Back-Country Comfort Lodges In The Boonies Cater To Every Need
Sitting in a modern log lodge with a picture-postcard view of the scene immortalized on the old Canadian $10 bill, it is hard not to fall in love with the Canadian Rockies.
Smaller than the American Rockies, though perhaps even more dramatic, with steep rock pinnacles, glaciers and abundant water in lakes, rivers and streams, these mountains offer all degrees of outdoor activities, including hiking, river rafting, horseback riding, fishing and skiing in winter.
And relatively lower elevations, peaking around 8,000 feet, mean less time is needed for acclimation. The scenery is breathtaking, but the altitude is less so, making it easier for travelers to dip into these high adventures offered with an international flair, yet eminently civilized Canadian hospitality.
Unfortunately, the better-known areas around Banff and the Icefields Parkway to Jasper are crowded in summertime with tour buses and the smell of diesel fumes. It takes more effort to reach beyond the well-traveled tourist track, but one of the best ways to experience these snow-capped peaks, alpine meadows and verdant valleys brimming with bright pink, blue and green flowers bearing names such as kinnikinik and Arctic poppy, is by visiting back-country lodges. They tend to be small, but comfortable (if not luxurious) and something of a tradition in these parts. Within a two- to three-hour drive of Calgary, travelers can discover a number of these isolated retreats and enjoy the pristine, restorative pleasures found only in a true get-away-from-it-all vacation.
“If people want to hike, ride horses, play golf or ski, they can do that. If they want to sit around and admire the views and read a book, they can do that,” says Doug Kingsford, president of Sundog Adventures, a tour company specializing in all-inclusive packages and individualized itineraries to the best of these remote lodges. With accommodations often booked a year in advance for only 20 to 50 people, these inns rarely advertise or woo travel agents. It takes a knowledgeable insider to point travelers in the right direction, and Kingsford knows the terrain well, having grown up there.
“My goal is to offer the opportunity to discover, or rediscover the quiet and solitude that only remote mountain reaches can provide,” he says.
People might discover these things on their own, but then again, they might not.
“I don’t want to run a motel.” says Rudi Kranabiter, owner-operator of Mount Engadine Lodge, one of Kingsford’s favorites, located in Kananaskis, Alberta. Instead of luring tour buses, Kranabiter - who built the wooden lodge and occasionally cooks dinner for a maximum of 24 guests - spends most summer days hiking with visitors. In winter, he leads cross country ski tours right out the front door, or down the road at a ski track created for the Calgary Winter Olympics. At night, moose wander through the woods and northern lights glow in the sky above the outdoor hot tub.
“You must enjoy it,” says a spry octogenarian guest readying for a morning hike among wildflowers to a glacial lake. “We do. It just bites you.”
Purcell Lodge, near Golden, British Columbia, is a truly rare find. It is accessible only by a four- to five-hour hike or by a 15-minute helicopter flight. There are no roads, no people nearby, and little in the way of man-made diversions to distract your attention from the staggering beauty of the spiky Selkirk and Purcell mountains.
Not long ago, there was no lodge. Owners Russ Younger and Paul Leeson originally began this operation by providing accommodations in Mongolian yurts, which are little more than tents perched on wooden platforms. Five years ago, their dream of a post-andbeam lodge in the high wilderness at 7,200 feet was realized amid some of Western Canada’s most extensive mountain meadows, hugging the British Columbia-Alberta border.
Accommodating 24 guests, Purcell Lodge offers all the comforts usually associated with roadside destinations (hot showers, steamy saunas, great food), along with outstanding recreational opportunities for hikers, photographers or naturalists. And there’s enough snow in winter for cross-country or telemark skiers to schuss till you drop, if you like.
Within yards of the lodge, in summer one can find three-foot holes in the soil scooped out by grizzly bears hunting for ground squirrels. Yet within the lodge one can dine on tortiere (a spicy French meat pie) snow peas, potatoes au gratin, spinach salad, chocolate mousse and a wide selection of wines. There are no TVs, no phones, no newspapers, no cars. Possibly nowhere else in Western Canada can someone find such a winning combination of luxury, comfort and remoteness.
Moraine Lake Lodge was originally a tea house built in 1906 within the boundaries of Banff National Park, part of the world’s largest system of national parks. Long a semi-rustic retreat and popular with day hikers as the setting pictured on Canada’s old $10 bill, the lodge was completely remodeled recently. Built of enormous logs with walls of glass, the lodge sits nestled between the shore of the lake and the impressive Valley of the Ten Peaks, just a few miles from the village of Lake Louise.
Along with hiking, canoeing is available, and a wine and cheese buffet is served nightly before dinner to 54 lucky guests.
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO The mountains of Alberta and British Columbia are home to a number of extremely popular back-country lodges. Most are quite small and reservations during the popular summer hiking or winter ski seasons may be hard to secure for independent travelers. One way to guarantee accommodations is to reserve them through a specialized booking service that can provide you with a personalized itinerary, including lodge accommodations, or an all-inclusive package, including a night at Calgary’s historic Palliser Hotel, all meals, daily activities, guides, instructions, helicopter transfers, land transfers, taxes and tips. For information contact Calgary’s Sundog Adventures; 800-742-2623. For additional information contact: Alberta Tourism, 4th Floor, 10155-102 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, T5J 4L6 Canada, 403-422-6236. Tourism British Columbia, 802-865 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2G3 Canada, 604-660-2861.