Canmore Alberta is home to a huge network of hiking and biking trails in and about town, more than enough to keep an active couple such as us happy and busy for a long, long time. We’ve only done a few, not all documented here, but see ourselves heading back...
The location is Nelson British Colombia, โQueen City of the Kootenaysโ, a community laid back and friendly in a scenic mountain setting. The time is early fall 2018 – yes we’re well behind in posting. And the reason we’re here? Glad you asked….just passing through on our way to one...
We have many obsessions here at OTBP-wC&C/BIGDoer.com. Of course you all know we’re big into abandoned stuff, old vehicles and machines, historic buildings, trains, outdoor pursuits and generally getting out there and enjoying life. And then in there’s pinball. It’s our thing, even if some readers let us know it’s...
We have some of the most awesome friends. Some do interesting things, some own interesting things, and all have a different approach to life. It’s these folks that make our short time on this little blue marble something memorabele. Case in point, a family we’ve know for many years now...
Time was you could drive down any back road in this part of the world and come to a railway level crossing. Until fairly recently the tracks went everywhere, be it main line or branch, and these rural intersections of steel and pavement or gravel commonplace. Some crossings were protected...
One weekend, two completely different towns, two separate provinces, lots of distance between and two totally different little fibreglass trailers spotted out in the wild. First, it’s a rather uncommon Beachcomber seen down some side street in East Coulee Alberta, out in the scenic Badlands of the Red Deer River...
Driving down some dead end road in the Alberta Badlands a discovery, the crushed remains of a car. But its not just any old automobile but one with quite the โreputationโ. And it’s not because it was so awesome, or stylish or had some other virtuous features. No. Plain and...
It seems so long ago now. Time takes us way back to the spring of 2018 where we found ourselves up north in Alberta’s Capital documenting the Edmonton Pinball and Arcade Show. It’s was a full day of fun and frivolity hanging with fellow pinheads and recording it all for...
We’ve hiked up to the modest summit of Eagle Hill on countless occasions and enjoyed it every single time. This visit we take a new to us route via Seventy Buck Valley from the south, instead of the traditional one which comes in from the east. It’s a different approach...
Earlier we took you on a crazy tour of Sandon British Columbia (link a few paragraphs down if you missed it), a must see ghost town in the East Kootenay region of the province. Today, we mix it up and take in some old metal found scattered about the community....
We’re always looking for curious things while out on road trips, some fresh meat for our minds and camera. Be it some old building, something train related, a subject with with a weird or quirky slant, a Boler or two (yeah!) there’s any number of things that pique our interest....
Without a doubt it ranks as one of Calgary’s most unique dwellings. I know the first time we drove past it prompted a triple take from both of us. โDid you see that?โ…as we spun around completely in sync. Found in the exclusive Calgary community of Upper Mount Royal there...
It’s three veterans of many miles keeping company. Over there it’s a thirty year old Lincoln Town Car, a big old land yacht if there ever was one, with this example standing out account its fantastic condition. Across the road it’s a Triumph Spitfire, a couple decades the elder, with...
With our most incredible El Camino de Santiago trek still a fresh memory (goodness, we never wanted it to end) we’re off to take in adventure anew somewhere down the road. Next stop, it’s a place called O Pindo, a charming and scenic fishing village on the rocky coast of...
It’s an honour bestowed to us, not once, but twice by artist Francis Marte. Here for your viewing pleasure, it’s the second painting by this watercolourist extraordinaire inspired by a photo from this website. And he picked a most incredible subject, a pair of old grizzled hands cupping grain, a...
We’ll let you in on a little secret…in our minds some of our earlier stuff…well…it doesn’t fill us with the warm and fuzzies. Mainly it’s the images we don’t like and not so much in regards to composition, but specifically how we processed them when we started shooting RAW (in...
We did this hike once before a few years back. Well, part of it anyway. On this visit to High Noon Hills, however, out in the Sheep River Area of Kananaskis, we take in both of them instead of just one. These two little bumps are located right at the...
Sometimes just going out for a walk will reward the dedicated and vigilant Boler Spotter with some new discoveries. Case in point here, two little trailers, one a thirteen foot Boler and the other a plain old Trillium seen while the Team, on foot, headed to a Calgary Street Festival...
Welcome to day two of things seen and places visited from the 2018 edition Alberta Ghost Town Convention (called the Mini-GTC, it’s anything but). It’s been going on a half dozen years now and has been attended by Team BIGDoer from the beginning, along with a wonderful group of friends,...
If you find yourself in the historic ghost town of Sandon BC, in the โSilvery Slocanโ, and are looking to stretch the legs a bit, we’ve got an excellent adventure to recommend. Starting right in town, the Payne Bluff Hike takes in the old โKaslo & Slocan Railwayโ roadbed, an...
Out near Wetaskiwin Alberta there’s a wonderful attraction you and the family can visit, home to a collection of vintage train equipment…and who doesn’t like that stuff? Drop in, say hi, explore the grounds, go for a ride around the loop and make it part of a grand day. On...
Here it’s a most interesting take on what’s a most remarkable place. We’re in Fort Steele Heritage Town, out in the East Kootenays of British Columbia, a popular โliving history*โ museum operating since the 1960s. We’ve been given an assignment to document the park for a photo-tour type article, but...
Smithbilt Hats has been doing it since the late 1910s. Most of what they make are cowboy hats, fitting given this is cattle, farming and ranching country. If you’ve seen a โwhite hatterโ during stampede and or at the airport greeting new arrivals to the city, that topper came from...
The entire Kootenays of British Columbia are home to disproportionately high number of Bolers. You can’t swing a dead cat, to quote that overused adage, without hitting one of these trailers. Just driving about and you’re sure to spot an example or two…or sometimes even more (six in about an...
by Chris Doering · Published May 10, 2019 · Last modified February 11, 2020
It’s our final day on the legendary El Camino Trail in Spain, and we’re both elated and more than a touch blue. These crazy conflicting emotions when you realize something epic is soon to end. There’s just some ten thousand more steps to go and it’ll all be behind us....
Deep in the precipitous mountains of the West Kootenays of British Columbia, there’s a most historic place. Built on mining riches it was a boom town like no other, once home to some ten thousand folks that today has a population which can be counted on a hand or two....
It’s located in the quiet Sibbald section of Kananaskis, a loop trail in the foothills, moderate in length with zero challenges and a real pleasure to hike. It keeps to trees mostly, but there’s still lots of scenery and occasional far reaching views of mountains beckoning to the south and...
We do them out of fun and for that alone these โthen and nowโ posts are sadly the first ones to be put on hold should other projects come up. It frustrates us, but we have little choice. The last was published in 2018 (yikes!) but here we (cautiously) announce...
To some it’s known, variously, as the Castle, Tower or Turret House, account its distinctive style of architecture. To others it’s the Robertson or Koopman House, after some folks who once called it home. But most famously it’s known far and wide as the Superman House due to its appearance...
Not like we need another obsession here at BIGDoer.com, but it’s happened. Great…just great. And it’s well known history buff Johnnie Bachusky we blame. If not for him bringing up the subject of water towers recently while chatting, the seed would have never been planted. Sure, we noticed these structures...
Kenopsia: "the eerie atmosphere of a place that's usually bustling with people but now vacant or abandoned."
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