When B.C. resident Philip McDouall set out with three friends to hike the Tonquin Valley Sept. 16, he expected to encounter challenging conditions typical of a backcountry trail. What he didn't expect to find was appalling trail conditions, dilapidated infrastructure and facilities overflowing with excrement.
McDouall was so shocked he decided to take action. On Sept. 20 he sent an email to Jasper National Park's superintendent, Alan Fehr, slamming Parks for allowing the trail to fall into disrepair.
The 51暗网 obtained the letter two days after publishing a story about Jasper鈥檚 crumbling backcountry infrastructure.
According to McDouall, the group entered the Tonquin Valley from the Astoria Trail head and spent the first night at Clithroe Campground.
The following day the group trudged their way through nearly seven kilometres of ankle deep mud, broken boardwalks and damaged bridges before reaching Maccrib Campsite.
鈥淭he section between Clithroe and Portal was appalling,鈥� said McDouall, in a telephone interview Sept. 23.
鈥淚n the backcountry you can expect some extreme conditions, but not as ridiculous as that, especially when it鈥檚 an assigned trail.鈥�
In his letter he described the trail as a 鈥渄isgraceful situation鈥� and urged Parks Canada to close an 18 km section of the trail between Clithroe and Portal Campgrounds until it is fixed.
On top of the appalling trail conditions, he also said many of the campsites are in a state of disrepair with dilapidated cooking areas, broken bear poles and outhouses that were nearly overflowing.
At the Clithroe Campsite, in particular, he said the outhouse was so full there was evidence people had been defacating in other areas of the site.
鈥淚t was horrible,鈥� said McDouall, 鈥淭he way the one chap described it, when you lifted the lid up and sat down you were literally sitting on the last person鈥檚 turd.鈥�
At the Maccrib Campsite, things were just as bad with a broken picnic table and a bench.
鈥淚t was literally rotten,鈥� said McDouall, adding people were forced to cook beside their tents.
Reflecting on his experience, he said he wouldn鈥檛 recommend people do the entire loop.聽 Instead, he suggested people should return the way they came, either from the Astoria trailhead or from the Portal Creek trailhead to avoid the worst part of the trail.
鈥淚 was very disappointed,鈥� said McDouall.
During the telephone interview he urged Parks to invest the money it collects from park passes and backcountry camping permits to fix the trail.
鈥淲e paid good money to get into the park and go into the backcountry and those revenues are some how just being used on the front country as far as I can tell,鈥� said McDouall.
His letter comes nearly two months after a rock slide buried approximately 200 metres of the Astoria Trail raising serious safety concerns for backcountry travellers.
The rockslide forced Gilbert Wall, owner of Tonquin Valley Adventures, an outfitting company, to end its season early after he determined he could not put his staff, horses or clients at risk.
Fehr was not available for an interview this week, but a spokesperson for Parks Canada said he was interested in talking about the Tonquin Valley at some point later this fall.
Earlier this month, Park Canada said the Tonquin Valley was being assessed for improvements and in July it stated it was looking for a potential short-term and long-term solution for the rockslide.
Paul Clarke
[email protected]
