Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Comparing Lethbridge Coulees parks to River's Edge Trail (North Shore)

We started our Lethbridge Coulees hike up a steep staircase

The Lethbridge Coulees parallel the country club golf course along the Oldman River.  There was considerable slumping in the terrain

Some of the steep pitches in Lethbridge

Some of the plant diversity of River's Edge Trail we didn't see in Lethbridge

At the North Shore Shelf on the Missouri River

The rugged Box Elder Canyon across from the North Shore Trail

 In this shoulder season with plenty of unhikeable and unskiable snow in the mountains we usually take to the breaks (and coulees) country along our rivers for hikes.

Great Falls is blessed with the River's Edge Trail along the Missouri River.

Lethbridge, Alberta is blessed with hiking trails and parks in the comparable Lethbridge Coulees country along Oldman River.

Now that Canada has dropped its Covid testing protocols for entry it is easier than ever to take a day trip to southern Alberta.  Its Can-Arrival phone app has been improved since we last used it, last September, when Canada began permitting U.S. citizens to cross the border.

Katie arranged a day trip to Lethbridge to hike with her dear friends, the Women of Wonder hiking group, in the coulees.

I was expecting a hike very similar to what I experience on our River's Edge Trail.

It was surprisingly dissimilar. 

The Oldman River is a wilder, more free-flowing and prettier body of water there than our dammed up Missouri River, with its reservoirs.

The Lethbridge coulees have a steeper pitch, with longer runouts than our River's Edge gulches. 

The views on the Lethbridge hike (we did a 5 miler) were more urban in nature.  The trail we hiked paralleled the country club golf course.  The West Lethbridge ridge top was filled with high-end houses.  There was some paving, a nicely constructed bridge, a highway underpass.  We could see Lethbridge's iconic bridge/trestle.

By comparison the River's Edge North Shore trail (and other sections outside the Great Falls city limits) has a wilder, almost wilderness feel.

There's a greater diversity of plant life in a setting away from highways and housing developments.  River's Edge has an abundance of junipers, sage, rose bushes, yucca plants, rock outcroppings, hoodoos, all set against the backdrop of the Highwood and Little Belt mountain ranges.  There was a greater variety of grasses on River's Edge than Lethbridge.

Seeing the Lethbridge coulees country gave me an even deeper appreciation for what we have here in Great Falls in our Rivere's Edge Trail, taking nothing away from the scenic and challenging Lethbridge topography.

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