Rocky Mountain Vault (Heart Creek Bunker)

Elevation: 1388 m
Elevation Gain: 170 m
The Rocky Mountain Vault is a man-made cavern that was excavated by the Rokosh brothers in the late 1960s. The site was intended to serve as a secure location for the storage of sensitive or critical documents. Contrary to local folklore, the cavern never appears to have been intended to serve as a bunker for apocalyptic Cold War events. The vault consists of a tunnel which leads to 2 large chambers and is carved into Mount McGillivray’s sheer northeast face. Despite ambitious plans, the Rocky Mountain Vault and Archives Company, ultimately, went bankrupt and the project was never completed.
My Ascents:
May 21 2021
Trailhead: Heart Creek Trailhead
GPS Track: Rocky Mountain Vault

In the Rockies, May long weekend is the official kickoff to camping season. After enduring a long winter, locals flock to campgrounds to toast Queen Victoria in that most Canadian of manners: with a “May Two-Four”. One of the weekend’s less-appealing characteristics, however, is the fact that coolers are rarely required to keep one’s drink of choice chilled. Indeed, death, taxes and May long weekend snowstorms are life’s only real certainties. While camping through a May Long blizzard is an Alberta rite of passage, it is surprising that so many choose to do so year after year! (Then again, Albertans also elected Progressive Conservative Governments for 44 consecutive years so learning from past, poor decisions doesn’t appear to be a Provincial strength.) After a previous May long weekend spent inside a snow-covered tent, I’d sworn that I was through with this sort of nonsense. The purchase of a camping trailer (equipped with a furnace), however, changed the math in that particular equation. With somewhere to keep things dry and to warm up, early season camping was suddenly more appealing. Who knows? Maybe 2021 would even smile upon us with a warm Victoria Day weekend? (HA.)

Arriving at the Bow Valley campground, we were greeted with typical May Long conditions. Giddy that we wouldn’t have to sleep outside in the cold, we put on our warm clothes and frolicked through the snow as a family. Snowmen were built: Snowflakes were caught on tongues: Snowball fights brought the realization that pegging your own children with a well-aimed shot is extraordinarily satisfying. After an hour or two outside, we retired to our trailer, cranked the heat and sought to exchange our wet clothes for dry ones. The latter brought about the realization that all of our children’s dry clothes were still in Calgary. Whoops…

Fortunately, our camper’s furnace managed to dry out a shirt and pants for each of our children to sleep in. When the next day dawned predictably cool and moist, we ventured to Canmore and procured an adequate supply of kids’ clothes from the local thrift store. Now that we could clothe our children, we turned our attention towards the weekend’s next most pressing concern: where to hike?

With the mountaintops firmly planted in the clouds and snow on the ground all the way to the valley bottom, we settled on a hike to the Rocky Mountain Vault. Afterall, a moody weather day seemed like a perfect time to explore a cave!

After parking at the Heart Creek trailhead, we endured an epic, hiking pole-related toddler meltdown and briefly lost our car keys. Fortunately, some boulders in the parking lot helped bring an end to the former situation while the latter was resolved by looking under a car seat. With the passage of all of our immediate crises, we set off west along the TransCanada Trail.

As its name suggests, the TransCanada Trail parallels the TransCanada Highway, providing plenty of road noise and good views towards the nearby cement plant (not exactly a top 10 hike!).

LEFT: Mom and her girls make their way towards the Vault under Mount McGillivray’s steep northeast face.
RIGHT: Distractions en route. Mera is currently obsessed with jumping off anything that she can…

A few online sources suggested that finding the Vault is difficult. As you can see, it is not.

A crowd marks the entrance to the Vault some 2 km or so from the parking area.

LEFT: Having navigated beyond the selfie-taking masses that clogged the Vault’s entrance, Mera bravely ventures into the unknown…
RIGHT: Penny, on the other hand, wasn’t nearly as brave. In fact, as soon as we stepped into the darkness, she told us that she wanted “to go back out where we came” (over and over and over). Luckily, her mood improved when Mom offered to carry her.

The world’s cutest cavers. 😍

For added fun, we decided to bring whirling, twirling colorful lights.

Mera follows her rainbow light into the vault’s depths.

Family photo at the BOTV. Without the camera’s flash, we hadn’t even noticed the creepy graffiti nearby! After exploring the subterranean darkness for a few minutes and taking our photos, Brianne and Penny insisted that we “go back out where we came.” It seems that they both found the vault to be mildly unsettling. 🤣

As we ventured back towards the entrance, we were blinded by the light. The experience was akin to leaving a dark pub at 3 pm after a long "lunch."

Once our eyes readjusted to the outdoors, we were “treated” to the view of nearby Lac des Arcs (complete with cement plant). Click to see larger (or don’t – you’re not really missing much at lower resolution).

LEFT: Brianne and Penny wander back from whence we came.
RIGHT: The reason for Heart Mountain’s name was somewhat obvious as we hiked back to the trailhead.

After a chilly May day exploring caves, we retreated to the warmth of our trailer to enjoy the rewards of a fine family adventure: a movie for the kids and the first ale of our “May Two Four” for Mom and Dad! Happy Victoria Day! 🍻