakes, you name it.

On one particular hike we happened upon, we followed the deep and spectacular Coral Creek Canyon as it wound up, down, around, and through the mountains. We hiked the trail maybe a quarter of its 42km length, and even beyond the trails ending the path keeps going. And going. The isolation and peace is inspirational and arresting all at the same time. I stopped a few times to consider just how remote we were, and we were only on a day hike. Imagine camping 42kms from the nearest road, the nearest cell phone signal, the nearest sign of civilization.

I trust my partner’s backcountry skills implicitly and I’m learning a ton about it myself. We plan on doing some ultra-light backcountry trips in the near future, and I’m getting weaned into it slowly but surely. The city girl in me is slowly being taught that there is more than city life in this world, and it can be truly beautiful!

And the city girl in me certainly took a break from the city life even during this brief car-camping excursion. I got used to bathing in frigid river water (if I bathed at all – ick!), chopping wood in order to make meals, and eating something even if it fell on the ground or got dirty (eewwww! 3 second rule!).


I learned techniques for not attracting bears to the campsite, which was probably one of my biggest fears 100% of the time we were in the wilderness. The big furry creatures instil fear in many a mountain traveller out here, as there are many to be found. They’ll come to your campsite, they can even track you while you are hiking with lunch in your pack. Using the proper awareness and prevention techniques are imperative, and even when you encounter them on the fly there are a number of things you can do to prevent the incident from escalating. Contrary to popular opinion they aren’t out to get us.

And although I didn’t see a single bear, I wonder if one saw me. The isolation of the entire trip gave me pause to consider some of these finer points of survival in the wilderness.

It also gave me a respect for those who settled the west when it was the “wild west” (which wasn’t so long ago). It is a beautiful, immense, grandiose, and foreboding place to be. You must have your wits about you, and thick skin to boot.

But if you’re up for it, hiking and exploring the mountains of Alberta is the experience of a lifetime, and provides insight and inspiration for anybody, including born-and-raised city girls like me.


By: Nora Dunn, http://www.freedom30.blogspot.com/
Nora Dunn is a Travel Writer and Professional Hobo originally from Toronto, Canada. She sold all her worldly possessions to travel, discover, inspire, and educate. She currently has no fixed address.

Nora is searching for Travel adventures beyond the ordinary.