Events

Annual Hikers Gathering

A yearly weekend of camping, hiking, and communal campfire nights in Bow Valley Provincial Park.

Want in? — message Sami to join this year's butterfly chat. It's no-commitment, and where reminders go out as the gathering gets closer. 🦋

🏕️ What This Event Is All About

Each year, we reserve a massive group campground in Bow Valley Provincial Park, split the cost, and create our own little weekend hiking village. 🏔️

Daytime is completely free-form — choose your own adventures, hikes, lazy mornings, or explorations. ☀️🥾

Evenings? That's when the magic happens. We all gather around a roaring communal campfire for stories, laughter, and reconnecting under the stars. 🔥🌌

Not camping? No problem! You're still very welcome to swing by the campfire on Friday and/or Saturday night. 👋

✨ The Vibe We're Going For

This isn't a corporate retreat with a packed agenda and a facilitator. It's a group of friends, an organic and unstructured weekend — and you are the vibe. 💛 There's no program to follow and no one performing; the gathering is whatever the people who show up make of it.

A few things we do on purpose to protect that spirit:

Friday's potluck is the icebreaker. 🍲 Sharing food is the easiest way in, so newcomers get a relaxed chance to meet the tribe before the weekend really gets going.
Everything is optional. The Saturday social hike and the potluck are invitations, not obligations — no pressure, and no competition with whatever else you'd rather do. We're just offering options; vibe the way you want. 🌿
Small and beautiful, not one big monolith. Rather than herding everyone into a single circle, we set things up so smaller clusters form naturally — tables pulled close to the fire, a second firepit going, room to drift between them. 🔥 If you're on the shyer side, you should never feel like you're giving a speech to a crowd.
Friday tends to be the bigger night. It's organic and we don't engineer it, but the energy usually peaks around the Friday potluck and fire. By Saturday things are slower — folks are tired from the day's adventures and tend to turn in earlier. 🌙

🍲 Join the Fire & Potluck

Not camping but want to share a meal? Friday night is our community potluck, starting at 5:30 pm around the fire — bring something to share. 🔥

Saturday night, the fire will be going too. Swing by either night — just let me know you're coming. 💛

📅 When

The gathering takes place over a Friday + Saturday night in early June — typically the first weekend, when the snow is mostly gone from the valley and the bugs aren't out in force yet. 🌿

Exact dates are confirmed in the fall of the previous year.

Don't miss the announcement! The event is shared on the Alberta Hikers Together Facebook group. Join the group and adjust your notification settings so it doesn't slip past you. 🔔 Or message Sami to be added to this year's butterfly chat and hear about it directly. 🦋

📍 Where

Grouse Group Campground in Bow Valley Provincial Park, Kananaskis — about an hour west of Calgary, right at the doorstep of the Rockies. 🏔️

It's a dedicated group-use site, which means we have the whole place to ourselves: room for tents, trailers, RVs, vans, and two shared firepits. 🔥

💰 Cost

For this edition's actual price, check this year's event. 👇

We split the campground fees published on the Grouse Group Campground page — per sleeping unit, not per person.

Alberta Parks prices the site unevenly: the first sleeping units cost more than each additional one. Rather than let that fall on whoever happens to book first, we pool the total and re-shuffle it ourselves so the cost comes out fair between early birds and butterflies alike. 🐦🦋 It's an approximate split — we don't know exactly who's coming ahead of time — but it evens things out as best we can.

A few details:

Charged per sleeping unit — tent, trailer, RV, or van — not per person.
Sleeping in your car? That counts too, with a small charge to help cover the fees. 🚗
Any leftover funds carry over to the next year's gathering, easing everyone's share down the road. 💛

A Kananaskis Conservation Pass is required for every vehicle in Kananaskis Country — make sure you've got one before you arrive. 🎫

🐦 Early Birds vs. 🦋 Butterflies

Every gathering has its rhythm — and ours has two.

The Early Birds arrive first. In the quiet of fall, while the rest of the world is still folding up summer, they commit. They send word, they send funds, they hold the campground for the rest of us. They are the steady ones — the keepers of the nest, the reason there is a gathering at all. 🐦

And then there are the butterflies. 🦋

Butterflies don't plan in seasons; they plan in moments. They drift in when the wind feels right — sometimes a month before, sometimes the morning of. They might stay both nights, or just one, or only long enough to share a drink by the fire and slip back into the dark. Maybe a shift got added, maybe the schedule shuffled at the last minute — life moves, and so do they. They are weather-watchers, mood-followers, last-minute yes-sayers. They follow the warmth, the colours, the pull of the flame.

Both belong. The Early Birds build the gathering. The butterflies bring it to life. 💛

🎒 What to Bring

🛏️ Your sleeping setup — tent, sleeping bag, mattress, or whatever keeps you cozy
🍳 Your own food + drinks
💧 Drinking water — there's none on site
🪵 A camp chair for fireside hangs
🥾 Hiking gear for whatever day-adventures you're planning
🌧️ Layers + rain gear + sun protection — Alberta weather can swing wildly in early June
🎫 A valid Kananaskis Conservation Pass — required for every vehicle
🎵 Optional: an instrument, a bottle of something nice to share, a story to tell

📸 Photo Albums from Previous Years

📬 Interested?

Send a message to Sami. You'll first be added to this year's butterfly chat, where reminders go out as the event gets closer — no commitment required. A fresh butterfly chat is created for each edition.

Once you confirm, you'll be moved to the main chat for that year's edition. That's where all the day-to-day logistics happen: who's bringing what, hike plans, weather updates. 💬

Don't rely on Facebook event notifications. They're notoriously unreliable — delayed, missing, or silently dropped. The only way to be sure you won't miss anything is to message Sami directly and get added to the chat. 📵

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

🔗 Where can I find the latest FB event?

June 2026 edition → facebook.com/share/1Dp4qLQFAr

📣 Where are the events posted?

On the Alberta Hikers Together Facebook group — specifically in the Events tab. 📅

To make sure you don't miss it, enable all notifications for the group. Here's a short video walkthrough on how to do that. 🔔

🥾 Is there a group hike?

Everyone plans their days the way they want — daytime is completely unstructured. That said, we usually do one group hike on the Saturday — more social, lower-stakes, and back at camp early enough to enjoy the fire. 🔥 We aim for something shorter, but heads up: summit hikes in this area almost always involve real elevation, so even the shorter options are usually not suitable for beginners.

Absolutely no pressure to join though — the official event is really about the time around the fire. 💛

🦋 What is a butterfly?

See the Early Birds vs. Butterflies section above. 💛

👶 Can I bring my kids?

Yes — kids are very welcome. Every year there are usually a few other families who bring theirs too, so they'll likely find some company around the fire. 🔥

🧓 Am I too old for this?

Not at all. Every year we welcome people from all ages — the gathering is about the fire and the connection, not the kilometres. 💛

🌦️ What will the weather be like?

Early June in the valley is unpredictable — warm sun, cold nights, rain, and the odd surprise can all land in one weekend. ☀️🌧️❄️ Pack layers and plan for cold nights no matter what the forecast says.

For the closest read on conditions, check the Exshaw and Seebe forecasts on our weather page — they're the two towns nearest the campground, and the cards there cover both the weather and the smoke / air-quality forecast. 🔥💨

🏕️ I've never camped — what do I need?

The essentials:

Tent ⛺
Sleeping bag 🛏️
Sleeping mattress (a pad between you and the ground)

Recommended:

A camping chair for around the fire 🪑

Nights in June can get very cold, so don't skimp on the sleeping bag and mattress:

Sleeping bag: add about 10°C to whatever temperature it's advertised for — the rating is optimistic, to put it kindly. 😅
Mattress: just as important as the sleeping bag. It insulates you from the cold ground, which is where a lot of the chill comes from. 🥶

Need to pick up gear? Decathlon Calgary has solid, fairly priced options. 🛒 For more, see the Outdoor Gear section. 🎒

Community-organized gatherings for hikers in the Canadian Rockies.

Introduction

Because having the right gear makes the hike way more fun (and less cold/soggy).