Jackie Bourgaize has seemingly endless energy and a passion for hiking and the outdoors that drives her to do what many people would never consider. That same energy and passion helped her escape a wildfire.
The 71-year-old Calgary woman has been working on completing the Great Divide Trail since 2020. On July 20, the veteran ultralight backpacker started by the Icefields Parkway, hiking a section of the Great Divide Trail – a five-day solo trek that was supposed to end near the town of Jasper.
On July 23, as she was headed to Maligne Lake, Bourgaize noticed smoke she thought was coming from B.C.
“I felt a huge wave of really hot and thick air buffet me. I mean, it was hot already – (the temperature) was 30 C – but it was more than that. It was quite hot,” Bourgaize said from her Calgary home on Sunday.
Unaware of the fire that was tearing through Jasper National Park, she made it to the lake and was shocked to find no one there.
“I felt like I was in an apocalyptic movie because everything was deserted,” Bourgaize said.
As she continued her march north to the next campground, she got a Garmin message from her husband warning her that Jasper was being shut down.
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“So now I’m really on the alert and that’s when I realized there was not a sound. No birds were singing. No animals. No insects. It was dead quiet. I had relief from the horseflies. It was so eerie,” Bourgaize said.
She reached her next camp but by then, it looked like retreating rather than continuing on her intended journey was the best option.
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“When I looked at the other side the smoke was a lot thicker and I started to become aware of a little stress in my lungs. I thought, ‘That’s it. I’m turning around,'” Bourgaize said.
Before she started her hike, Bourgaize had watched a video produced by the Great Divide Trail Association that dealt with wildfire and she recalled that fire goes up so she backtracked down the the lake.
“I started hiking down and I realized I should probably soak my hankie and put it over my face but I didn’t because I did not want to stop. I was racing against the fire which I couldn’t see but I knew I should get down as quickly as possible,” Bourgaize said.
At the lake, she met a group of canoers and hitched a ride with them, escorted by Parks Canada wardens in two other vehicles.
“The wardens were so kind. They were keeping us up-to-date the whole time about what was going on. We were in this convoy and the warden told us, ‘You’re going to go through some really dense smoke.’ They said, “It’s going to be scary and you might not be able to see but just keep going because it’s OK,'” Bourgaize said.
She got a ride to Edmonton where she needed to spend the night but because she didn’t have photo ID, she was turned away from the hotel she was dropped off at.
“I launched in right away, saying I was just evacuated from the Jasper fire and looking for a room, just for myself,” Bourgaize said.
She was told she could pitch her tent in a nearby green space, which turned out to be a dog park, so that’s where Bourgaize rested her weary head for the night.
“I found a very nice spot on the grass beside the path,” Bourgaize said with a laugh.
Now back home in Calgary, Bourgaize is thankful for the park wardens, the stranger who gave her a ride and for the fire knowledge she was able to put into practice.
“I’m so glad I got out and that nothing serious happened to me, but it was an experience where I learned a lot. I had different scenarios in my head, but I was never really fearful. I was just prompted to quick action and critical thinking,” Bourgaize said.
Despite grim news about 30 per cent of Jasper structures have been lost to the wildfire, a town official says there’s still “truly a community to go back to” after touring the area on Sunday.
According to Christine Nadon, incident commander for the Municipality of Jasper, about 70 per cent of of structures were saved.
A Parks Canada official said Saturday that the blaze is the largest that Jasper National Park has recorded in the last 100 years.
While the wildfire fight is far from over, there could be some relief coming for those hardest hit. The Alberta and federal governments said they’ll match donations to the Canadian Red Cross for wildfire relief across the province.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan and Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis said every $1 donated will become $3 to support people most impacted in Jasper and across the province.
The donation-matching initiative will last for 30 days, retroactive to when the 2024 Alberta Wildfires Appeal first opened this past Thursday.
– with files from Global News’ Sean Previl, Karen Bartko and Jayme Doll, and The Canadian Press
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