Last year I took a bad fall from a mountain in Kananaskis and I've wanted to return and close that out for some time now. Yesterday I did and it was wonderful. Click here for full story and pics.
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I went out to Kananaskis on Friday in the hope of hiking a mountain out there, when I got to my intended target I found it and all the trails around it, closed due to flood damage. As I had no other maps or info other than that area I drove down the road a way and parked in the 'Wedge Pond' car park and just set off blindly into the forest. After a while I came across Evan Thomas Creek which is normally about 15 feet wide, only now it was over a thousand feet wide. I hiked upstream for 8k and grabbed some photos of what was the forest and is now the super wide riverbed. In the shot below the creek is back to normal levels and can just be seen on the far right hand side against the trees. The rest of the 'riverbed' is washout from the flood, click any pic for a larger image. I started out on Monday hoping to find an access point to a new hiking area in the Ghost Wilderness. After a hideous journey on the worlds worst track I decided to take a short hike and enjoy the wonderful location while I was there. It was well worth the effort in a beautiful out of the way location. Read the full text and see all the photos here.
Saturday saw us driving out to Sibbald Lake and hiking a lovely trail around a pond, through meadows of wildflowers and along a small ridge, the sun shone all day which isn't always great when you're hiking but beats the hell out of rain. Click here for full hike and pics.
With my volunteering over and highway 40 reopening I headed out to the beauty of Kananaskis once more for a hike I had planned for some time. I'm so glad I did, King Creek Ridge is absolutely spectacular and must be one of the most rewarding short hikes in Kananaskis. Click here for full story and pics
We have had a fun weekend wandering the mountains 'picnic in hand' on both Saturday and Sunday. The flood damage continues to prevent access to large areas of Kananaskis so we turned our attention to the North West toward the Ghost River. On saturday we took a picnic and drove around looking for a likely spot, when we found this one by the river, we knew we were in the right place. On sunday we took a nice hike on a local trail just off Sibbald Creek, click here to see the whole hike and more pics.
We discovered another little park close to home this weekend, baby birds, snakes and waterfalls all within a few km of home. Click here for more.
July 1st is 'Canada Day' and even though much of the city is still recovering from the floods, most of us took time out to celebrate. The sun was belting down throughout the day with the city reaching 30 degrees. A number of planned events were either cancelled or moved to different venues because of the floods but the city came to life with some great shows. In the downtown core people clamoured to get the shaded spots on the left side of Stephen Avenue. There were jewelry stalls and arts & crafts spread along the length of the avenue as well as bands and street entertainers. There were free concerts all day from 11:00 am until 10:30 pm when the day culminated with a huge firework display from the centre street bridge. Sarah and I went down to Olympic Plaza to watch a couple of hours of the First Nations Pow-Wow A good crowd gathered in anticipation, the fortunate ones (or the early ones) got the best shaded spots close to the dance floor.....even in the shade it was very hot but the drums and chanting were soothing and we waited patiently for the event to begin. A short opening dance was led by a stunning procession with many nations in their ceremonial dress. Then a series of differing dances using different drums etc played out as we sipped our frozen lemonade from the shade of the trees. The dancing was incredible and we couldn't help but feel for the dancers in buckskins leaping around in 30 degree temperatures. I confess it was really nice to get away from the devastation of the floods for the day but so many victims are still in dire need , so tomorrow morning I'll be heading back out to the Siksika Nation to carry on the volunteering.
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AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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January 2024
The Shaman, West Texas
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