Old Highway Right of Way

On Sunday September 18th Arturo and I took a drive up to Banff National Park.  We stopped near the Big Bend, and walked the old Highway Right of Way.  This was the route of the original Icefields Parkway.  This winding and narrow section of highway, with its three old bridges, was eventually replaced by the current highway and the huge steel arch span over Nigel Creek.  The old highway is a nice relaxing hike, and I've done it a couple of times before.

The North Saskatchewan River disappears into a cleft in the rock right near the Big Bend.  It drops into a narrow canyon that must be over 100 feet deep.  You can't see the bottom, and can barely hear the rushing water below.  The first old bridge, dated 1938, spans that canyon a few dozen yards from the new highway.

The old right of way winds through the forest and at one point there is an old highway turnout at a viewpoint.  This overlooks a waterfall that I have since learned is called Oh Wonder Falls.  It is on a small creek that feeds into the North Saskatchewan River.  The water levels were actually quite high and the falls were roaring quite loudly.  We didn't walk down the steep trail from the viewpoint this time.

The right of way circles around through the trees and eventually crosses the North Saskatchewan again at a second bridge... this one dated 1939.  It is at this point that the river emerges from that deep, narrow canyon and continues down into the broad valley below.

A short distance further on there is a third bridge, also dated 1939, that spans Nigel Creek.  This creek comes down off Parker Ridge and joins the North Saskatchewan below.  These old abandoned bridge structures are quite interesting and we took a bunch of photographs.  Along the way there was also an old wreck down the embankment from the right of way.  It rests upside down in the trees, and largely untouched.  It appears that the driver lost control, or perhaps bailed out before hitting a sharp corner, and put the car into the trees.  My friend Chris did a little research on this and found that the car is a 1951 Hudson, that was originally purchased from a used car dealership in Calgary.  He found mention of an accident in the area in an old newspaper from around that time, though it didn't provide much detail.

On the way back to the cottage we stopped briefly in the Spreading Creek burn, but didn't end up taking any additional photos.  The water level in Abraham Lake is as high as I have ever seen it.  Right up into the trees and nearly up to the highway in places.  If the water flow of all the tributaries continues at the current rate, they will likely have to open up the dam for a while this fall.

Back at the cottage in the evening the weather began to turn.  All day long it was beautiful and sunny.  The temperature in Nordegg peaked at 21C, and up in the high country it probably got close to that.  In the evening it got cloudy and a blustery wind picked up, though we never actually got any rain until the next morning.  I made a batch of Greek Ribs on the BBQ.  They were OK, but not the best batch I've ever made.  Arturo politely complimented them, but they were a little lacking in flavor.  But we enjoyed them nonetheless and then sat around visiting in the evening.  Although we got back early enough to consider another round of golf we were both too tired, and both ended up turning in earlier than usual.