Bob Patterson and Jim Campbell have a 35 year friendship and a lifetime passion for wilderness and wildlife, and that’s more than 130 years between the two of them. Their Adventure for Wilderness will be a triathlon of running, canoeing and cycling.

AWA has a long history of indoor stair climbing to celebrate Earth Day. Now: the stair climbing moves outdoors!

This Adventure involves climbing and descending, on foot, 11 different outdoor staircases at least once. That is a total of 950 stairs one way. If you want to increase the challenge you can climb 2, 3 or 4 times.
All of the staircases are close to downtown Calgary. We will be cycling between all of the staircase locations on a pleasant route involving largely pathways and quiet streets.

This is a two-part adventure combining an indoor presentation and an interpretive hike through the impressive badlands of Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park. This is an exclusive opportunity to meet Dr. François Therrien, Curator of Dinosaur Palaeoecology at Royal Tyrrell Museum and attend his special presentation on the “Paleontological Wonders of Alberta.” Following this, there will be an interpretative hike to the Albertosaurus bonebed and other sites at Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park. The presentation will take place in the morning with the hike in the afternoon.

The Wainwright Dunes Ecological Reserve contains one of the world’s last large remnants of the aspen parkland. Situated adjacent to the southern boundary of the Camp Wainwright military reserve, this protected area is a unique combination of ecosystems. Aspen groves and sand dunes are interspersed with marshy bogs and the valley of Ribstone Creek. Relatively isolated and remote, this natural wonder allows for quiet moments of discovery.

Friends-Fish-A-Thon will be 48 hours of fishing fun with friends out in Alberta’s beautiful wilderness! We will be camping out on site, taking shifts fishing, and recording all of our catches. Our team will also be doing some citizen science in partnership with the Alberta Lake Management Society, measuring parameters important to ecological health of the lake.

Dave Wodelet had been an active member of the Mountain Manics until his eyesight deteriorated to the category of legally blind. We love having Dave out with us so we’ll count on members’ support as we guide him to the summit of Ha Ling Peak.

(Editor’s Note: Despite many requests to the contrary, Dave wants to emphasize that the goal is to get him to the top and not push him over!)

Hike the Jumping Pound Mountain circuit. This is an excellent intermediate level hike for participants with reasonable fitness and a pair of hiking boots.

Hike up a steep ridge on open wildflower meadows, framed by aspen and mixed woods; then continue along the ridge for a rest stop overlooking the Ghost River and Lesueur Creek valleys. The descent is steep and leads to a trail along Lesueur Creek through meadows and mixed woods.

The Milk River Ridge, also known as the Hudson’s Bay Divide, is the height of land south of Lethbridge seen on the horizon towards Montana. On the north side water eventually finds its way into Hudson’s Bay; on the south to the Gulf of Mexico. On the Ridge are found large tracts of native foothills fescue and mixedgrass prairie, abundant wetlands, lakes and deeply incised ravines. The Ridge harbours an abundance of wildlife, including rare plant and animal species. This is still one of the few places where grizzlies still wander out onto the northern Great Plains and the local ranchers like having them around.

Share your past adventures in Alberta’s wilderness through the art of photography!

Alberta’s native pollinators are really amazing! Come on a Geo-Cache Scavenger Hunt to learn about a few and make a Bumble Bee box for your backyard.

A summer stand-up paddle board down the North Saskatchewan River with a picnic.

YYC CYCLE calls it a “Bikergang”…
When you’re part of more than just a spin class.

Come test out your trivia chops at this fun-filled evening with food, drinks, entertainment and more!

Joanna Skrajny and Grace Wark will be leading ‘Weekend for Wilderness’, a weekend spent in the Castle experiencing the beauty of the backcountry.

Gardening in the Chinook Belt is decidedly difficult. But, west of Calgary there exist a number of private nooks where wonderful pieces of living art have been created using plants, rocks, water and ingenuity. This is a tour of a few of these special places.

Strap on your skis and your finest animal print^* and join us for an epic ski from the Goat Creek trailhead to Banff. We’ll ski 18 km and pop out near the Banff Springs. Who knows? Maybe^** we’ll end up at pub.

  ^* Seriously, please wear animal print.
  ^** Definitely.