The road in is gravel, dry ‘n’ dusty. Same as all in the area. And all are similarly devoid of traffic. Stop, roll down the window and you’ll be greeted with silence. The location here is rural, well away from any town. Look all around…nothing to see but fields and...
It’s an easy hike, not long and requiring only minimal effort, with a fair reward, a fine view at the end. This is Death’s Head, a low wooded ridge in the foothills of Kananaskis, Ware Creek area. By itself it’s not a destination โ alone it’s just not worth the...
Everyone knows we’re obsessed with tiny fibreglass camping trailers, those from the Boler company and of any other make. It’s an addiction, all consuming, the desire to search out these โwheeled-eggsโ completely overpowering…and we make zero attempt to end it. We’re under a spell, broken and damaged by it all...
It’s under wraps for reasons unknown, a strange Boler cocoon – will a butterfly emerge? But we can guess what’s going on here…mostly likely it’s leaking windows. It happens, a common problem in fact, old gaskets rotting out and cracking, allowing moisture in. They’re probably original, so darn old. It’s...
Stop the presses folks…we’ve reached a milestone here. This post, which you’ll soon be enjoying, is the 1000th here at BIGDoer.com. Yes, our society has produced that many pieces and in only five years to boot! Not 1000 simple photo essays, but rather painstakingly researched history write ups, in-depth articles...
These are the words oftentimes heard when describing long forgotten places…โif these walls could talkโ. It’s a catch all phrase really, some might say an overused one at that, when one’s thought are overwhelmed โ โthis empty old farm house…if these walls could talkโ. Still, more often than not, it...
This is one easy hike, really just a lazy walk through the forest with some scenic views of surrounding hills and ridges to boot. Pretty nice, but hardly worth a long drive and best done if you’re already in the area. In our case we were doing some trail scouting...
It looks like any other pasture or field, something you might expect to see cows or horses living in. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. Yet, mostly hidden from view by tall grass, there’s danger underfoot. Scattered here and there, randomly and numbering in the dozens if not more, are...
It’s that close to being a guarantee, a rock-solid one at that. That’s how confident we are. When driving down the streets of near any random town of any reasonable size out west here, there’s more than a good chance one will come across a Boler. It happens all the...
We’ve been eyeing up the Strawberry Hills for some time now. These, a series of bumps, treed on the lower slopes, but with open tops mostly of grass, can be found in South Kananaskis, one of the least visited sections of that vast recreation area. Seems we know others who...
Twilight: that most magic time of day. The sun’s last and final hurrah, that warm golden glow enveloping the world dark shadows and a deep blue in stark contrast. It’s serene, peaceful, something damn powerful and words alone don’t seem enough. Then, add a train, a tour train taking in...
In the 1970s pinball was king. You couldn’t swing a dead cat, to use that always chuckle-worthy adage, and not hit one. They were everywhere…your local arcade, back when there was arcades, the corner store, the mall, the neighbourhood watering hole, pool hall, anywhere one could be plopped down. And...
It’s been photographed…an awful lot. Not that it should come as a surprise, the little grain elevator in Dorothy Alberta, a near ghost town in the Red Deer River badlands, is one photogenic building. Standing there, right beside the highway, in this lovely valley setting, below the sprawling plains, one...
Here we are, travelling down some back road we’ve never been before (and you thought we’ve seen every one), Crowsnest Pass area of Alberta, and we see this, an ancient boxcar in retirement. Once belonging to Canadian Pacific Railway it’s at the edge of a field sitting in a corral...
It’s convincing! Standing here in this town straight out of the American Old West, this 1800s roadhouse along a dusty cowboy trail or this stately ranch from the distant past…it just feels right. Look around, there’s no signs of today, no highways, no skyscrapers, nada, nothing. All about it’s grassy...
Wrentham Alberta, a teenie-weenie little village, the term โmetropolisโ never once used to describe it. In the far south of the province it was founded around a century ago when the railway arrived. The population, well, it’s a mere handful, hearty folks all, as people who dwell in these small...
It’s in our blood. It’s what we do. We take the โback wayโ when returning from adventures and we do it every darn chance we get. We have this insatiable hunger, us, this pair of restless souls with a never ending desire, a burning drive taking us to the point...
Let’s see…a nice easy hike taking one to a stunning mountain rimmed valley, home to a charming little lake. What’s not to like? Here, the perfect choice when ambitions are lacking but the call of the nature is loud and strong. This is about the easiest lake destination hike in...
This post is from 2017, and shot the year before, but with fall 2024 updates. It was never a town to speak of, more a locality or a dot on the map reference point for the general area. So not an incorporated community (for Barb Foran: one lacking a municipal...
This Boler could use a good wash. A common problem with these fibreglass trailers, Bolers and those made similarly of the same material, is the build up of mould, mildew and dirt in general as the gel-topcoat ages. For old trailers, the exterior seemingly becomes a magnet for grime and...
Nothing beats a good small town museum. Team BIGDoer is huge fan and think you should be too. They’re hidden gems, wonderful places to learn about local history, the people who came before, those tough and resilent folks from times past, on display at these venues the things connecting them...
by Chris Doering · Published June 28, 2017 · Last modified October 25, 2021
To say we have a “couple” articles in the works would be a gross understatement. We’ve been busy exploring and photographing all over the west, at some crazy accelerated pace, Chris & Connie seemingly possessed or something and accumulating a huge number of photos and information for new posts. We’re...
Flashback…it’s sometime in the latter half of the 1980s. It’s race day at Valley Motorcycle Park, an โMXโ (motocross) track found in a shallow coulee on the Alberta Plains. It’s a busy event, groups of riders coming in from all over Calgary and area eager to challenge the track. The...
There were countless manufacturers of small fibreglass trailers in the 1970s and 1980s, the golden age for these types of campers. Of course we all know about Bolers, one of the most common of the era, and Trilliums, which are still made today. But there were a huge number of...
Been a while. A very long while. Far too long in fact. So here, for the first time in eons, a couple years maybe, make room for another Superman then and now. We used to do them a lot, but have been neglecting the series lately. Anyway, here we take...
Seems we haven’t been feeding our Boler obsession as we should. Sure, we’re still out there capturing photos of them, but we’ve been super lax in posting. For example the image used in this article…it’s from late 2015! Well, we have been crazy-crazy busy and these seem to fall by...
This is our second trip to the top of Mt Hoffmann (alternately Hoffman). When we last did it many years back, the trail was not well known nor used, and as such was faint or even nonexistent in places. Since then, more people have come to know this pleasant little...
Seen here, odd bits and pieces, random stuff abandoned in nature found while out exploring Minburn and Two Hills Counties east of Edmonton. We’re there to documented some specific subjects and these were discovered travelling between them. There’s old farms, forgotten metal, empty buildings found on some street in a...
Here’s a fun little hike, far easier than most we chronicle. It makes a loop around the west end of the Canmore Alberta, also hitting up some trails in the woods just across the river. Mountains, lots or them to see. Stunning stuff here! There’s a bit of history too,...
Starland Alberta. Not a town. Nothing more than a siding along a former rail line, the only thing here, a lone grain elevator. It’s relatively modern one, a bit unusual in some ways, which we’ll touch on soon enough. Think of it as a transitional design of sorts, from the...
Kenopsia: "the eerie atmosphere of a place that's usually bustling with people but now vacant or abandoned."
We couldn't run this website without your help!
Thanks to Recent Sponsors...
Anonymous:
Sibbald Gentlemanโs Club (Closed)
Rob Pohl & Arturo Pianzola:
Riverview Hospital Coquitlam BC
Johanna (Connie) Biggart
Empress Alberta at the 4th Meridian
Johanna (Connie) Biggart:
St Peter and Paul Church 1918
Anonymous:
Radio Shack Westbrook Mall (Calgary)
Anonymous:
Ghost Railways: Fort Macleod Alberta
Anonymous:
Berte Georgeโs Williamโs Grocery Lethbridge
Rob Pohl & Arturo Pianzola:
Union Bay (Vancouver Island) Coal Wharf
Rob Pohl & Arturo Pianzola:
1 Day: Denman & Hornby Islands (BC)
Wilfrid Lambo:
Crossley Slides: A Corner in Erlton
Rob Pohl & Arturo Pianzola:
Ioco Port Moody BC (Ghost Town)
Anonymous:
Historic Fort Macleod After Hours
Anonymous:
Ghosts of the Crowsnest Subdivision
Franco Media:
Moose Jaw SK Train Station (~90 Yrs Apart)
Anonymous:
Kart World or Kart Gardens? (2014)
You cannot copy content of this page
Javascript is required for this site to function. Please enable it in your browser settings and refresh this page.
This popup is only shown once per month. We hate them too, but need your help.
Donate & help keep new content coming...
Or
Chris & Connie thank you!
Comments are (OFF)