Pushing West : Spedden to Smoky Lake

After a short night amid a partially renovated motel room we set out to sit at the picnic table in the staging area in Spedden enjoying our breakfast of coffee and bagels. Although it was only 7 am, we were far enough north where the sun was already high overhead by then.  The sky begins to get light around 3:45 am, with the sun peaking over the horizon about an hour later, and it stays light until around 11 pm.  This makes for long days and short nights out here and it means we don't often manage to enjoy sunrises, which I imagine would be spectacular in such a gorgeous landscape. 

Soon we headed back to the trail, which we were delighted to discover was hard packed and easy to navigate.  The line of sandy, golden brown trail stretched out in a straight line ahead of us as far as we could see in the bright, sunny morning. Trembling aspens and shrubs bordered both sides of the trail, and the highway ran along beside us, separated by a wide strip of grass. 

The 14 km walk from Spedden to Vilna was largely uneventful.  Occasionally we caught glimpses of rolling green hills and farmland through the trees, accented by the dark, textured shapes of old wooden barns and outbuildings that had long been abandoned.  At one point we passed a small marsh, where the insistent winnowing of a Wilson's Snipe filled the sky and the raucous calls of Red-winged Blackbirds echoed through the cattails.  In a nearby pasture a flock of about 100 Franklin's Gulls wheeled and dove in a noisy and active swirl, making the air seem alive. 

By late morning we arrived in the historic village of Vilna.  This community was founded in 1907, mostly by settlers from central Europe.  When the railroad reached the town in 1919 it began to develop, and was named 'Vilna' after Lithuania's capital, Vilnius. It became a boom town in the 1920's, and the heritage storefronts and buildings of its main street have been beautifully restored, including the wooden sidewalks lining both sides of the street. 

 

 

We deviated off the trail to see the downtown, which is also home to Alberta's oldest operating pool hall and barbershop.  It is now a provincially designated and registered historic building, and many of its original features and furnishings have been preserved.  As we sat on a bench enjoying an ice cream (despite the early hour), it felt like we had been transported back in time to the 1920's.  The only thing out of place were the modern cars and pickups parked outside the post office and grocery store. 

After a short break we continued through town to Vilna's Mushroom Park, which is home to one of Canada’s Roadside Attractions the World's Largest Mushrooms. Weighing over 18,000 lbs and standing 20 ft tall, Vilna's mushrooms are replicas of the tricholoma upscale mushroom, a fungus that grows wild in the region and is used as an ingredient in many ethnic dishes in the area.  Mushroom hunting has been a tradition in Vilna since Ukrainians settled in the region in the early 1900's. 

After leaving the charming town of Vilna the trail took us back out into ranch country.  As we followed along beside the highway we passed several RVs, small cottages, and homes that hinted at undercurrent of something we've been noticing but know nothing about. Outside one RV with a shattered window a hand-written sign was attached to the fence, saying 'After 8 break-ins we have nothing left of any value.  Please stop destroying our stuff.'  Outside another small home a little farther along was a sign saying 'there is nothing on this property worth losing your life die for.'  We'd noticed in the past couple towns that the convenience stores are very heavily barricaded with the cash registers located behind extremely thick plexi glass, and the liquor stores are often built like concrete fortresses with heavy steel doors.  I can only hope we don't experience first-hand why these measures are deemed necessary and wonder about the history of these communities that has lead to such a situation.   

As the morning progressed the trail began to pull north of the highway, taking us through a mix of pastures and woodland.  In several places we passed between herds of cows that were hanging out on the trail.  In others we walked among wet forested areas, where the songs of White-throated Sparrows, Wood Thrush, American Robins, Black-billed Magpies, and Western Wood-pewees broke the silence of the warm afternoon.  

As we approached the small community of Bellis we saw a unique sight - a young lady walking on the trail! This is the first person we've seen so far on the Iron Horse Trail who hasn't been on an ATV, although we did follow another set of human footprints for a very short distance yesterday.  Otherwise, there has been no sign of other hikers or cyclists along the trail so far - only an extremely courteous and polite community of ATV riders.  We weren't near any other towns when the mystery hiker passed us, and we wanted to chat, but I think our strange appearance freaked her out, so we simply said hello and kept going. 

The tiny hamlet of Bellis was founded in 1898, and today it has a population of around 60 people. Its name derives from the Ukrainian 'Bel lis' which translates as 'white woods' and referred to the gorgeous stands of white birch and popular that surround it. As we approached the tiny town a very dark cloud was rapidly approaching and thunder was rumbling menacingly overhead.  Unfortunately the staging area was a large open grassy area with a pit toilet, but no covered shelter or picnic tables.  Happily we spotted a small bench under an overhang, and quickly took refuge. 

 

As we waited for the potential storm to pass I made my way up the single, wide Main St.  It featured a beautiful church, a Ukrainian cultural centre, a mechanic's garage, and a lovely looking Heritage Country Shoppe, which sold collectibles, antiques, and cold drinks.  Stepping inside felt like walking back in time, and I was greeted by Eva Farmer, a lovely lady who remembered serving Dana Meise breakfast, Mel Vogel a cup of tea, and a young lady who came in with a large backpack with a face painted on the back to discourage cougar attacks, who I think must have been Bonnie Thornbury.  Even though we haven't met most of the other people who have hiked this trail, it is always so nice to discover evidence of the small TCT trail community in the people we meet along the way. 

Luckily the thunder cloud passed over without raining on us, and we were soon underway once again, spotting a shy coyote peaking at us over the tops of the grain in a nearby field.  It was a stunning moment to watch a wild and free spirit while being watched in return.  As these times do – it was a moment that lasted a wonderful eternity and only a few fleeting seconds.   

At this point, as we'd expected, the going got a bit tough as we entered what has been nicknamed 'Bellis Beach.'  This 5 km stretch of trail runs along the northern edge of the Bellis North Nature Area, which is a forested region situated on sand dunes.  The trail is extremely soft, deep, sand and ATV users have run up and down the dunes on either side of the path, further churning up the trail bed.  Pulling the wheeled carts through this section was like pulling an anchor along a beach.   

Although it was very slow, hot, and sweaty going, ultimately it wasn't as bad or as long as we'd feared.  We stopped a lot for breaks, and enjoyed the songs of White-throated Sparrows, Wood and Hermit Thrushes, American Robins and American Goldfinches in the woods around us.  In an open bog that looked like a small piece of Boreal we heard the winnowing of a Wilson's Snipe, the loud demands of Red-winged Blackbirds, and the calls of Common Yellowthroats, and we spotted several Cedar Waxwings and an Eastern Kingbird perched on the tips of tall grey snags. 

We struggled along the soft trail through a mostly forested and quiet landscape until we came to the small community of Edwand.  By this time it was only a few minutes before 5 pm, when I was scheduled to be one of the speakers on this month's edition of Broadview Press's National Online Reading Club.  Edwand was a very small collection of homes with a large green space in the center where the train used to pass through.  The staging area consisted of a pit toilet and a single picnic table, so this is where we stopped for the hour long Zoom call. 

Unfortunately there was a shrub located right beside the picnic table with a nest of very hungry and vocal Black-billed Magpie young in it.  Every time one of the parents returned with a beak full of food they were greeted by loud demands from the babies.  I'm sure this made for some inexplicable feedback on the Zoom call.  To make matters worse there was a large anthill under the picnic table.  Large black ants were crawling up and down my legs inside my pants as I was speaking and trying desperately not to look like I was having some kind of strange fit.  Just a few of the unglamorous challenges of trailside outreach! 

We headed out of Edwand just after 6 pm in the very hot afternoon sunshine, trying not to think too hard about the fact that we still had another 20 km to walk in order to reach the night’s destination.  This would be considered a full stage of walking on a Camino route, not something to be added to the end of a day that was already just over 35 km long.  The scale of Canada really is something that is difficult to wrap your head around. 

The trail heads northwards from Edwand in a graceful arc before turning back south toward Smoky Lake.  Somewhere on this curve is the most northern point on the east-west portion of the Trans Canada Trail between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.  It is about 500 km farther north than where we were on the T'Railway Trail in Newfoundland, and we will now remain south of this latitude until we are on our trek up towards Tuktoyaktuk, NT.  

We had hoped to cover the final 20 km quickly, but much of the trail in this section was soft and sandy, and we were already pretty tired.  On top of it, we were waylaid by stunning scenery, which demanded to be photographed.  As the evening progressed and the light turned golden and then red it felt like the rolling hills, pastures, ranches, old barns, and wetlands just kept getting more and more stunning. 

A small group of horses posed on a ridge above us beside an old abandoned wooden outbuilding, looking for all the world like they were discussing our odd centaur-like appearance.  Farther along, a farmer was out on his land collecting a cow and her tiny calf. The shrill, high-pitched calls of ground squirrels emanated from a maze of burrows in the pasture around us.  

Still farther along we passed through a huge cattail marsh, stopping to read several interpretive panels along the trailside.  A flock of Cliff Swallows swooped and dove under a small footbridge.  Black Terns swirled and filled the sky overhead with their unique calls. A single American White Pelican majestically flapped across the wetland and out of sight.  Several Blue-winged and Green-winged Teals took flight from among the dense vegetation.  The seemingly ever-present winnowing of Wilson's Snipe added the mix. 

As the light began to fade the mosquitoes appeared with a vengeance.  A few of the quieter animals who prefer the twilight also began to appear.  A small, fuzzy grey vole scooted across the trail ahead of us.  Soon afterwards a tiny Wood Frog did the same, making huge leaps and bounds.  Ahead of us a rabbit foraged quietly in the grass at the edge of the trail. 

 

 

About an hour before we reached Smoky Lake the trail began following a wide, meandering river valley.  The waterway was bordered by cattail marshes, and the whole landscape seemed to be full of birds.  The light was beginning to fade and we had to push on, but among the highlights were large groups of Blue-winged Teals, Green-winged Teals, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Northern Pintails, Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. 

The setting sun was turning the fields to a beautiful mix of glowing reds, yellows, browns, and lush greens as we finally reached the edge of Smoky Lake.  This community is one of the larger towns along the Iron Horse Trail, with a population of just over 1,100 people.  It is located between the North Saskatchewan River, Smoky Creek, and White Earth Creek.  It's name either comes from the Woods Cree word for 'Smoking Lake' which references the smoke that rose from ceremonies they performed on the shore of the lake, or it was named after the large amounts of mist that rise from the lake at sundown. 

Like many prairie towns it is several kilometres long, stretching out in a line along the railway tracks and/or the highway.  We made our way wearily along its length, pausing briefly in Pumpkin Park to see the five giant, naturally misshapen concrete pumpkins that are featured there. Smoky Lake is known as the Pumpkin Capital of Alberta, and each year it hosts the Great White North Pumpkin Fair and weigh-off.  Today we saw firsthand why this part of Alberta is known as 'Land of the Big.' 

When we arrived in town and found our way to the cheapest motel we could find it was just after 10 pm, and everything except the Esso gas station was already closed.  We were tired, sore, and pretty hungry, since it had been quite a long time and 60 km since our breakfast bagel and subsequent ice cream.  We purchased a bag of nachos and a jar of salsa from the gas station and decided to book into the local motel, which was also accomplished at the Esso gas station.

By 11 we had both gotten showers, by 11:30 we had finished washing our clothes in the sink and it is now 1 am and we are done editing today’s pictures and writing the blog.  

It has been another beautiful, if very long day on Alberta's Iron Horse Trail.  I am thankful that it is time to go to sleep.  In 6 hours we will set out hiking once more.

See you on the trail!

Remember to follow our entire adventure here : www.comewalkwithus.online