Wild About Fernie

PAGt 65
CAMPING
WITHOUT
A TENT
M
A
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A
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E
WIL[
ABOUT
FERNIE
EXPLORE CODY C.\VE CLIMB VIA FERRATA
CRU/SE O}/ A FREIGHTER VIEW GRIZZLY BEARS
SWIM WITH SALMOT{ IET BOAT THE SKEE}TA
A MOUNTAIN
CITY WITH
YEAR-ROUND
APPEAL
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$5 Ss
LAYUNTIIJUNIS
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DESTINATION
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calves are hanging around the Lake Trail,
cautionl'Undeterred, I push on into
a thick grove ofwestern red cedars. The
trail soon opens to a small, shimmering
mountain iake with a green jewel of an
island in the middle, snowcapped peaks of
Use
the Rockies rising dramatically behind like a
painted stage prop. All-in-all, it's well worth
the moose risk.
Then, I see something.
More accurately, something sees me. Its
head is the size of a horse's' And it's staring
down from a steep rise on the lake shore,
hardly to metres from where I'm standing,
with an expression somewhere between
annoyance and curiosiry I take a slow step
backward and continue in the opposite
direction along the two-kilometre loop
around the lake.
Situated in the southeastern corner
ofthe province, along a bend in the Elk
River, Fernie claims to be the only Canadian
city completely encircled by the Rocky
Mountains-with the wildlife to prove it.
After my close call at the lake (turns out it
was an elk), I follow the Crowsnest Highway
along the river, dotted with fly flshermen'
and rojl into town. A neat grid ofresidential
streets leads to a main drag straight out of
an old Western movie set, heritage brick
buildings dating back a century laid out ln
two neat rows.
"William Fernie came through
prospecting for coal in the late 1B0Osj'
explains Mike Pennock, a retired geologist
and the former director of the Fernie
Museum, which now occupies a t9t0 bank
building. "He found what he was looking
for, and then somei' Sooty black beadsspotted around the neck ofthe daughter
of a Ktunaxa First Nations chief, or so the
legend goes-led Fernie to one of the richest
coal seams in Canada. More than 125 years
after his discovery, coal is still an important
part of Fernie's economy, with five open-pit
mines in the E1k Valley, near Sparwood.
But it's the Rockies, in Particular
the Lizard Range just to the southwest,
that have put the city on the map. Fernie
Alpine Resort and Island Lake Lodge draw
powder fanatics from around the world in
winter, while the rugged terrain is proving
increasingly popular with mountain bikers
d
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22
ROB
STRUTfrlRS
Getting There
The city of Fernie ts situated in the Elk
River valley, within the Rocky
Mountains, in the southeast corner of
the province lt is roughly an hour east
of Cranbrook on HighwaY 3 and three
and a half hours southwest of calgary,
Alberta.
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DESTINATION
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challenging terrain. "Califerniansj' Gallup
explaini, uiing the local term for Caigarians
*f,o ,p.rra *J.kends here in Fernie' roughly
a
o Bike
bike trails through the
Rockies with an expert
from Fernie Bike Guides
(f erniebikeguides'ca).
three-hour drive awaY'
UP toP, after a gentle 2'9-kilometre
heaving
ascent ihainonetheless leaves me
air, we pause to admire a view of the
o Hike through old-
for
growth forest to dizzYing
Three Bears, three imposing limestone
us and
monoliths. Then the mosquitos f,nd
whipping
descent,
the
for
we turn around
summits in the "Cedar
d
ccesSecl
of trails
Lodge
(islandlakecatskiing com/
su mmer/h iking/).
on
through banked turns and rolling hills
the way back to town.
The Fernie name has sPread far and
wide for another
*"u:'ffn""il:::[t'
Y fish for cutthroat
bull trout in the Elk,
Bull and Wigwam rtvers,
downtown' oPened
across much
Fernie's mountain
of
considered among the
purest and most Productive
waters in the Canadian
Rockies (tourismf ernie com/
activities/f
. Spot
lY-f ishi ng).
Rocky Mountain
wildlife ranging from elk
and moose to mountain
qoats, bighorn sheeP and
Even grizzlies on a wildlife
viewing tour
(fernieadventures.com)
a Tour the Fernie Museum
to view a collection
showcasing how mining
tools have evolved over the
past century and a large
ammonite fossil, housed in a
restored 1910 bank buildinE
(f ern iem useu m.com) '
. ShoP for handset Prints
made on a Pair of authentlc
Presses from the
early 1900s (using essentiallY
the same technology as In
Gutenberg's daY) at retro-
printing
chic Clawhammer LetterPress
& GallerY (clawhammer'ca)'
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Snack on dark, white and
milk chocolate at BeanPod,
one of Canada's onlY
traditional chocolate makers,
where raw cocoa beans are
transformed into a range of
bonbons, truffles, bars and
other treats (beanPod ca)'
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Western Canada. "Wdre probabiy best
with
k to*rt fo, our What the Huck' made
local huckleberries," says brewmaster
Gord D emaniuo'
* n'l::1lil'rffi
f,TlJ,
T:ffi:'h',:if
is
an exciting time to be here' Everl'thing
spotting something, I cali in the services
man
of Ki*-S"dtouic, a burly bear of a
:ffi::;:
griz on the
slidel' Sedrovic says,
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"Ifyou know where
easy
the good huckleberry patches are.' it's
logging
old
to fiird theml'As we speed up
like
roads in his Ford F150, which smells
scope
high-powered
a
has
and
wood smoke
he
resting on the consoie, he estimates that
has selen hundreds-if not thousands-of
a
grizzlies here over his long career as
wildlife guide.
down
Sed-rovic brakes suddenly' rolls
,
much wilder than PeoPle thinki'
24
BRITIsH .oLUMBIA MAGAZINE
'
sPRlNc
2015
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