It has become a Barrhead Elementary School (BES) tradition.
Every year in late the fall, Grade 6 students travel to Jasper for two days of hiking and nature studies. On Thursday, Sept. 29, 120 students, staff and parent volunteers loaded the buses to take on what has become known as the Jasper Challenge.
Grade 6 teachers, Brent Wierenga and Chrissie Epp, said the annual trip goes back about 15 years.
“It was started by Laurin Lamothe and Margie Smith as part of the physical education program, as part of the outdoor education component,” Wierenga said, adding that the program is essentially the same with minor tweaks from year to year.
For example, Epp said they now incorporate sections of the Grade 6 science trees and forest unit into the trip.
However the main purpose for the trip is to give students the opportunity to go hiking in the woods and experience nature.
On the first day of the trip, 82 students, broken into groups of six or seven accompanied by various adults, took on the first hike of the trip, the Maligne Canyon.
Although the shorter of the two hikes, Wierenga said it was probably the kid’s favourite.
“I think it is just under five-kilometres, but the kids just love it,” he said. “It is just so scenic and there are so many opportunities to see wildlife.”
Epp agreed, saying on the trip they spotted deer, elk, moose and goats. Unlike past years, no bears.
On the second day of the trip, they hiked Bald Hills, a 10 kilometre round trip and features a steep incline at the beginning of the hike.
Wierenga said the main reason the school continues the trip each year is to make sure students have the opportunity to see the mountains and hike in the wilderness.
“For a lot of students, this is the first time they have seen the mountains,” he said, adding it also teaches them how to accomplish a goal. “The Bald Hills is quite a hike. I think at the top it is something like 4,000 feet and all these years, all the kids have managed to make it to the top. It really gives them a sense of accomplishment.”
However, being able to scale two of Jasper’s more difficult hikes does not happen over night.
Epp said every Friday for the month leading up to the trip students start out with smaller hikes on the pathways in the Beaver Brook area, slowly building up their stamina to where they can hike around Thunder Lake.
“It really is a special trip,” she said, adding other highlights of the trip include souvenir shopping in the village and a trip to the swimming pool.
