Badge of Honor Trails Alberta

[FCA JEEP]

My name is Todd and I work for FCA JEEP and have been given the task of finding new Canadian Trails to add to our Badge of Honor program.  I live in Michigan and am not familiar with the most popular trails in Canada.  If figured there would be no better place to get advice of a great trail in Alberta than from our Jeep community living there.  I've done a little research online and saw that the Ruby Falls trail looked pretty solid.  I wanted to ask you if you had any suggestions for the best trail in Alberta to add to the Badge of Honor program.   The ideal trail would consist of 3 main points; 1. The trail should take 4+ hours to complete in a stock Jeep.  2- The trail needs to be on public land.  3- The trail would have natural scenic beauty. (Meaning the trail is "in nature", not a path running alone side railroad tracks for 20 miles.)

If you could provide your opinions I would love to hear them.
I tend to ask groups, if a Jeep owner from Florida were to drive all the way to Alberta, what would be the one trail that is the "must experience" trail?  Remember the trail needs to accommodate a stock Jeep, and be able enjoyable for first time Jeep owners and experience ones.

Thanks again for your time.

Todd
FCA Jeep

[morerpmfred]

Welcome to the site Todd.
The past few years the environmental movement has been working very hard to lobby the local governing bodies to close of a lot of good trails. Now we are a small but very active group of trail users. And with that there is a sense of responsibility to the active users to not let the public know where we wheel so we do not get all the yahoos out there destroying the enviroment.  
There are areas where there are designated trail system and can only recommend trails in these areas.
Down in the crowsnest pass area
"The plane crash site "
"Racehorse pass trail"
Both of these trails could be done very well under the time frame.
In the ghost waipourous areas
 " waiporous falls trail"
"Marguerite lake trail "
There are a lot more that could be considered stock/newbie friendly but currently there is a lot of what ifs.
Andy

[hps4evr]

I agree with Andy, we have a lot of trails but more so large areas with lots of small trails. We can usually connect a few trails together to make a full day on the trail for sure.
Mclean Creek OHV area
Waiperous area
Crowsnest pass area
Prairie Creek area

For a set trail, possibly ask around the interior British Columbia about The Whipsaw trail.

[FCA JEEP]

The trail wouldn't have to take the entire day.  We just want a Jeep owner to be able to drive to "this trail" and have it take at least 4 hours to complete.  Jeep owners are expecting us to list trails that would be worth driving many hours or even days to get to.  I'm trying to spread out the locations so our Canadian Jeep owners can have somewhat close access to at least one trail.  I've already selected the Whipsaw trail in British Columbia.  I wanted to select/find a trail in Alberta that would allow our Jeep owners there closer access to a Badge of Honor Trail.  You guys didn't give any feedback on "Ruby Falls"?  Would this trail be a good trail?  The trail doesn't need to take an entire day, but over 4 hours is most desirable.  Of the trails you listed, which one do you feel would provide the best experience.  The trail doesn't need to be 100% aimed at first time trail riders.  We have trails in Moab Utah that are quite intense. 

[morerpmfred]

Ruby falls is a three hour drive from nearest gas station. But the trail itself meets all of your other requirements. We always recommend for people accessing this trail to bring extra fuel, and food and water for at least a day. And to travel in groups.
Would like to pm to exchange more information.

[FCA JEEP]

Thank you for that valuable information on the Ruby Trail.  Feel free to PM me anytime.

[morerpmfred]

Is badge of honor trail ratings system endorsed by FCA ?

[FCA JEEP]

The Badge of Honor Program is endorsed by FCA.  I am an employee for FCA and work in the Jeep Brand Marketing Group at CTC (Chrysler Tech Center, Auburn Hills MI). Within Jeep Brand Marketing there is a team of people that work specifically with BOH.
 
The BOH site is linked through our Jeep site.

https://www.jeep.com/en/badge-of-honor/#home

I click the link and it works for me.  Go to www.jeep.com   Scroll towards the bottom of the page, you'll see Jeep Brand Enthusiasts.  Jeep Badge of Honor is listed there.

The link again  (https://www.jeep.com/en/badge-of-honor/#home )

[morerpmfred]

Can you redo the link please. Page comes up blank.

[FCA JEEP]

I found a page talking about Waiparous Trails.  Waiparous Creek to Banff, Waiparous Creek to Waiparous, Ghost River to Waiparous Creek, and Aura Creek Sand Forest to Waiparous.  Are one of these trails the ones that were being suggested? Or is the Waiparous Falls Trail a separate trail?  Is there a website with information what the Waiparous Falls trail?  A site with maps?  etc....

Thanks again for any information you can provide.

Todd

[morerpmfred]

http://esrd.alberta.ca/recreation-public-use/recreation-on-public-land/public-land-use-zones/documents/GhostPLUZMap-May2015.pdf
Waiporous falls trail is between trail marker 123 and 135. And margerite lake side trail is to marker 140.

[morerpmfred]

There are other designated trails in the area as well.

[morerpmfred]

http://www.albertatrailnet.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Northern-Rockies-Trails-Map-North-with-links.pdf
The trail to ruby falls is marker 53.
Another trail worthy of consideration is cardinal falls trail. At the end of marker 5.
This link is from a government sponsored website and both of these trails are designated trails.

[morerpmfred]

http://aep.alberta.ca/recreation-public-use/recreation-on-public-land/public-land-use-zones/documents/PLUZMap-CastleSummer-2014A.pdf
For the plane crash site take marker 48 47 46 and go up york creek to the end where the plane crash site is.
This area is now in a new provincial park. We do not expect to lose access to this trail but we may lose jeep access to the rest of the currently designated trail system.

Will pm you in a couple days with some more trail info in other areas.