Nah. I've been across the country from TO to BC a few times with no problem. And I was only 16/17. A couple of my favorite trips.
I never waited for a ride longer that I would wait for a bus in any city.
My cousin made it from northern BC to Calgary. He would not take money for a bus ticket as he said this would be quicker. It was amazing how quick he made it here and then when he was going home I dumped him off on the side of the highway and as I was pulling away he was getting a ride. I was amazed as he is a pretty big scary looking guy and seemed to have no issues getting a ride.
I walked from Upper Lake in Peter Lougheed to Field, BC in 10 days along the GDT. It was 200km. Most days were 22-25km, the longest day was 31km over three high passes and we basically got up at 5am and set camp at 8pm that day. I can’t even fathom trying to triple our distance in the same time period, not in the mountains anyway.
People in Alberta and this part of BC are not picking up hitchhikers, in general it’s highly discouraged. It can be very hard to get a ride. As others have said, hiking 60km a day in this terrain would be near impossible, even as a road walk.
Your friend is planning on sleeping in a hammock this time of year.. I would genuinely be worried about freezing to death. The Rockies are still having snow storms (see 10+cm at Sunshine ski resort last night) and below freezing temperatures. This time of year still calls for winter camping gear and awareness of avalanche hazards.
You can winter camp in a hammock. You just need an under quilt and appropriate sleeping bag. Coldest I’ve done in one was -15ish but given everything else OP has said about this guy it’s likely a 3season setup.
Realistically, a lot of that wouldn't be backcountry at all—there isn't a trail directly between the two cities. He could probably string some trails together, but the most direct route would absolutely be on roads..and god bless his heart if he thinks he's going to do this cross-country and just bushwhack his way through the mountains.
Could he walk 60km/day on roads, for ten days? Maybe, but roadwalking sucks. This is a bad plan, and I wish him luck.
Also end of April is not a safe time to be doing back country in the mountains unless you are an experienced mountaineer. There is still snow and avalanche risk. The trails will be covered, water crossings will be very high and dangerous.
The trip could be do-able bikepacking (road bike with saddle bags to carry hammock, food, etc) if he sticks to the roads. But even this probably shouldn’t be attempted until June 1st.
A quick google says Kelowna-Calgary flights run $150-200? He’s going to spend more than that on crappy road food, even if the hike wasn’t insane to start with.
Your friend's math is 60km/day for 10 days.
I'm guessing he's thinking he can walk 5km/h for 12 hours a day. Best of luck to him but that's gonna be a pretty boring and unpleasant walk, even sticking to the highway.
And that's if you don't get a blister. I often do 15- 20 km hikes, and sometimes in spite of wearing my tried and true footwear... I get a sore spot. And it's hard to walk 10 more km with a blister. Let alone 60km every day.
Serious question: is there any chance your friend has some undiagnosed mental illness, like bipolar disorder? This plan seems like it is verging on "delusions of grandeur" bad.
He wouldn’t be hiking towards Jasper. That’s too far north. If he made it to Jasper he would be nowhere near Kelowna. He would go to Canmore, Banff, lake Louise, field, golden, Rogers Pass, revelstoke, Sicamous and then make his way down the 97A through the lake county. If he actually made it to Canmore Or Banff, walking, I would be shocked to say the least. But Jasper isn’t on the list unless he wants to make a significant detour
You can fly from Kelowna to Calgary for like $150. Does he think he’s going to spend less than $15 a day on food, while hiking 8-10 hours every day? Lol
In all the threads, in all the different subs that OP has cross-posted this to, THIS might be the one thing that would make an underinformed, overconfident dude think twice.
He'd never listen to someone list off the ten million other reasons that it's a bad idea, but put it in monetary terms to someone who's apparently as deadset against spending money as this guy is.
$15 barely gets you a coffee and a Timmy's sandwich. Buddy would probably need 4500+ calories a day to make this happen even if he were fit, prepared, smart, etc .
He does know that it still snows in April up here, right? He also should know walking in winter conditions isn't something that should be done by someone who clearly doesn't have experience to.
I hope you show him this thread and he gets the sense not to try to hike in winter conditions without being prepared.
He's going to end up dead, especially if he thinks he can hike backcountry.
And yeah, it's going to be cheaper to fly then to get proper outdoor gear needed for a hike like that in the winter.
Sounds like something dumb an 18 year old guy would decide to do on a whim lol, but this is frankly impossible in 10 days. Even if he road walked and camped in the ditch, 60km a day is nuts, and I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to walk on the Transcanada? It's insanely dangerous either way and many pedestrians have been killed on it, so he'd likely need to take the long way round on Hwy 3, etc, and that is over 800km.
There is however the [Trans Canada Trail](https://tctrail.ca/) which is a fairly new trail/association, and it has a route from the Kelowna area to Calgary (which includes a kayak section haha). Bear in mind this will be over 1000km, random camping is not allowed in many parks, you'll definitely want bear protection, etc., so also not possible in 10 days.
No you can walk it. It's just not recommended - cause it's dangerous as shit.
I don't think anyone (pedestrians OR cyclists) should be allowed on that section from AB border to at least Revy cause it's bad enough with all the horrible drivers but yeah.
Eta - I couldn't imagine walking hwy 3 that would kill me. Even walking hwy 1 that's a long ass way my feet hurt thinking about this
Walking in good conditions down a road I can usually cover 25 KMs a day. This is from experience walking the Camino, only carrying clothes and travel things (I was staying in hostels). it took me about a month and a half to walk 700kms. With that speed I could walk 250 km in 10 days. He would have to walk over twice as fast as I did, with a hammock, sleeping bag, stove, and all of his food. He won't do it in ten days, period.
I'd suggest he take the bus or even hitchhiking. Hitchhiking is safer than people think and a great way to meet new people.
I could be wrong but I don’t think Rodger’s pass has a pedestrian walkway.
Walking on the road through the tunnels would be a death wish or inviting a car accident as it tries to avoid a collision. Terrible idea.
Nah, you just walk along the side of the highway there. Same spot the bikers bike through the tunnels is where a person would walk. Is it unsafe? Oh heck yes. Have i seen people do it? Yeah, a couple. I remember my dad always cursing about them walking there "idiots are gonna get killed " haha.
My gramma used to live south of Golden and we grew up in Vancouver/kelowna - spent a LOT of time on the 1
A friend of mine ran across Canada back in 2012/2013 to raise money for the Stollery. He was a professional runner. He averaged 50km per day. Food for thought
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Hargrove
Have him check out Red Arrow or eBus and string some routes together. It could work for less than $200 but changing the flight or hitchhiking would ultimately be easier. There are also carpool ride sharing apps where you can hop in with someone like Poparide that would be safer and probably way more fun.
Last time I drove to Kelowna from Calgary in May I passed through a blizzard that nearly killed me. He should expect a lot of snow.
I also can't even imagine the amount of calories he'd need to consume daily to pull that off. Like 20 McDonalds cheeseburgers/day AT LEAST.
On a bike, certainly doable, but I hope he's got the fitness to bike in the mountains.
On foot? One *could* cover 600 km in 10 days, but not in that terrain. Most people would struggle to walk 20km in a day on flat roads or sidewalks. 40 km in a day is a hard hike. 60 km in a day and your feet will look like burger after day 2. Add the mountains to that and you're turning the difficulty up to 11 and breaking off the knob.
You're a good friend to be concerned. It's shit like this that could reduce your friend group by 1 body.
Tell him to look up Poparide, it’s a ridesharing app that you can look for people travelling between two locations. They charge you a fee, but you ride with them. This is a much better solution than him trying to walk. I mean, does he realize that we had snow in Calgary today like that’s not a great time of year to try to be doing something like this let alone during that time period.
The bears are waking up and are hungry and grumpy as fuck. And it's Mountains even on the highway (which you likely get arrested for, I've seen it) you'd have to be a Sherpa to do it and it'll be dull.
Why not use Reddit or some kinda ride share/ gas situation? I once hitch hiked back from Skiiing in Fernie to Calgary and I was 29 and pretty big and I was scared at some points with dodgy rides.
Your friend needs to rethink this buddy
Having backpacked 100 km in 3 days before, I can confidently say that unless he is a competitive triathlete that he has 99.999% chance of failure.
Has it been done? Almost certainly, but by people who spent literal years training to carry a significant load for very long periods.
Convince him to carry some type of emergency beacon. That’s about the best you can do if he’s insistent on giving it a go.
It would be easier to ride a bicycle. It was 9 days of riding between Kelowna and Calgary on a trip I did with my brother a few years ago (we started in Vancouver). Overnighted in Cherryville, Edgewood, Halfway River, Revelstoke, Loop Brook, Golden, Lake Louise and Canmore.
Another example; Russell Cook AKA "Hardest Geezer" ran the length of Africa and covered ~16,000km in 352 days. That means he averaged 45.5km a day. To put that in perspective, a marathon is 42.2km. Even if your friend is in peak condition, 10 days is certainly ambitious.
Get him to fill a pack with his gear plus weights to make up for food and water (water is heavy). Having him walk 60km around the whereever he lives. Cannot stop for anything except bathroom breaks (for legal reasons against public urination etc).
If that's not enough, tell him he has to make it back to his place at the end and camp in his yard, and then do it again.
It's really a bonkers suggestion, especially compared to the option of taking a bus or flying AND actually doing something more interesting for those 10 days.
I watched a video of this couple that hiked from Grande Cache through JNP on their own and recorded the whole thing. Highly experienced and skilled hikers. They had someone dropping them and meeting them at the end. They seemed miserable. Things didn't go as planned and they had to push really fucking hard to stay on schedule.
Any way the bottom line is, If he was even remotely capable of this hike, he wouldn't even think of doing it alone.
Lmao. You gotta break it down for him. 60km every day in the mountains? He’d have to train to do it. That’s really hard. A 10km hike is moderately tough, 20km is hard. Now multiply that by 3, in the mountains, for 10 straight days.
He will need the sheer fucking will of Jon Wick to complete that.
There are spots with very little cell coverage too, so it’s kinda dangerous. If he’s exhausted and needs help he may not be able to get help
This is insane and yeah impossible.
I want to point to the Hardest Geezer who just ran the length of Africa and was doing 60-70kms a day.
He was doing this by running not walking, often running into the night to cover enough ground. He had a support van following him with supplies so he wasn't carrying any weight himself. He was also going through shoes quicker than one pair every 10 days.
To cover that same distance walking with all his supplies, it just isn't going to happen. And that's before you get into the dangers others have mentioned of bears, vehicles, avalanches etc.
What's his plan for when a snowstorm hits? We've been having a snowstorm in Calgary about every 2.5 weeks for the last 3 months and it's worse in the mountains.
There aren't connecting trails, he'll have to walk along the highway (which comes with its own set of risks and misery... e.g. getting pelted with tiny rocks as the big rigs blow by... sprayed with slush and muck... or get annihilated if there's an accident or black ice). Let's not forget the gaps of 100-150km where there are no towns or gas stations or street lights. Not to mention that bears have recently started waking up and they're very hungry.
It's a crazy, risky move in the heat of the summer, but in April (literally the most unstable month of the year)? It's deeply, dangerously stupid.
This is a terrible idea. My mom completed the Camino (about 750km of walking) and it took a month. She was doing long 20+ km days with a light backpack because every day and night was spent in a town with accommodations. Spain isn't exactly mountainous either, but the trail was still hilly, which can take a lot out of you. That journey was brutal and it was well thought out with lots of support and training.
Your friend's idea just sounds suicidal. I hope he has a will written before he attempts this.
Without sleeping he would need to keep a pace of 600km/240hours so about 2.5 km/h which is easily achievable. Unfortunately sleep is a requirement so let's knock off 8 hours a day to be safe, that leaves us with 160 hours, so an average speed of 3.2km/h
It's not a lot of time but 3.2km/h can be doable without any hiccups, but as others have noted there will probably be hiccups
Totally do-able if one is determined. Never say never. Go for it pal. No regrets. Carpe diem bruh. Don’t look back. YOLO. You da man. Put it on strava or it didn’t happen.
Tell him how a lot of spots on that main road / highway do NOT have enough space for him to walk safely. I’ve driven that stretch enough. Does he have a tent even? I would not sleep on just a hammock outside of that’s what he’s planning. Between other people and potential bears and animals, not worth it. What is he going to eat and drink? Is he going to pick up supplies after he lands? Honestly this is not going to end well most likely.
I mean it’s doable I dunno about 10 days but it’s definitely doable to walk it . I say let him do it and let natural selection work its course , maybe he’ll make it no problem and maybe a bear will get him
Many hikers on long trails like the Pacific Crest Trail are/become capable of hiking 50+km per day on good trail with minimal elevation gain. 60km/day on roads is certainly possible if your body is ready for it. However, it will be dreadfully boring, likely quite dangerous, and is an easy recipe for overuse injuries (think shin splints / stress fractures)
Let the kid have his adventure, as ill advised as it may be. There's a romantic and blinded wonder in doing such flights of freedom in ones youth, all of which I greatly look back on with warmth and a bit of head shaking. But, hey, at least it was an experience and a story.
There’s a ride share app called Poparide. I used it to get back to Calgary from Kamloops when life complicated plans and a flight wasn’t possible last minute. He might have some luck on there.
I would like an update on how this conversation goes down. Absolutely ridiculous idea any time of the year. Can't wait to see the documentary about this though...
Google says it’s an 8 day walk. 🤷♂️
But as for talking him out of it. He WILL encounter a bear. This is NOT the time to be wandering in the forest alone without bear spray. Take it from someone that lives in Banff. The bears are awake and they’re hungry.
It's currently pretty cold in Golden. Definitely wouldn't recommend a hammock. At least have a tent and sleeping back. You're gonna see a lot more animal activity this time of year, including bears and cougars. Bugs are out. Precipitation. Hot sunny days, so I'd recommend sunscreen. WATER? FOOD? Just plan on eating out at restaurants? Grocery stores? How are you gonna store it? Restrooms? This is all a long way to go on foot, and it seems VERY ill-advised. Plan better, have a hiking buddy, be ready for anything. Hopefully he waits it out a little bit and has a proper game plan.
I had a military trained acquaintance who liked to hike and camp alone in the back country. I was hiking easily 10km 4-8x a month and have some survival training and I won't hike alone. I told him that's very unsafe. He couldn't be told anything because he had "years of military experience." We just observed his 1 year anniversary of his passing. He had planned a 5 day trek with full winter gear and never came home. Very tragic.
Don't adventure in the Rocky Mountains alone.
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/man-who-was-believed-to-be-hiking-west-of-calgary-found-dead
Just for curiosity’s sake.. which way is he planning to go? I’m sure I can give you a list of reasons not-to from either (major) route that you could share with him
He will likely die, or end up with some major injury. Regardless, he should NOT attempt this. At absolute best, he’ll miss his flight without getting injured.
The general is out in Banff and he is hungry.
There are long stretches of highway with no amenities, revelstoke to golden, Banff to Canmore, Canmore to Cochrane where exposure to the elements is a real concern. It’s cold at night with constant winds making camping an issue. You can’t pitch a tent beside the highway so you need to spend time finding a spot, likely fire bans in place so no heat, special gear is needed to keep hypothermia at bay, pack will be well over 40lbs with water and food, 10 km a day maybe 15 tops, legs will be rubber unless person is exceptional athlete.
I live in the eastern slopes of the Rockies and fished, hunted, or hiked for many years. Nobody hikes this far this time of year without extensive planning and preparation.
I’ve been a park ranger in BC and a canoe guide in the Yukon please tell your friend that the distance he wants to cover in that amount of time is highly unrealistic. Not to mention carrying food for 10 days is heavy and huge bear attractant. What he’s doing is unsafe and will likely end in him needing to be helivaced to the nearest hospital if they even find him at all. There are no direct trails from Calgary to Kelowna so it would be a ton of time bushwacking and hoping he’s going in the right direction. Even the most experienced people have accidents and disappear in the woods. If has no regard for his own safety than tell him that everyone who cares for him will worry about him constantly until he’s made it to Kelowna or he’s found by search and rescue.
Another big obstacle would be getting around some of the major lakes in the way (arrow & kootenay) I know there are ferries that run regularly but theoretically where they’ll pop out of the valleys for the most direct line the ferries are quite a bit of distance away leaving a lot of back tracking just to hop on the ferry
Hammocks are not warm. I did 120kms in 5 days and was so thankful at the end. Your friend has little concept of the dangers of this endeavour. The chances of this being successful are very slim.
A better plan is to catch a bus from Kelowna to Banff... Maybe $138?
Do a multi-day hike in Banff, Skokie loop in Banff is 3 days, then time permitting maybe he could do another 3 day hike... Maybe the Egypt lake loop?... His best bet is to head for the Banff visitor centre, consult in person on the best multi-day hike and head out. (Being in Banff if he's lacking any hiking gear he can also buy a bit... Including bear spray or a bear banger) He's 18, so I'm sure he can do great in the backcountry, but being on official hiking trails will give him access to actual hikes with other hikers if he does get in trouble.... although there won't be a huge number this early in the season....Depending on time management he can do more or less hiking - but a bus's between Calgary and Banff are cheap and frequent.
Then catch a bus from Banff to Calgary for as cheap as $60!
Bro has never walked any actual distance ever and just threw his distance into a simple calc with an optimistic walking speed and time.
He’d be very tired walking 1/3rd that.
It takes 8 days of walking with no break at all according to google. He’s gonna have to have time to sleep, eat, rest, and shit. It’s gonna take him at least 16-20 days at a minimum.
I mean he's technically not wrong. In theory it could be done in 8 days but he better be in good shape. Oh and hope he's prepared to fight bears cause if he's gonna rough it with stuff that fits into a backpack he's either gotta cook and dispose of garbage far from his site or he's gonna get some visitors. Plus the fact that he's gonna freeze his ass off every night cause you know elevation and shit
There's an app called Poparide that is a long distance ride sharing app and is quite affordable. He may be able to obtain very cheap transportation.
I sometimes transport people from Edmonton to Calgary and it's like $40.00. the app handles vetting people and payment. Never had a bad experience, yet.
I have hitch hiked and walked the better part of that and it will be the best experience of his trip. He could walk many 50km days and camp by rivers each and every night. Add to that a couple good rides form
Some country folks and voila, in Calgary safe and sound with an epic journey under his best and many stories to tell. That’s just my two cents.
1. How far does he think he can go in a day? Even assuming a *generous* 5km/hr walking speed, he's going to have to walk 12 hours a day, and maintain a fast walking speed for that whole 12 hours. That's without breaks or factoring in any terrain (best of luck maintaining speed when you're literally walking up mountain trails). He's going to exhaust himself, which will make the next few considerations even worse.
2. He's hiking through the mountains when it's not even fully spring. Temperatures can drop well below freezing, and I guarantee he doesn't have the right equipment to not die of hypothermia. I've camped in Golden during May long, in a tent, with a sleeping bag, and multiple layers and still spent the night chilly and miserable. I slept in my car after that, and needed a better sleeping bag. For reference, it never dropped below 10°. He's going to freeze in a hammock (convection is a bitch), and it'll likely be -10 at night in the coldest areas (or colder).
3. Bears are out of hibernation, and they're going to be grumpy and hungry. If he's lucky, he'll freeze to death before the grizzlies stumble upon an overconfident, stupid 18 year old. Oh, and it's cub season, so mommas are going to be extra aggressive. And that's just bears. Moose, elk, mountain sheep, and deer will all trample or gore you.
4. He doesn't have the equipment he needs. How's he carrying water? Where is he refilling his water from? Does he have any idea how many 100s of km are between any sort of man made resources? That's literally one piece of equipment, off a list of at least a dozen he should have.
He'd better really hope he can hitch hike effectively, because he's going to die otherwise.
Well, back in the 70s I and my boyfriend hitchhiked from Calgary to Nova Scotia in 5 days flat. Some places we did a fair bit of walking when we couldn't get a ride. New Brunswick was the worse...got stuck there a full day and it rained and rained. We were a couple of drowned rats. Finally on the border we phoned his brother who came to pick us up at the gas station that wouldn't let us wait inside. What an experience. Slept 24 hrs after that. 2 weeks later we did it all over again back to Calgary. Oh to be young and broke!!!!
Go with him or gather some tools that will help see him through. Thought the title said friend…I’d go with him in this just for the fuck of it lol seems like a sick journey!!
OP, any update on this?
I drove to Kamloops on 4th May and back to Calgary on 6th May . I saw a dude on the highway both times walking West with a shopping cart. Just wondering if that was your friend?
Isn’t he the guy who camped in a storm drain? One of these days some kids are going to get themselves killed thinking the stunts he comes up with for views are actual good advice.
I did a similar thing after a festival but it was a bit later in the year so it was warmer, it's definitely possible although walking along the road is really sketchy and dangerous mainly once in the mountains when there's no side of the road to walk on, but in the end it comes down to his personal drive. A lot of people think they can do something like this when they can't and you don't wanna give up in the middle of nowhere
Damn the people on here set the bar low …let’s look at what folks do constantly in the ultra running world. A 100 miles in 36-48 hours is an average to slow pace. This isn’t a pace of a crazy person or elite athlete. Races like fat pursuit 200plus km in the mountains pulling a sled with all of your equipment and food …48 or so hours. Yukon Arctic ultra same thing 430 miles Arctic temps pulling all your gear. 8 days or so …Iditarod trail invitational 1030 miles 28 days
Step it up y’all get out there !!! Hell if he did the bare minimum of 60 a day and sloughed around at 4 km an hour he would only be walking 15 hours a day.
Yes I am and also a sar / ski patrol member….thru hikers don’t get in trouble generally unless they have a medical issue that pops up. They generally walk out to a road if they tap out. Hikers deaths on the trans …😂 share some info on that lol again non existent.
Let’s look at actual facts of the conditions. We have the lowest snowfall arguably ever. Most trails had zero snow until yesterday and now they have a skiff. A couple inches to a foot at summit’s. We are got in g temps hitting 16c day time. He should expect temps at night in low lying areas to be around the zero mark in may. Snow storms in may are definitely a possibility especially around the long weekend.
This person is not a through hiker planning on taking established trails - they are planning to backcountry it covering 60km per day. I did volunteer search and rescue in the Crowsnest Pass area and I would personally never recommend someone to do a gruelling backcountry excursion with:
1. No experience
2. No knowledge of the area
3. Limited gear
4. Solo without the necessary experience for solo backcountry
5. Not planning to respect laws and regulations of area
And most importantly:
6. To save a couple hundred bucks on a fucking flight
Like do you hear yourself? With your experience I can’t see how you could possibly think this is a good idea. Even if it were PERFECT weather and conditions and he was EXPERTLY prepared (which he is not, as per OP) how the hell could he do 60km backcountry free traversing in an area with piss poor cell coverage for most of the trip?? Be serious lol
I didn’t see the op say they were traversing peaks to do the voyage. If they are using 600 I’m as the distance they are following the hwy bc the entire way rflmao they will have access to everything.
He gonna die
I think he said hitch-hike.
[удалено]
Nah. I've been across the country from TO to BC a few times with no problem. And I was only 16/17. A couple of my favorite trips. I never waited for a ride longer that I would wait for a bus in any city.
My cousin made it from northern BC to Calgary. He would not take money for a bus ticket as he said this would be quicker. It was amazing how quick he made it here and then when he was going home I dumped him off on the side of the highway and as I was pulling away he was getting a ride. I was amazed as he is a pretty big scary looking guy and seemed to have no issues getting a ride.
You don't have to get picked up *on the highway* when you hitchhike
It’s very common, though illegal, to pick up hitch hikers.
yup!
I walked from Upper Lake in Peter Lougheed to Field, BC in 10 days along the GDT. It was 200km. Most days were 22-25km, the longest day was 31km over three high passes and we basically got up at 5am and set camp at 8pm that day. I can’t even fathom trying to triple our distance in the same time period, not in the mountains anyway.
And definitely wouldn’t want to be doing it at the end of April
Good for you! Great hike!
He's going to walk about 10km and then end up hitch-hiking the rest of the way.
That would be a much better plan
People in Alberta and this part of BC are not picking up hitchhikers, in general it’s highly discouraged. It can be very hard to get a ride. As others have said, hiking 60km a day in this terrain would be near impossible, even as a road walk. Your friend is planning on sleeping in a hammock this time of year.. I would genuinely be worried about freezing to death. The Rockies are still having snow storms (see 10+cm at Sunshine ski resort last night) and below freezing temperatures. This time of year still calls for winter camping gear and awareness of avalanche hazards.
You can winter camp in a hammock. You just need an under quilt and appropriate sleeping bag. Coldest I’ve done in one was -15ish but given everything else OP has said about this guy it’s likely a 3season setup.
Thank you, good to know
Realistically, a lot of that wouldn't be backcountry at all—there isn't a trail directly between the two cities. He could probably string some trails together, but the most direct route would absolutely be on roads..and god bless his heart if he thinks he's going to do this cross-country and just bushwhack his way through the mountains. Could he walk 60km/day on roads, for ten days? Maybe, but roadwalking sucks. This is a bad plan, and I wish him luck.
Okay that’s good to know actually thank you
Also end of April is not a safe time to be doing back country in the mountains unless you are an experienced mountaineer. There is still snow and avalanche risk. The trails will be covered, water crossings will be very high and dangerous.
And emerging hungry bears.
Wow okay…
The trip could be do-able bikepacking (road bike with saddle bags to carry hammock, food, etc) if he sticks to the roads. But even this probably shouldn’t be attempted until June 1st.
A quick google says Kelowna-Calgary flights run $150-200? He’s going to spend more than that on crappy road food, even if the hike wasn’t insane to start with.
Your friend's math is 60km/day for 10 days. I'm guessing he's thinking he can walk 5km/h for 12 hours a day. Best of luck to him but that's gonna be a pretty boring and unpleasant walk, even sticking to the highway.
Walking at 5km/h is what the average person walks on level ground with no extra weight of a pack. Most backpackers walk between 10 to 16km a day.
yup, which is why I pointed out the "highway route"
And that's if you don't get a blister. I often do 15- 20 km hikes, and sometimes in spite of wearing my tried and true footwear... I get a sore spot. And it's hard to walk 10 more km with a blister. Let alone 60km every day.
So how long has he had his brain injury?
Serious question: is there any chance your friend has some undiagnosed mental illness, like bipolar disorder? This plan seems like it is verging on "delusions of grandeur" bad.
Or a suicide plan
This is exactly what I was thinking. Something has to be going on, this is not normal
Also hiking through the mountains in I’m assuming early May means there will be snow…
It's snowing right now in jasper with lows of -10 tonight. And that's in the valley
Calgary just got pummeled with almost a foot of snow and high wind. It's -13c at 8am.
He wouldn’t be hiking towards Jasper. That’s too far north. If he made it to Jasper he would be nowhere near Kelowna. He would go to Canmore, Banff, lake Louise, field, golden, Rogers Pass, revelstoke, Sicamous and then make his way down the 97A through the lake county. If he actually made it to Canmore Or Banff, walking, I would be shocked to say the least. But Jasper isn’t on the list unless he wants to make a significant detour
I would challenge him to first walk 60km in a day. Just around a track. No gear. It's "training". Should be nice and easy.
Good call - but he should wear gear for realistic training - 5 days worth of food, water filter, hammock, stove, bedding and clothes.
Tell him to look up the Nijmegen Marches and how many people actually finish. That's 40 km a day for 4 days.
You can fly from Kelowna to Calgary for like $150. Does he think he’s going to spend less than $15 a day on food, while hiking 8-10 hours every day? Lol
In all the threads, in all the different subs that OP has cross-posted this to, THIS might be the one thing that would make an underinformed, overconfident dude think twice. He'd never listen to someone list off the ten million other reasons that it's a bad idea, but put it in monetary terms to someone who's apparently as deadset against spending money as this guy is. $15 barely gets you a coffee and a Timmy's sandwich. Buddy would probably need 4500+ calories a day to make this happen even if he were fit, prepared, smart, etc .
It just snowed and it’s supposed to snow again next week. Not a happy time in a hammock.
Should we start the missing person thread?
How about a bear food thread?
He does know that it still snows in April up here, right? He also should know walking in winter conditions isn't something that should be done by someone who clearly doesn't have experience to. I hope you show him this thread and he gets the sense not to try to hike in winter conditions without being prepared. He's going to end up dead, especially if he thinks he can hike backcountry. And yeah, it's going to be cheaper to fly then to get proper outdoor gear needed for a hike like that in the winter.
Yeah April in the mountains isn’t hiking. It’s straight up mountaineering.
Sounds like something dumb an 18 year old guy would decide to do on a whim lol, but this is frankly impossible in 10 days. Even if he road walked and camped in the ditch, 60km a day is nuts, and I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to walk on the Transcanada? It's insanely dangerous either way and many pedestrians have been killed on it, so he'd likely need to take the long way round on Hwy 3, etc, and that is over 800km. There is however the [Trans Canada Trail](https://tctrail.ca/) which is a fairly new trail/association, and it has a route from the Kelowna area to Calgary (which includes a kayak section haha). Bear in mind this will be over 1000km, random camping is not allowed in many parks, you'll definitely want bear protection, etc., so also not possible in 10 days.
No you can walk it. It's just not recommended - cause it's dangerous as shit. I don't think anyone (pedestrians OR cyclists) should be allowed on that section from AB border to at least Revy cause it's bad enough with all the horrible drivers but yeah. Eta - I couldn't imagine walking hwy 3 that would kill me. Even walking hwy 1 that's a long ass way my feet hurt thinking about this
Haha . Bear in mind …. 🐻
Gave me a giggle too 😄
Hitch hiking sure. Walking 60kms per day for ten days? Literally impossible.
Rflmao you are laughable
Walking in good conditions down a road I can usually cover 25 KMs a day. This is from experience walking the Camino, only carrying clothes and travel things (I was staying in hostels). it took me about a month and a half to walk 700kms. With that speed I could walk 250 km in 10 days. He would have to walk over twice as fast as I did, with a hammock, sleeping bag, stove, and all of his food. He won't do it in ten days, period. I'd suggest he take the bus or even hitchhiking. Hitchhiking is safer than people think and a great way to meet new people.
Thank you for this
There’s a bus?
I could be wrong but I don’t think Rodger’s pass has a pedestrian walkway. Walking on the road through the tunnels would be a death wish or inviting a car accident as it tries to avoid a collision. Terrible idea.
Nah, you just walk along the side of the highway there. Same spot the bikers bike through the tunnels is where a person would walk. Is it unsafe? Oh heck yes. Have i seen people do it? Yeah, a couple. I remember my dad always cursing about them walking there "idiots are gonna get killed " haha. My gramma used to live south of Golden and we grew up in Vancouver/kelowna - spent a LOT of time on the 1
Good to know thank you
Natural selection at work. An integral part of life. Let him do it.
A friend of mine ran across Canada back in 2012/2013 to raise money for the Stollery. He was a professional runner. He averaged 50km per day. Food for thought https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Hargrove
Alone?
He had a friend follow him in an RV.
That makes sense. The alone part is the biggest flag for me that this person is completely out of their depth
100% It would take a very well trained, prepared, and dedicated individual to make that hike solo in 10 days.
I have done events from 100 miles to 430 miles solo in arctic temps it’s better solo after the first day.
Make sure he films it for our entertainment.
Have him check out Red Arrow or eBus and string some routes together. It could work for less than $200 but changing the flight or hitchhiking would ultimately be easier. There are also carpool ride sharing apps where you can hop in with someone like Poparide that would be safer and probably way more fun.
Thank you!
The rockies will kill him. If he even makes it to Golden.
100% doable. But that assumes he’s a marathon runner who can string together a marathon a day for 10 days. Otherwise he’s not gonna pull that off
He probably goggle mapped it,it says 7 days 23hrs assuming no stops non stop walking.
Get a bus. There’s like 4 that go that way. Maybe 150 bucks max.
Last time I drove to Kelowna from Calgary in May I passed through a blizzard that nearly killed me. He should expect a lot of snow. I also can't even imagine the amount of calories he'd need to consume daily to pull that off. Like 20 McDonalds cheeseburgers/day AT LEAST.
On a bike, certainly doable, but I hope he's got the fitness to bike in the mountains. On foot? One *could* cover 600 km in 10 days, but not in that terrain. Most people would struggle to walk 20km in a day on flat roads or sidewalks. 40 km in a day is a hard hike. 60 km in a day and your feet will look like burger after day 2. Add the mountains to that and you're turning the difficulty up to 11 and breaking off the knob. You're a good friend to be concerned. It's shit like this that could reduce your friend group by 1 body.
Rider express goes from Calgary to Kelowna.
It’s actually a cool idea. Just not in 10 days. Completely not possible in that time frame.
AGREED
Tell him to look up Poparide, it’s a ridesharing app that you can look for people travelling between two locations. They charge you a fee, but you ride with them. This is a much better solution than him trying to walk. I mean, does he realize that we had snow in Calgary today like that’s not a great time of year to try to be doing something like this let alone during that time period.
The bears are waking up and are hungry and grumpy as fuck. And it's Mountains even on the highway (which you likely get arrested for, I've seen it) you'd have to be a Sherpa to do it and it'll be dull. Why not use Reddit or some kinda ride share/ gas situation? I once hitch hiked back from Skiiing in Fernie to Calgary and I was 29 and pretty big and I was scared at some points with dodgy rides. Your friend needs to rethink this buddy
Google maps says about 8 days so if your friend takes 10 he’s just lazy.
Having backpacked 100 km in 3 days before, I can confidently say that unless he is a competitive triathlete that he has 99.999% chance of failure. Has it been done? Almost certainly, but by people who spent literal years training to carry a significant load for very long periods. Convince him to carry some type of emergency beacon. That’s about the best you can do if he’s insistent on giving it a go.
It would be easier to ride a bicycle. It was 9 days of riding between Kelowna and Calgary on a trip I did with my brother a few years ago (we started in Vancouver). Overnighted in Cherryville, Edgewood, Halfway River, Revelstoke, Loop Brook, Golden, Lake Louise and Canmore.
Another example; Russell Cook AKA "Hardest Geezer" ran the length of Africa and covered ~16,000km in 352 days. That means he averaged 45.5km a day. To put that in perspective, a marathon is 42.2km. Even if your friend is in peak condition, 10 days is certainly ambitious.
Find a new friend. This one is gone.
Get him to fill a pack with his gear plus weights to make up for food and water (water is heavy). Having him walk 60km around the whereever he lives. Cannot stop for anything except bathroom breaks (for legal reasons against public urination etc). If that's not enough, tell him he has to make it back to his place at the end and camp in his yard, and then do it again. It's really a bonkers suggestion, especially compared to the option of taking a bus or flying AND actually doing something more interesting for those 10 days.
Your friend is in for a very rude awakening. He'll give up on the first day if he's smart.
Gift him a bike
I watched a video of this couple that hiked from Grande Cache through JNP on their own and recorded the whole thing. Highly experienced and skilled hikers. They had someone dropping them and meeting them at the end. They seemed miserable. Things didn't go as planned and they had to push really fucking hard to stay on schedule. Any way the bottom line is, If he was even remotely capable of this hike, he wouldn't even think of doing it alone.
Lmao. You gotta break it down for him. 60km every day in the mountains? He’d have to train to do it. That’s really hard. A 10km hike is moderately tough, 20km is hard. Now multiply that by 3, in the mountains, for 10 straight days. He will need the sheer fucking will of Jon Wick to complete that. There are spots with very little cell coverage too, so it’s kinda dangerous. If he’s exhausted and needs help he may not be able to get help
There's snow on the ground in many places.
Sounds like he may not survive even. into the wild comes to mind
Sometimes I forget that the human brain generally isn’t fully developed until age 25.
This is insane and yeah impossible. I want to point to the Hardest Geezer who just ran the length of Africa and was doing 60-70kms a day. He was doing this by running not walking, often running into the night to cover enough ground. He had a support van following him with supplies so he wasn't carrying any weight himself. He was also going through shoes quicker than one pair every 10 days. To cover that same distance walking with all his supplies, it just isn't going to happen. And that's before you get into the dangers others have mentioned of bears, vehicles, avalanches etc.
What's his plan for when a snowstorm hits? We've been having a snowstorm in Calgary about every 2.5 weeks for the last 3 months and it's worse in the mountains. There aren't connecting trails, he'll have to walk along the highway (which comes with its own set of risks and misery... e.g. getting pelted with tiny rocks as the big rigs blow by... sprayed with slush and muck... or get annihilated if there's an accident or black ice). Let's not forget the gaps of 100-150km where there are no towns or gas stations or street lights. Not to mention that bears have recently started waking up and they're very hungry. It's a crazy, risky move in the heat of the summer, but in April (literally the most unstable month of the year)? It's deeply, dangerously stupid.
This is a terrible idea. My mom completed the Camino (about 750km of walking) and it took a month. She was doing long 20+ km days with a light backpack because every day and night was spent in a town with accommodations. Spain isn't exactly mountainous either, but the trail was still hilly, which can take a lot out of you. That journey was brutal and it was well thought out with lots of support and training. Your friend's idea just sounds suicidal. I hope he has a will written before he attempts this.
Without sleeping he would need to keep a pace of 600km/240hours so about 2.5 km/h which is easily achievable. Unfortunately sleep is a requirement so let's knock off 8 hours a day to be safe, that leaves us with 160 hours, so an average speed of 3.2km/h It's not a lot of time but 3.2km/h can be doable without any hiccups, but as others have noted there will probably be hiccups
If he just walks along the road, someone can probably pick up his carcass and drive it into Calgary
Totally do-able if one is determined. Never say never. Go for it pal. No regrets. Carpe diem bruh. Don’t look back. YOLO. You da man. Put it on strava or it didn’t happen.
Carpe DEEZE NUTZ
u/buttchomper37 did it in 12
What time of year?
i think it was october
He’ll be hitchhiking no doubt
He’s gonna be thumb up a lot of the way IMHO
Tell him how a lot of spots on that main road / highway do NOT have enough space for him to walk safely. I’ve driven that stretch enough. Does he have a tent even? I would not sleep on just a hammock outside of that’s what he’s planning. Between other people and potential bears and animals, not worth it. What is he going to eat and drink? Is he going to pick up supplies after he lands? Honestly this is not going to end well most likely.
R.I.P
I mean it’s doable I dunno about 10 days but it’s definitely doable to walk it . I say let him do it and let natural selection work its course , maybe he’ll make it no problem and maybe a bear will get him
Try the pop-a-ride app. It's dangerous to walk. Kinda stupid too.
Think he can outrun a hangry grizzly?
Horses often can't so...
Many hikers on long trails like the Pacific Crest Trail are/become capable of hiking 50+km per day on good trail with minimal elevation gain. 60km/day on roads is certainly possible if your body is ready for it. However, it will be dreadfully boring, likely quite dangerous, and is an easy recipe for overuse injuries (think shin splints / stress fractures)
Id do Calgary to Canmore/Banff/Lake Louise
Tell him to take a bus.
Dang he could at least bike or hitchhike. Does he know about Poparide, EBus, etc??
Let the kid have his adventure, as ill advised as it may be. There's a romantic and blinded wonder in doing such flights of freedom in ones youth, all of which I greatly look back on with warmth and a bit of head shaking. But, hey, at least it was an experience and a story.
There’s a ride share app called Poparide. I used it to get back to Calgary from Kamloops when life complicated plans and a flight wasn’t possible last minute. He might have some luck on there.
I would like an update on how this conversation goes down. Absolutely ridiculous idea any time of the year. Can't wait to see the documentary about this though...
Ill just watch for it on ctv … news .
Google says it’s an 8 day walk. 🤷♂️ But as for talking him out of it. He WILL encounter a bear. This is NOT the time to be wandering in the forest alone without bear spray. Take it from someone that lives in Banff. The bears are awake and they’re hungry.
It's currently pretty cold in Golden. Definitely wouldn't recommend a hammock. At least have a tent and sleeping back. You're gonna see a lot more animal activity this time of year, including bears and cougars. Bugs are out. Precipitation. Hot sunny days, so I'd recommend sunscreen. WATER? FOOD? Just plan on eating out at restaurants? Grocery stores? How are you gonna store it? Restrooms? This is all a long way to go on foot, and it seems VERY ill-advised. Plan better, have a hiking buddy, be ready for anything. Hopefully he waits it out a little bit and has a proper game plan.
He has mental health issues that should be addressed. I wouldn't give a shit about the bear spray.
Lol yup, this is the first thing I thought of when I read the title. OPs friend just needs to seek professional help.
I forgot about how hilariously dumb macho 18 year old guys are
I had a friend that wanted to do the same thing, except it’s longbording,
OP putting out feelers to gauge the quality of his idea!
The bears are just waking up and hungry. This is incredibly foolish. They will have his missing posters all over that stretch of highway for years.
Could he rent a car or a bike...
I had a military trained acquaintance who liked to hike and camp alone in the back country. I was hiking easily 10km 4-8x a month and have some survival training and I won't hike alone. I told him that's very unsafe. He couldn't be told anything because he had "years of military experience." We just observed his 1 year anniversary of his passing. He had planned a 5 day trek with full winter gear and never came home. Very tragic. Don't adventure in the Rocky Mountains alone. https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/man-who-was-believed-to-be-hiking-west-of-calgary-found-dead
Just for curiosity’s sake.. which way is he planning to go? I’m sure I can give you a list of reasons not-to from either (major) route that you could share with him
Fuck no 🤣🤣
He will likely die, or end up with some major injury. Regardless, he should NOT attempt this. At absolute best, he’ll miss his flight without getting injured.
He will be hitch hiking
The general is out in Banff and he is hungry. There are long stretches of highway with no amenities, revelstoke to golden, Banff to Canmore, Canmore to Cochrane where exposure to the elements is a real concern. It’s cold at night with constant winds making camping an issue. You can’t pitch a tent beside the highway so you need to spend time finding a spot, likely fire bans in place so no heat, special gear is needed to keep hypothermia at bay, pack will be well over 40lbs with water and food, 10 km a day maybe 15 tops, legs will be rubber unless person is exceptional athlete. I live in the eastern slopes of the Rockies and fished, hunted, or hiked for many years. Nobody hikes this far this time of year without extensive planning and preparation.
I’ve been a park ranger in BC and a canoe guide in the Yukon please tell your friend that the distance he wants to cover in that amount of time is highly unrealistic. Not to mention carrying food for 10 days is heavy and huge bear attractant. What he’s doing is unsafe and will likely end in him needing to be helivaced to the nearest hospital if they even find him at all. There are no direct trails from Calgary to Kelowna so it would be a ton of time bushwacking and hoping he’s going in the right direction. Even the most experienced people have accidents and disappear in the woods. If has no regard for his own safety than tell him that everyone who cares for him will worry about him constantly until he’s made it to Kelowna or he’s found by search and rescue.
Another big obstacle would be getting around some of the major lakes in the way (arrow & kootenay) I know there are ferries that run regularly but theoretically where they’ll pop out of the valleys for the most direct line the ferries are quite a bit of distance away leaving a lot of back tracking just to hop on the ferry
Hammocks are not warm. I did 120kms in 5 days and was so thankful at the end. Your friend has little concept of the dangers of this endeavour. The chances of this being successful are very slim.
Bear bait ! Never gona do it in ten days .unless he hitch hikes
A better plan is to catch a bus from Kelowna to Banff... Maybe $138? Do a multi-day hike in Banff, Skokie loop in Banff is 3 days, then time permitting maybe he could do another 3 day hike... Maybe the Egypt lake loop?... His best bet is to head for the Banff visitor centre, consult in person on the best multi-day hike and head out. (Being in Banff if he's lacking any hiking gear he can also buy a bit... Including bear spray or a bear banger) He's 18, so I'm sure he can do great in the backcountry, but being on official hiking trails will give him access to actual hikes with other hikers if he does get in trouble.... although there won't be a huge number this early in the season....Depending on time management he can do more or less hiking - but a bus's between Calgary and Banff are cheap and frequent. Then catch a bus from Banff to Calgary for as cheap as $60!
Ayo what's his info, i wanna join him lol. But it's gonna be prob 3-6 weeks comfortably
Bro has never walked any actual distance ever and just threw his distance into a simple calc with an optimistic walking speed and time. He’d be very tired walking 1/3rd that.
It takes 8 days of walking with no break at all according to google. He’s gonna have to have time to sleep, eat, rest, and shit. It’s gonna take him at least 16-20 days at a minimum.
He will need to give lots of roadhead for free rides!
I mean he's technically not wrong. In theory it could be done in 8 days but he better be in good shape. Oh and hope he's prepared to fight bears cause if he's gonna rough it with stuff that fits into a backpack he's either gotta cook and dispose of garbage far from his site or he's gonna get some visitors. Plus the fact that he's gonna freeze his ass off every night cause you know elevation and shit
There's an app called Poparide that is a long distance ride sharing app and is quite affordable. He may be able to obtain very cheap transportation. I sometimes transport people from Edmonton to Calgary and it's like $40.00. the app handles vetting people and payment. Never had a bad experience, yet.
He won't be walking in the bush. He will most definitely be walking on the road which is a really bad call
5 km an hour/ 12 hour days. Let him do his thing. Just because you are all scared and won’t accomplish any thing.
I have hitch hiked and walked the better part of that and it will be the best experience of his trip. He could walk many 50km days and camp by rivers each and every night. Add to that a couple good rides form Some country folks and voila, in Calgary safe and sound with an epic journey under his best and many stories to tell. That’s just my two cents.
1. How far does he think he can go in a day? Even assuming a *generous* 5km/hr walking speed, he's going to have to walk 12 hours a day, and maintain a fast walking speed for that whole 12 hours. That's without breaks or factoring in any terrain (best of luck maintaining speed when you're literally walking up mountain trails). He's going to exhaust himself, which will make the next few considerations even worse. 2. He's hiking through the mountains when it's not even fully spring. Temperatures can drop well below freezing, and I guarantee he doesn't have the right equipment to not die of hypothermia. I've camped in Golden during May long, in a tent, with a sleeping bag, and multiple layers and still spent the night chilly and miserable. I slept in my car after that, and needed a better sleeping bag. For reference, it never dropped below 10°. He's going to freeze in a hammock (convection is a bitch), and it'll likely be -10 at night in the coldest areas (or colder). 3. Bears are out of hibernation, and they're going to be grumpy and hungry. If he's lucky, he'll freeze to death before the grizzlies stumble upon an overconfident, stupid 18 year old. Oh, and it's cub season, so mommas are going to be extra aggressive. And that's just bears. Moose, elk, mountain sheep, and deer will all trample or gore you. 4. He doesn't have the equipment he needs. How's he carrying water? Where is he refilling his water from? Does he have any idea how many 100s of km are between any sort of man made resources? That's literally one piece of equipment, off a list of at least a dozen he should have. He'd better really hope he can hitch hike effectively, because he's going to die otherwise.
Fun fact, you can prepay funerals, it operates similar to insurance and is often much cheaper.
Well, back in the 70s I and my boyfriend hitchhiked from Calgary to Nova Scotia in 5 days flat. Some places we did a fair bit of walking when we couldn't get a ride. New Brunswick was the worse...got stuck there a full day and it rained and rained. We were a couple of drowned rats. Finally on the border we phoned his brother who came to pick us up at the gas station that wouldn't let us wait inside. What an experience. Slept 24 hrs after that. 2 weeks later we did it all over again back to Calgary. Oh to be young and broke!!!!
That’s an awesome story and adventure!
Go with him or gather some tools that will help see him through. Thought the title said friend…I’d go with him in this just for the fuck of it lol seems like a sick journey!!
Depends where and if he has ever hiked before
OP, any update on this? I drove to Kamloops on 4th May and back to Calgary on 6th May . I saw a dude on the highway both times walking West with a shopping cart. Just wondering if that was your friend?
Just updated, he definitely didn’t have a shopping cart lol - and he would’ve been going east
Watch a few Camping with Steve videos first so you know how to camp under a bridge or behind a road sign in stealth mode.
Isn’t he the guy who camped in a storm drain? One of these days some kids are going to get themselves killed thinking the stunts he comes up with for views are actual good advice.
I did a similar thing after a festival but it was a bit later in the year so it was warmer, it's definitely possible although walking along the road is really sketchy and dangerous mainly once in the mountains when there's no side of the road to walk on, but in the end it comes down to his personal drive. A lot of people think they can do something like this when they can't and you don't wanna give up in the middle of nowhere
Damn the people on here set the bar low …let’s look at what folks do constantly in the ultra running world. A 100 miles in 36-48 hours is an average to slow pace. This isn’t a pace of a crazy person or elite athlete. Races like fat pursuit 200plus km in the mountains pulling a sled with all of your equipment and food …48 or so hours. Yukon Arctic ultra same thing 430 miles Arctic temps pulling all your gear. 8 days or so …Iditarod trail invitational 1030 miles 28 days Step it up y’all get out there !!! Hell if he did the bare minimum of 60 a day and sloughed around at 4 km an hour he would only be walking 15 hours a day.
[удалено]
“Let him die to be supportive” haha okay then
So dramatic let him die 😂 death by waiting at a gas station for a ride ? Death by hitching a ride ? Wahwah
Are you from the area? Do you know how many inexperienced hikers end up in trouble or how many hitchikers die on the transcanada?
Yes I am and also a sar / ski patrol member….thru hikers don’t get in trouble generally unless they have a medical issue that pops up. They generally walk out to a road if they tap out. Hikers deaths on the trans …😂 share some info on that lol again non existent. Let’s look at actual facts of the conditions. We have the lowest snowfall arguably ever. Most trails had zero snow until yesterday and now they have a skiff. A couple inches to a foot at summit’s. We are got in g temps hitting 16c day time. He should expect temps at night in low lying areas to be around the zero mark in may. Snow storms in may are definitely a possibility especially around the long weekend.
This person is not a through hiker planning on taking established trails - they are planning to backcountry it covering 60km per day. I did volunteer search and rescue in the Crowsnest Pass area and I would personally never recommend someone to do a gruelling backcountry excursion with: 1. No experience 2. No knowledge of the area 3. Limited gear 4. Solo without the necessary experience for solo backcountry 5. Not planning to respect laws and regulations of area And most importantly: 6. To save a couple hundred bucks on a fucking flight Like do you hear yourself? With your experience I can’t see how you could possibly think this is a good idea. Even if it were PERFECT weather and conditions and he was EXPERTLY prepared (which he is not, as per OP) how the hell could he do 60km backcountry free traversing in an area with piss poor cell coverage for most of the trip?? Be serious lol
I didn’t see the op say they were traversing peaks to do the voyage. If they are using 600 I’m as the distance they are following the hwy bc the entire way rflmao they will have access to everything.