Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

The Canoe

 Back when we bought the cabin, a friend alerted us to a canoe going cheap. We bought it and stored it under the deck at Terry's dad's until we could get it to the cabin. Then we joined the foreign service and the canoe stayed right where it was.

While visiting this summer, we decided to finally take the canoe to the cabin. In the process of moving it to the car and then to the cabin we noticed how beautifully lightweight it was (one of the reasons we got rid of the COVID canoe was it was too heavy and bulky). We discussed Terry driving it back to Calgary. In the end he did. And this weekend, 15 years after first acquiring the ride, we put it into water! 

Monday, August 1, 2022

Alymer Lookout

 To my delight, and probably everyone else in the family's, I have found a women's hiking group. Much less nagging the family to come with me on hikes I'm not comfortable handling alone!   The first hike I did with this group is also the longest hike I have done in memory (possibly ever) - 24 km in one day. I thought it would be Ok because more than half the hike is mostly level, with a relatively sharp incline at the end to get to those amazing views. so this is the thing about hiking with a bunch of moms: (1) when we started inclining I was definitely the last in line, except for another women who I think just wanted to be sure I made it although she kept saying she was super slow; (2) when someone fell and gashed her knees, there were multiple choices of alcohol wipes, antibacterial ointment, and large Band-aids; (3) at lunch nearly everyone had carrot, cucumber and/or celery sticks. It was glorious. Everyone wanted to be there, everyone was having a great time. I did get blisters and learned that the kids' hiking shoes are really not meant for serious hiking. Also if I am going to continue hiking with these ladies then I will need a serious, decent pair of hiking boots. Given that I wear kids' sizes I am not hugely optimistic about finding what I need.

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Elkwood Campground (aka Peter Lougheed camping #2)


Back during our first full summer when we were camping neophytes and made lots of mistakes, we spent a couple of nights in the Peter Lougheed area. There are multiple campgrounds and one we visited was Elkwood. Elkwood had actual showers (in one location for the entire campground), an ampitheatre that held concerts and park ranger informative talks, and a ton of bike trails. We swore we'd come back one day and thankfully, Schnerp.com let us do exactly that!

[side note: schnerp is a site that alerts users to cancelled reservations to their chosen campgrounds so they can try to snag the newly opened spot. The window is only open for 10 minutes and the first 2-3 times we tried someone else got the spot before us.]

We ended up never using the showers nor did we attend the concert but the campground was as nice as we had hoped. We arrived Friday after work and a fast food dinner, the nearly eternal summer daylight allowed us to still get the tent and gear all set up before s'mores and getting ready for bed. I was also thrilled and surprised to sleep as late as 7am and only woke a little cold in the night.

After a more or less leisurely breakfast we headed out to the Blackshale Suspension Bridge, which I would not say would be worth the trip from Calgary but being about 20 minutes from camp made a ton of sense. The bridge itself is cool, as a suspension bridge, but there isn't much else to it. The loop is only about 1km long, taking us up to and over the bridge, then looping into the forest before spitting us back out by the car.

I had heard quite a bit about renting kayaks and canoes from a nearby campground (our PL #3 if all goes well - next year) and wanted to check it out. Boulton Creek Campground has all the Elkwood does PLUS a general store, ice cream shop, and aforesaid rentals.  It's also where we buy the token to use for showers if we so indulged. We went for the ice cream and decided the watercraft rentals were a bit rich for our blood. It's a cool system though, you handle the paperwork for the rental and get the oars/lifevests at the shop, but the craft themselves are at the waterside about 10 minutes' drive away.  

Instead we decided to check out a different waterside day use area and had a great time there, although the kids would probably deny it now. We scrambled around the rocks, the kid got their feet wet (and their shoes, socks and to some extent pants/shorts) and we watched a bald eagle grab a fish out of the water, then - after its lunch - come hang out in a tree near us.  Upon return to the campground Terry and I took a little bike ride and caught some stunning mountain views as well as admiring the wildflowers beginning to poke their heads up.

Sunday morning there was rain in the forecast so after pancakes we got everything packed up in the cars and got ready to go. On the way home we stopped at several day use areas to check them out. I deeply regretted not pulling off at Grizzly Peak because the views were clear to the wall of mountains across the way.  At the Opal day use area there was an entire city of Columbian Ground Squirrels (exactly the small mammal I have been thinking are prairie dogs all these years and just learned this minute that I was wrong) scampering around worried about birds but paying us no mind. And many weren't all that concerned about the birds either, lounging fully stretched out on rocks or among the grass.  I could happily watch those adorable rodents all day but we did need to eventually get home. We discovered that there's trout fishing at Mt. Lorette Ponds and Terry happily scoped that out for future reference.  There's also a pulloff I noticed every time we were on Route 40 that has an old fashioned well and stairs beside it leading up into .... who knows what?  A couple of miles after I was sure I had just missed it Terry saw it and pulled off. It was a sweet a spot as I thought it would be, but the trail just led along the little creek and we didn't follow it very long.

Due to various logistics this is the only camping trip of summer 2022 and it was definitely one for the books!



Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Hiking season

Between Terry's broken ankle and wanting to spend every free moment skiing during winter, we have not been hiking. Although some trails are still closed for avalanche risk, there are still plenty of amazing hikes in the Rocky mountains that in our three years we have not yet done.

On Juneteenth when we didn't have work we thought we were in the clear to hike Lake Agnes. It was a school day/work day and I had been asking around in some of the hiking groups I'm in online and folks said they weren't having problems finding parking during the week. Hm.

Arrived at the parking lot at 10am and it was firmly closed. So we went back to the Lake Louise info center to regroup. After a conversation with one of the park guides and some more conferring, we decided on Moose Meadow to Ink Pots. 

It was nearly deserted until we hit where the trail merged with the path from Johnston Canyon to the Ink Pots. Lots of mosquitoes, some wildflowers getting an early start, and a lovely walk through the woods. The Ink Pots were worth the trip. We also discovered a lovely river just beyond, and the mountains of course behind it all, making a ridiculously beautiful spot to stop and eat lunch before adventuring on.

Btw, the Lake Louise parking lot fills by 8am even on a weekday, and Lake Morraine by 6am!!!

For the next week, we had seen a photo of Peyto Lake looking particularly deep blue and given that we'd never seen it yet (the overlook had been closed for most of our time in Canada) decided that would be the destination. The view did not disappoint. However, as the lookout is only about 1km from the parking lot we knew we needed a bit more for a hiking adventure.

So we hiked through the snow (!?!? no joke) across a ridge to another viewpoint that overlooked Bow Lake and some different mountains. The snow was very slippery and slushy so Terry's ankle began bothering him before we got to the farthest point on the trail; however we saw enough to know we wanted to come back later in the summer when more had melted and make it all the way through to the end.  The prairie dogs were abundant - a few were so big and fat I thought they were a different animal - and it was as always fun watching then scamper about.  

The wildlife highlight, however, came on our return trip.  This marmot popped out of her (his? I'm going to assume this was a mama with babies inside who wanted to keep an eye on the giants happening by) hole. At first she just popped out, checked us out and dived back in. But then she got curious and took a longer look. This was when she assumed the classic "senior year photo pose" and let us photo her from various angles.  A small group came by and she again dove back into the hole, and returned moments later to check them out.  We must have hung out with her for at least five minutes (a long time, wildlife-wise) and it was with regret we said goodbye and finished the hike.

 


Thursday, December 30, 2021

Some small adventures

 Planning my new year goals and one is to get out of my rut. Try new things again. Lockdown has really gotten me out of the habit, even though one of my favorite things is totally COVID-OK - exploring new neighborhoods (Calgary is pretty low density so there are very few pockets where you have to be within 6 feet of someone on the sidewalk).

One thing I'd read about and wanted to try is making ice lanterns.  Basically you partly fill a container with water, then stick inside of it a smaller container to make the insert where a tea light will go, and set it outside to freeze.  I put one together, and then thought about coloring the second one. It turns out that food coloring will condense in the cold so it's a stronger pocket of green at the bottom surrounded by clear-ish water.  I've also seen examples where people put greenery and berries in the water before freezing. I have lots of ideas now.

 

The other thing is food. We have complained, well, more than we should have about the restaurant scene here.  Our trip to Vancouver inspired me to look for some of the things we ate there. Tonight it was hand pulled noodles.  We got the fried noodles that we knew the kids would like and a noodle soup for the adults. We got it spicy - the restaurant actually sells its chili oil, which I think Terry plans to buy next time. It was delicious and spicy. I kept coughing and my nose was running. Probably not the best scene in COVID times, oh well.  It bears repeating - it was delicious and spicy.  The kids tried sesame balls with sweet bean paste inside and liked it enough that we ordered a second round. The house tea was also exceptional. I have no idea what was in it - I think goji berries, peach flower, maybe chamomile, maybe chrysanthemum, I think some rose hips .... definitely honey but somehow the sweetness continued through several refillings with hot water.

Anyway, it has fueled my desire to do more exploring.

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Once in a lifetime

Last night the aurora was so strong and so high we caught a shot of it from our back yard.  We live relatively close to the downtown area, so between trees, neighbor's houses and light pollution, it must have been a massive, amazing show for us to catch that little green line.  It was early enough in the night that I got Alex to come down and take look, although it was past Zoltan's bedtime.

I deeply regret not getting in the car and catching the real show somewhere darker.

(Photo taken with my phone, so one more reason it's not as spectacular as it could have been.)


Tuesday, August 24, 2021

And a-camping we go: Rampart Creek


Part of the mad scramble for campsites means taking what you can get in terms of dates, or in terms of campgrounds.  My second priority was to camp along the Icefields - there are so many cool hikes but they are too far to get to from home. So, for this week of vacation we spent 4 days at Two Jack, came home for a night of showering, laundry, and repacking the cooler, then set off for 5 days at Rampart Creek.

The two campsites could not have been more different from each other. Two Jack is thinly treed and the sites are very close to each other.  At Rampart each site is nestled among trees and there is plenty of space between them. Two Jack was so civilized - running water and flush toilets!  Rampart has one spigot of potable water at the junction of all three campsite loops. For similarities: both places were a million times warmer than any of last year's camping experiences (a full 1/4 of the clothing we brought we never used, lots of long johns and woolens), both had really bad smoke and fire bans in effect. And mosquitoes.  We ended up cutting the trip short by one day due to the smoke and running out of bug spray.

First hike: Wilcox Pass.  Supposedly beautiful views, and I can believe it.  We did spend a bit of time playing in a patch of snow we came across, and when Terry and I took a short detour to a flowing stream the kids watched a prairie dog scamper about.  There were pretty wildflowers all along the path and in the distance.

Second hike: Parker Ridge. Similarly probably beautiful, lovely wildflowers, similar extreme smoke.

Last hike: For the aforementioned reasons, we decided to cut the trip a bit short and head home. So on the fourth day we broke up the camp, packed the cars, and headed over to Wildfowl Lake where our last hike of the trip - Chephren Lake - would begin.  It was the family highlight, mostly because the kids have become allergic to elevation and this one was barely up from flat. We usually pace 20 minutes per km, and for this it was a solid 15.  The hike itself is mostly a flat walk in the woods - so meh in my book. But the lake itself is stunning.  And because the mountains rise right out of its waters, they are close enough to photograph and actually see something.  On our way down we ran into a group that was going up to swim in that water - again, Canadians made of sterner stuff than us.

Bear: There were signs up all over the campground alerting folks that there was a bear in the area.  According to the chalkboard by the water source, it had last been seen 5 days ago.  But apparently all the good berries are now ripe because between 9:30-10:30am each morning the folks camping in sites closer to the water than us has sightings. One day on our way back from a hike we passed a car with its hazards on, pulled not-quite-over enough on the shoulder a couple of km from the campsite and Terry noted there was a bear the car had pulled over to watch. I only saw a dark blur as we drove past.  It's probably the same bear.

Sunsets:  It was a lot like Goldilocks' lunch. The first night we waited too long to wander over toward the creek to get a sunset photo and the sun was already behind the mountain by the time we got there.  So our second night we went extra early, but got so bug bitten we had to give up before it got the real fiery reds.  Third night was just right, and Terry was able to capture some pretty pictures.



Sunday, August 22, 2021

And a-camping we go: Two Jack Lake

 

When we were watching and refreshing the Canada Parks web site like concert tickets were about to go on sale, our strategy was clear: we wanted to camp at Two Jack Lake.  We've driven past it a million times, wandered along its shores from the Day Use Area and even ice skated across it. As Terry was 6000-something in line, we did not get our first choice of dates, or second choice, but we got dates that we could make work and we were thrilled.

Well, smoke from the wildfires. And even though it's so dry there are the aforementioned wildfires, and a fire ban so we couldn't sit by the campfire at the end of the day, nobody told the mosquitoes.  We had very recently bought a screen tent for over the picnic table and that paid for itself during the course of the trip, even if we had paid three times the amount for it.  Poor Zoltan looks like he has chicken pox from the bites and that was with the mesh doing a very good job keeping the 'skeeters out.

Our plan for Two Jack involved canoeing and swimming.  Except we didn't end up swimming because we had pretty well cooled off by the time we waded into knee-high water.  Canadians are made of hardier stuff than us (one of Terry's colleagues had camped just a week or two before and had done quite a bit of swimming).  We did get out in the canoe quite a bit though, in all kinds of 1, 2 and 3 formations - the canoe does not fit all four of us anymore.  Alex will deny this until her adulthood at least, but she enjoyed her solo adventures.  She'd be grumpy and grumbling, paddle away, and return 45 minutes latter full of smiles.  But don't tell her, she "hated every minute of camping."

There was the loon that I swear was mocking us, letting us get almost close enough to see it through the glacial-clear water when it ducked under, but then zipping away before we actually got that close ... and popping up on the other side of the canoe + 50 meters.


 


Thursday, August 19, 2021

Camp Chief Hector Part II

 

Lunch included a surprisingly delicious bean and quinoa salad, which was good as the sandwich was salami and I hadn't alerted the camp to any food issues.  After lunch we trooped over to the climbing wall.  There were two "easier" sides and two harder sides.  The harder ones were legit - even Alex didn't get all the way up them.  I regret not fully trusting the belay and thus not climbing higher than I did.

By this point the kids were mutinying for down time, so we headed back to the tipi for reading and resting.  We had originally planned to participate in the pre-dinner all-hands water fight but when it came time to go, we were cool and comfortable in the tipi. 

Dinner was a full scale BBQ feast. Pork loin and grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, green salad and cauliflower salad.  We ate too much so I didn't feel up to joining the after dinner yoga session.  We were also in the midst of Master Labyrinth, which is played very, very differently from regular Labyrinth.  Alex absolutely swept the floor with the rest of us, showing once again why it is important to not have only one person reading the rules (She who reads the rules, wins. Unless others also read the rules).  After some digestion we had the kids teach us GaGa ball.  I now understand the name - every time I miss the ball I yell "Gah!"

There was a silly singalong the counselors led "around the campfire" (imagine an atrium with a fire pit at the bottom in front of the stage). Even the moody, jaded teenager was seen to laugh.

Not pushing our luck with the kids, we dropped them off at the tipi when we wandered back to the waterfront - we had wanted to try taking some photos with the real camera as opposed to our puny phones.  The haziness was way down - winds must have been blowing the smoke some other direction - and the view was lovely.  

On our walk back to the campsite, I was walking in front of Terry when he hissed for me to come back over to him.  I figured he saw a deer or something he wanted to show me, and I saw a dark shape move past through the trees alongside the path.  Yeah, it was a bear.  He said it was pretty small so he wasn't sure if there was a mama nearby and if we continued on we might get between them.  Of course, continuing on was the only way to get back to camp.  We waited and watched a few moments, then started backing away towards the trail.  We were basically at the corner of a wooden walkway that in wetter times crosses some kind of pond or lake but right now crosses a field.  As we started over the walkway, talking loudly about how "We're cool, mama bear, don't want anything to do with you and just going to head out now" a bear heads out into the field essentially parallel to us.  It was beautiful, Terry and I will forever argue about how big it was, and it is definitely just living its life, not concerned with us.  It was definitely the smart thing to do not to stop and take a photo (even though the camera was in Terry's hands!!) but we did regret it a tiny bit once we were out of range and no longer quietly freaking out.

We had seen two people in the frisbee golf area by the waterfront, so we went to the main lodge to tell the counselors about the bears.  Apparently other families had seen at least one of them in a similar area in the morning, so this is not a big deal.  To the Canadians.  For the rest of the trip whenever we went past the area where we saw them Terry and I would talk louder. We still haven't told the kids.

For our last day we headed back to the waterfront, this time to canoe by age-pairs - parents in one, kids in the other.  Terry turned out to be as motivated as Alex and I definitely did not rest as much as I had planned.  But it's OK because we saw the loon again, this time it was two adults and one baby, and they were farther away.  We went through a narrow area into a bay area where we watched what looked like a baby duck practice flying. It was barely above water, splashing all over the place, and going back and forth across a wide stretch.  Never seen anything like it!  Of course we failed to capture that on film as well.

After canoeing we headed toward the Adventure Challenge.  They did a great job with boards, tires, sticks, and imagination.  Our family was persisting in our last challenge after everyone else had left for lunch.

The last phase of camp was the high ropes course.  The first event was basically climbing to the top of a telephone pole that had a see-saw on top. People (kids) climbed up in pairs and were meant to stand on each side of the see-saw. If I remember correctly, there was only one pair that actually made it to the top with both standing. To get down, they lean back in the harness and trust their belayers to get them down.  This was nobody's favorite. The last event was like a vertical obstacle course.  I'm hopeful Terry posts a photo or video of this as I don't now how else to describe it. Alex was one of the few to make it to the top,  and she scrambled up it twice.

We have caught too many smiles on film to take seriously Alex's complaint that it was a horrible time and she never wants to do anything like it again. What can I say, 13's gonna 13.

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Wordless Wednesday

 


Camp Chief Hector part I



Alex was supposed to go to overnight camp last summer.  She was supposed to go to overnight camp this summer.  COVID made a hash of all that.  However, the camp does have a "family weekend" that we decided to try.

We arrived Friday after dinner, were directed to the family's assigned tipi, got a bit unpacked and returned to the main lodge for a snack and trivia.  They are super strict and serious about NO FOOD IN THE TIPI and basically food should be either in your car or what the camp serves, eaten in or near the main lodge.  This is worth taking seriously; more on that later.

The trivia was mostly about Canada and although we would have gotten a D if it were for school, we were happy we didn't fail.  The main lodge has games, arts and crafts (appealing to the littler ones), bathrooms with flush toilets and a water refilling station.  Families are assigned their own tables, and the camp operated like a restaurant in that we wore masks as we moved about the room but took them off when hanging at the table.

We decided to take a walk in the evening and wandered over to the waterfront area where we would be canoeing the next day.  There's wildfires raging around Alberta and B.C. and pollution is very pretty.

The tipis are outfitted with five bunk beds and a fire pit in the middle.  We didn't understand that we needed to open the smoke flap at the top when building the fire so things got a bit smokey.  It was too hot to keep the fire going anyway - such a weird feeling to be in short sleeves at 10:30pm at a campsite in Alberta. 

Sleep came late - that massive fireball in the sky keeping things light until after 11pm - and was broken by the sounds of squirrels frolicking all around, inside and out.  I gladly jumped out of bed around 7:30am and got myself dressed and ready for breakfast, which doesn't start until 8am.

Pierogies for breakfast was unusual but worked. The kids gobbled down the blueberry pancakes. There was actually a whole raft of food but I forget what else we ate.  First activity: waterfront/canoeing.  We were first told there needed to be an adult in each boat, so Alex and I paired up, Zoltan and Terry in a different canoe.  Alex had goals and was not impressed with my performance. When we paddled over to the menfolk they were watching a loon and her baby, so we hung around and watched them too.  And listened to their unusual call.

But we had other plans so we soon headed back to the dock where we shed the lifevests and canoes and trekked over to the archery range.  They didn't get a lot of families who owned their own bows so were more impressed than they should have been at the family performance (except me. I haven't shot a bow since my camping days about a million years ago).  After a few rounds we tried our hands at the javelins.  They had atlatls too, which Alex was excited to see as she had done a report on Aztec weapons last year and had learned about them. We were not particularly skilled here; I am pretty sure it's the kind of thing one must practice to get right.