A Canmore mountain guide has fulfilled a three-year quest to cover all of Banff National Park’s 2,000 plus kilometres of hiking trails and see the park’s majestic, but elusive bison herd. Jeff Douglas is a hiking guide who owns Mountain Goat Adventures. Douglas has spent all his free time for the past three summers hiking every trail in Banff National Park to see the bison herd. He accomplished his goal this spring, on day three of a four day hike. “I finally bumped into the whole reason why the project started on the last multi-day trip that I was going to be doing in Banff,” he said. “I descended a grassy terraced slope and recognized that there are some very large, fluffy cow-looking things in the distance -- and that was the herd of bison.” Douglas says he was overwhelmed with emotion and accomplishment and just sat down for close to an hour watching the creatures from a distance. “I didn’t even pull up my phone or take my pack off, just sat down on a rock and wanted to be present there,” he said. “I’ve seen every animal in the park and that was just really majestic. “The whole project came full circle,” he added, “and I had an absolutely spectacular day without a cloud in the sky.” The quest Douglas launched his quest in the summer of 2022 to see the bison herd because it’s the only animal he hadn’t seen in the park system. He spent four days hiking close to 200 kilometres and all he saw was footprints and fur -- but no bison. As a hiking guide, he’s been on many trails in the park and then came up with a goal of hiking every single one, including trail connectors. “I was pretty close, I thought, to finishing all of the trail network and Banff so the project snowballed from getting to see this wildlife to then trying to put myself on every metre of trail in Banff Park,” he said. “A lot of them (trails) have been decommissioned,” he added, “or not maintained anymore, so you’ll find evidence of humans at some point.” Douglas used a hiking technique called ‘fast packing’ to accomplish his lofty goal. He wears running shoes and carries a 30-litre pack, keeping the weight under seven kilograms. That allows him to travel close to 50 kilmetres in a 12 hour day. “I did take a stove, which not a lot of fast packers do because I like having a coffee in the morning and a foam pad, those would be the only luxuries that I really have,” he said. “I have a sleeping bag and I have a tarp -- or a very lightweight tent -- and then I’m getting up an hour and a half before the sunrise so that I’m moving when the sun’s up.” Jeff’s wife, Dominique Lagloire-Galipeau, was his support system throughout the journey that lasted three years. “I picked him up a few times where there’s just nothing left, there’s no energy left, just very tired,” she said. “Still, you can see that he’s accomplished something, he’s proud of the accomplishment but just the energy level is super-low -- and it takes a couple days to recover.” Lagloire-Galipeau says the couple used a GPS tracking device to make sure Douglas was safe. “There’s always an element of risk, we do check in every day,” she said. “Usually at night and in the morning, Jeff will confirm via the GPS device where he’s at,” she said. “If he’s doing okay, if he needs anything, what his plan is for the day -- so I always have an idea of the route he’s taking as well, so I can track him along the way and make sure he’s okay.” Limelight Lagloire-Galipeau says both she and Douglas shun the limelight but in this case the accomplishment deserves recognition, not only seeing the bison herd, but trekking every kilometre of trail in the National Park. “It’s such a great story and it’s such a great opportunity to influence other people and show what the human body is capable of and what our parks are made of,” she said. “Even if it inspires a few young kids to go on a big walk with their parents or a big hike, then it was worth it.” Parks Canada reintroduced bison into the park in 2017 with 16 animals from Elk Island Provincial Park. Staff monitor the herd to make sure they stay within the park boundaries, along with the health of the animals and how the herd is growing. “The herd has thrived, it’s grown from those original 16 founder animals to approximately 135 before this calving season and we’ve added more since that,” said Dillon Watt, bison reintroduction project manager at Banff National Park. “A lot of the design of this project is adaptive management so we’re learning from the bison themselves things that will inform our next steps with managing them.” Watt says like with any wildlife, it’s important to keep a safe distance from the animals. “It’s important that people stay at least 100 metres away and like all other species, don’t approach, follow or feed them,” he said. “It’s a really special experience to be able to see these animals in these really remote locations, but also something that really needs to be approached with respect.”
