On our way to and from Radium Hot Springs last weekend we passed through Kootenay National Park and stopped a few times to stretch the legs along the way, below are a few captioned shots from that journey. The main image is a roadside shot looking east over the Kootenay River.
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This time last week I wouldn't have believed you if you'd told me Sarah would make this hike, I'm still surprised even though I watched it with my own eyes. The Conrad Kain Hut is a tough challenge. Almost all of the ascent comes in a short section at the end and it includes some exposed areas where chains are attached to the rock face..... then there's 'the ladder'. Access to the trailhead is via a long and miserable potholed dirt road and there are mosquitoes by the thousand in the lower stages, when you do make the car park you need to wrap your vehicle in chicken wire to prevent local porcupines eating it while you are away (I kid you not). But if you drive that road, wrap your vehicle, dodge the mosquitoes, walk the ledges and climb that ladder you will remember it as a great hike with truly spectacular scenery, kudos to Sarah for tackling it and loving almost every minute. As always, the gallery below is a small selection of captioned shots or you can click here for the full tale with all images.
With the Powderface Trail reopening this year I took myself on a fact finding mission along Canyon Creek where I found a number of potential summits to go after. To keep the day interesting I hiked an 18km round trip to Bryant Lake, as usual I have included a small gallery of shots from the day below or you can click here to see the whole hike and more pics.
We had planned to give the gardening a rest for friday afternoon and get out to the mountains for a break. With the powderface Trail reopening after a 3 year closure due to flood damage, there was only one place we were heading. It was great to be out in cooler temperatures and to make a summit with Sarah. As usual there's a selection of shots below or you can click here for the full hike report with more photos.
I need little excuse to visit the Ghost Wilderness just north west of Cochrane, it's such a beautiful location that just being there is good for the soul. We wanted a bird feeder in the garden but those artificial concrete things don't do it for us and a lump of 4x4 with a square on top doesn't either, so I decided to ask the forestry service for a permit to reclaim a suitable piece of driftwood from the ghost river for use as a bird feeding station. After some discussion and itemising of 'rules' I was given an amended permit specifically for two pieces of driftwood for the princely sum of $5.
As soon as I arrived at that beautiful river bed I abandoned the truck and had a wander around looking over the spoils. I was quickly reminded of the joys of wandering the mountains, suffice to say friday will not be spent planting around the feeder, but we will get to that within a week. Click the gallery below for captioned images of the bird feeder collection and construction. I know it's all too easy to shoot yet another prairie sunset but tonight was more about the storm clouds that passed through during the sunset. The layers of colour were beautifully separated with accents of red on the low cloud and dark blues and blacks above, so I fired off a few shots to share.
For some reason our house builder thought it was a good idea to have a downpipe that led straight down the wall and onto the entrance pathway and then, bizarrely, laid straight across the path to reach the grass where it could drain. It has to be one of the poorest pieces of design I have ever seen. In the winter the entire path was solid ice and the rest of the year it had this massive trip hazard laid directly across it. So, with temperatures still too hot for hiking I set about building an arbour to carry the gutter across the path at height. We finished it off with planting to soften the house front and make it look more homely. The main image shows the finished article and the gallery has a few captioned shots showing a step or two along the way.
For over a year now we have looked down from the balcony onto a nasty gravel filled square which was constructed prior to our ownership. It was an excellent solid construction but unwanted by us as it was a base for a hot tub and hot tubs aren't really our thing. After a bunch of ideas we finally settled on a small deck. With temperatures over 27c (80f) all week it was too hot to be climbing mountains so I decided to get to building that deck. I worked on it Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and Sarah joined on Friday evening and all weekend. By Sunday afternoon we were sitting on the new furniture on our little oasis. The main shot is Sarah enjoying the fruits of her labour and the captioned gallery below shows the construction from start to finish using images snapped with the phone during the build and from the proper camera after completion.
As anyone who reads the blog regularly will know, the prairies offer up wonderful sunsets quite often. But every now and again one comes along that is just spectacular and Saturday night was one of those. There's little more I can say about the sunsets that I haven't already said except that I never left the balcony during this one. The clouds moved in layers across a huge sky and then lined up neatly to bounce the last light back down to a city of grateful observers.
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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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