Chuck is fording the Spray river with the almost-repaired bridge in the background

(Click on any photo for a larger image)

There is one last obstacle to having the entire Goat Creek – Spray River trail repaired, and that  is the Spray river bridge. It’s located 9K from the Goat creek trailhead, or if you start from Banff, it’s 10K from the Spray river west trailhead located near the Banff Springs hotel.

The disconnected Spray river bridge last winter

The floods of June 2013 washed away the river bank from the east end abutment.

The ski trip from Goat creek above Canmore to Banff is one of my all-time favourite trails and according to Chuck O’Callaghan’s reconnaissance, it looks like we’ll be skiing the entire 19K with no interruptions this winter.

Spray river bridge appears to be connected at both ends but is still closed pending completion of all repairs

This past winter, the 2K portion of the trail between Goat creek bridge and the damaged Spray river bridge was not groomed, and if you did ski it, you had to walk on the river ice to continue on. I did it once and it scared the h_** out of me. With every step I heard the ice cracking, and I was contemplating how uncomfortable it would be to ski the remaining 10K with freezing cold water in my ski boots.

Spray river bridge in 2012 pre-flood

Chuck sent the photos and I believe that’s Chuck himself fording the river with his bike. Although it appears the bridge is now connected to the river bank at both ends, it’s still closed until the work is finalized and it’s safe to cross.

Now we await news on the Cascade river bridge, and Healy creek bridge.

{ 2 comments }