Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Snow on the Elbow
Just a quick update on our weekend jaunt out into Kananaskis Country. After our Week of Terrible Sickness (see previous posting), we decided we needed a bit of fresh air and we headed off in the direction of Bragg Creek and then up along the Elbow River in Kananaskis. We hadn't been there since Mel and Stevie were here in the Fall (getting the lingo now, fall = autumn), and it turns out that it's completely different at this time of the year. It was a pretty mild day in Calgary, around 5 or 6 degrees, and most of the snow had gone from the ground. As we headed west, though the temperature dropped down to +1, and we could see there was still plenty of snow in the hills. You can take the Elbow River Drive to the end of the line in the summer, out to the Powderface Trail (not recommended for vehicles) but in the winter they close the road at Elbow Falls. It's not because the road itself is dangerous, but instead it's because food is scarce in the winter, and animals tend to come out of the woods to find something to eat. The road is closed to keep us from disturbing the animals and (in the case of the bears) to keep them from eating us!
Road Closed
You can still climb over the barrier and walk on further up into the hills and over there the snow is deep and undisturbed. We didn't go too far as we weren't geared up, but we're planning to go back and explore more with our snowboots on soon. We took pictures of the two of us standing on the yellow line in the middle of the highway:
Looking North
Looking South
The Elbow Falls themselves are even more beautiful in the winter than the summer - everything is dusted in snow, and despite the cold, people have set up picnic sites along the river, burning wood in little half-braziers. Turns out it's illegal to burn any of the wood that's there, even the dead wood from the forest floor, so you have to bring your own from home. The picnickers seemed to have been there most of the day, sitting around their fires and listening to the river's flow and the falls' roar.
We were there about 3pm, just as the sun was starting to head down towards the highest peaks of the Rockies - it was just marvellous!
Heading for the Horizon
Put your gun away
On the way back, we stopped at the Allan Bill Pond which we had discovered in the summer. At that stage it was full of families boating and swimming. At the moment it's frozen solid and its surface has been swept to form an ice hockey rink with a skating track around it. And there it sits, your own little ice rink by the side of the road, in the middle of the Rockies, completely free. I hadn't brought my new ice skates with us and so I couldn't go on the pond, and as a result I've started to carry them around in the back of the Jeep, because you never know when they come in handy.
The Allan Bill Pond
Don't fall through the ice...
So we had a great day on Saturday, and it was a fantastic way to shake off the colly-wobbles. Sunday was much colder again, and the snow came back again, about an inch. It's now Tuesday night, and it's still snowing on and off, although I had some free time today and I managed to get out for a bit of a skate on Bowness lagoon, which is about 5 minutes from home. The lagoon makes a huge ice rink, and I spent about an hour there skating about -4 as the sun started to go down over Calgary. There was almost no-one else there, and my new skates seem to fit a treat and are breaking in nicely. Then it was off out for tea at the local sushi bar, seared tuna a special hit.
We're off the the big meeting at Banff at the weekend, which will include dinner at Le Beaujolais (again) and also dinner at the Rimrock Hotel, as well as skating on Lake Louise. And then we have Sunday off, and Monday too as it's Family Day, the first public holiday of the Albertan year. Isn't life great?
J&P
Road Closed
You can still climb over the barrier and walk on further up into the hills and over there the snow is deep and undisturbed. We didn't go too far as we weren't geared up, but we're planning to go back and explore more with our snowboots on soon. We took pictures of the two of us standing on the yellow line in the middle of the highway:
Looking North
Looking South
The Elbow Falls themselves are even more beautiful in the winter than the summer - everything is dusted in snow, and despite the cold, people have set up picnic sites along the river, burning wood in little half-braziers. Turns out it's illegal to burn any of the wood that's there, even the dead wood from the forest floor, so you have to bring your own from home. The picnickers seemed to have been there most of the day, sitting around their fires and listening to the river's flow and the falls' roar.
We were there about 3pm, just as the sun was starting to head down towards the highest peaks of the Rockies - it was just marvellous!
Heading for the Horizon
Put your gun away
On the way back, we stopped at the Allan Bill Pond which we had discovered in the summer. At that stage it was full of families boating and swimming. At the moment it's frozen solid and its surface has been swept to form an ice hockey rink with a skating track around it. And there it sits, your own little ice rink by the side of the road, in the middle of the Rockies, completely free. I hadn't brought my new ice skates with us and so I couldn't go on the pond, and as a result I've started to carry them around in the back of the Jeep, because you never know when they come in handy.
The Allan Bill Pond
Don't fall through the ice...
So we had a great day on Saturday, and it was a fantastic way to shake off the colly-wobbles. Sunday was much colder again, and the snow came back again, about an inch. It's now Tuesday night, and it's still snowing on and off, although I had some free time today and I managed to get out for a bit of a skate on Bowness lagoon, which is about 5 minutes from home. The lagoon makes a huge ice rink, and I spent about an hour there skating about -4 as the sun started to go down over Calgary. There was almost no-one else there, and my new skates seem to fit a treat and are breaking in nicely. Then it was off out for tea at the local sushi bar, seared tuna a special hit.
We're off the the big meeting at Banff at the weekend, which will include dinner at Le Beaujolais (again) and also dinner at the Rimrock Hotel, as well as skating on Lake Louise. And then we have Sunday off, and Monday too as it's Family Day, the first public holiday of the Albertan year. Isn't life great?
J&P
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