Latest news with #hikers
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
Grizzly follows Calgary couple along popular trail in terrifying encounter
A Calgary couple out for a hike on the Troll Falls trail in Kananaskis got the scare of a lifetime after they encountered a grizzly bear. The pair say they tried to scare it away but it followed them, making threatening gestures. Despite their fear, they managed to get the terrifying encounter on tape.
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Travel + Leisure
2 days ago
- Climate
- Travel + Leisure
The Tallest Sand Dunes in North America Have a Seasonal 'Beach' That Only Appears Once a Year—What to Know
Located in southern Colorado's San Luis Valley, Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve is home to North America's tallest sand dunes. These dunes, which rise abruptly from the shadow of Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Mountains, are formed by the interplay of winds funneling through mountain passes and the ongoing recycling of sand via wind. While the star attractions, Hidden Dune and Star Dune, tower approximately 750 feet above the valley floor, one of the park's extraordinary features is Medano Creek, a seasonal stream that emerges in spring and early summer. Fed by snowmelt, Medano Creek—called Colorado's Natural beach—flows at the dunes' base, creating a shallow, inland beach-like playground where visitors can splash, float on tubes, and build sandcastles. The flow typically begins in late April and peaks by early June, with water depths reaching ankle to calf level—often around 20 inches—before drying out during mid-summer. Visitors flock to the dunes when the creek is in bloom as well as for exhilarating activities such as sandboarding, sledding, and dune hiking. It's worth noting that, on warm days, sand surface temps can soar to 150 degrees, so hiking shoes or socks are a must. The best time to visit the park is in spring and early summer, when daytime temperatures are mild and Medano Creek flows with cool, refreshing water. Since the park is designated an International Dark Sky Park, the dunes also offer remarkably clear night skies for stargazing. Before planning your visit, be sure to check the real-time flow of Medano Creek, available from spring through fall, via an online graph that tracks the creek's volume in cubic feet per second (cfs). While the data is collected about five miles upstream from the main Dunes Parking Area, it offers a useful snapshot of current conditions and whether water levels are rising or falling. This year, flow levels aren't expected to top 20 cfs, which is a reminder to plan your visit accordingly. The park is well-equipped for visitors, with dune-rover wheelchairs, convenient dune showers, and the Piñon Flats Campground. Families can participate in a variety of programs, including the National Park Service's Junior Ranger program and Family Archaeology Days. For a unique place to stay near the dunes, consider Dunes Desert Camp. This eco-luxury glamping site has just two spacious safari tents, offering a private and immersive experience in nature. Guests can opt for customizable meals and activities through the camp's Dune Experiences program. For a more traditional stay, Great Sand Dunes Lodge provides a variety of standard room types, as well as campers and geodesic domes.
CTV News
4 days ago
- CTV News
Parks Canada stops hiking permits to Yoho peak after fossil thefts
Parks Canada will not be giving out the permits which previously allowed hikers to summit Mount Stephen, after repeated thefts from the Burgess Shale UNESCO World Heritage site. More fossils thefts from a UNESCO World Heritage site west of Calgary have prompted Parks Canada to end hiking permits to a revered peak in British Colombia's Yoho National Park. 'That's a new change we've implemented this year. We just felt it was important to protect this irreplaceable resource,' said Paul Friesen, who's the park warden for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay Field. Parks Canada will not be giving out the permits which previously allowed hikers to summit Mount Stephen, after repeated thefts from the area including two hikers who stole fossils last year from the Burgess Shale UNESCO World Heritage site — renown for its vast deposits of ancient, well-preserved soft organisms. On August 6, 2024, two American men hiking Mount Stephen without scrambling permits went into the protected area monitored by surveillance cameras and took fossils. 'We were alerted to their presence and were able to apprehend them and when we did, we found they had removed six Burgess Shale fossils,' said Friesen. He said the men were charged in August and this year they were convicted and each fined $4,750. They got the fossils back, too. 'We have a way of repatriating those fossils and putting them back on the landscape where they were removed from,' he added. Burgess Shale fossils, July 17, 2025 Parks Canada and the GeoScience Burgess Shale Foundation are still offering guided hikes of the protected trilobite bed (CTV Calgary) Disappointing Parks Canada and the GeoScience Burgess Shale Foundation are still offering guided hikes of the protected trilobite bed but the inability to summit the mountain is disappointing to some people in the scrambling community. Mount Stephen is listed in Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies by Alan Kane, a guidebook so well-known some local hikers nickname it 'the Bible'. Doug Robson of Calgary dreams of reaching 180 popular peaks, and Stephen is one of them. 'I was going to do it last year and got a permit to do it but wasn't feeling well that day,' he said. 'It's a goal that I would get it done,' Robson said, adding that 'there's other people that would like to do it too.' Unfortunate He said it's unfortunate that people who already weren't following the rules by getting permits played a part in ruining it for others. But that case is only the most recent one of fossils being illegally removed from the area. 'People were consistently getting permits to scramble Mt. Stephen and some of them were entering the closed area and some of them were illegally removing fossils,' Friesen said. Stolen fossils In 2022, Parks Canada recovered 45 fossils illegally removed from the Burgess Shale in Kootenay National Park in 2020. The Montreal man responsible faced a $20,000 fine. (CTV Calgary) In 2022, Parks Canada recovered 45 fossils illegally removed from the Burgess Shale in Kootenay National Park in 2020. The Montreal man responsible faced a $20,000 fine. 'There are people who would collect these fossils in order to sell them. There would be a value on the black market for these fossils, just like anything that's rare,' said Friesen. In other cases, he said people are just so impressed with the site they feel compelled to take a souvenir. Immense damage Researchers say the damage of can be immense. Some of the 500 million year-old fossils from the area have uncovered previously-unknown species. 'We're looking at these incredibly old fossils that aren't preserved in very many places and also the quality of preservation in the Burgess Shale really is unparalleled,' said University of Calgary science professor Ann Quinney. 'They are much, much older than the first dinosaurs. If we want to understand where we come from, we need to protect this resource,' she added. Burgess Shale, July 17, 2025 Doug Robson of Calgary dreams of reaching 180 popular peaks, and Mt. Stephen is one of them. (CTV Calgary) Surveillance Surveillance cameras monitor 12 Burgess Shale sites in the Yoho and Kootneay National Parks. Robson said along with the cameras, Parks Canada also has personal information registered by anyone who applied for scramble permits. 'I don't think it's people like myself who are playing in the mountains who do this (remove fossils),' he said. 'They're about protecting the environment not taking from the environment.' 'I'd like to have a conversation about it, rather than just shut it down.' He wishes there could be discussion about how to preserve the environment and still allow some scramblers to summit. Parks Canada said it tried to strike a balance with its decision. 'We're doing this for all the right reasons. We're not stopping people from hiking in other areas so I would hope people understand why we're making this decision.' said Friesen.
CNN
5 days ago
- CNN
Video shows hikers confronting suspected arsonist who allegedly started a fire in LA
Video shows a tense moment where hikers confronted a man for allegedly starting a fire near Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles on Sunday and prevented him from leaving the scene. Andrew Ocalliham was arrested and charged with one count of arson of forest land, court records show.
CNN
6 days ago
- CNN
Video shows hikers confronting suspected arsonist who allegedly started a fire in LA
Video shows a tense moment where hikers confronted a man for allegedly starting a fire near Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles on Sunday and prevented him from leaving the scene. Andrew Ocalliham was arrested and charged with one count of arson of forest land, court records show.
