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...
Deep in the depths of winter, on our visit, there’s peace and quiet here. The barn and horse corrals are empty. The bunkhouse, the cookhouse, it’s similarly so. Everything’s in place, ready for use, but there’s no one about except us. The silence, the stillness is palpable. Soon on however,...
An old farm, forgotten, falling down, weather beaten, open to the elements, home only to pigeons, the wind and maybe unseen ghosts. It’s a sombre place, they always are, the property overgrown, the last occupants long moved away, passed on and but a memory. Without exception these two sentences pretty...
This adventure has us motoring down a lonely back road, one that seemingly goes nowhere. It runs arrow straight, the car raising a cloud of dust as it cuts across the great plains of Alberta, past endless fields of stubble. Then dipping into a low valley it twists and turns....
One from the archives, somehow overlooked for a time, our subject visited way back when – wow – close to a year and a half ago. This, an old farm house, a rather modest-sized one, with a gambrel (or barn style) roof, weather beaten, open the elements and long forgotten....
Just randomly walking about town it’s almost guaranteed one will happen upon a Boler or two. The alleys, back yards and driveways of Calgary seem chock full of them (it makes sense since some were made here). In particular, they’re a strangely common in certain neighbourhoods, usually older ones, for...
A hill, not terribly tall but still well worth visiting, welcome to Deer Ridge, Sibbald Area Kananaskis, home to a nice little loop hike that’s both easy and scenic. This short route travels through varied terrain. There’s dark brooding spruce woods with carpets of moss, less dense stands of pine,...
It looks like an Airstream. In fact the old motorhome that’s the topic today was made by a sister company, this line and the other both sharing a strong family resemblance. Introducing the Argosy. Considered a “budget” camper by the firm, not that they were really all that inexpensive…just less...
This easy outing takes in two modest-sized lumps of rock and dirt in the southern section of Kananaskis, Indian Graves Ridge and directly west, Willow Creek Hills. It’s a fun, relatively short loop-hike, with some steep pushes, the reward, a good workout and lots of darn nice views to boot....
There’s a good chance you’re already familiar what we’ll be showing you here. The group of buildings seen, looking convincingly like a pioneer community straight out of the Old West, are in fact a set and have appeared in countless films and TV shows. Perhaps even some you’ve watched. This...
Slow down, grab a cup and take in some pinball art. A fun unpretentious post, we present a more detail oriented look at some of the games we’ve documented over the last little while. The photos seen were captured at the same time we shot that “Keeping the Faith” article...
Here’s a crazy notion…let’s go back in time. Nothing out of an HG Wells novel, and there’s no magic machine to send us into yesteryear, instead let’s do this…pick the far end of a major walkable thoroughfare, in this case Centre Street, hike it in its entirety from the newest...
We’re standing smack dab in the middle of Second Street West, Munson Alberta, much to the amusement of some locals, shooting a trademark BIGDoer.com then and now. We’ve come armed with an old photo, taken close to a century ago, have plopped ourselves down in the spot where it was...
At one end we have Mount Columbia, up near Jasper, the highest mountain in Alberta, topping out at some thirty seven hundred metres in elevation. Rocky, cold, barren, lofty, it’s a stand out in a sea of tall peaks. Far end of the scale, we have sad little Ole Buck...
Probably one of the shortest and easiest outings found on this here website, hike along with us as we take in Long Prairie Ridge in the Sheep River area of Kananaskis. Just one of the many trails within the Sandy McNabb network, it takes one up a long low, east/west...
This long skinny shed looking building was once a railway bunkhouse. Simply, it was a crash-pad for train crews overnighting away from home base. There would be a couple beds inside, a simple kitchen, a biffy and that’s about it. No five star resort, it was about as basic as...
The small community of Magrath Alberta is home to a nice and varied collection grain elevators from various eras. There’s four here, down over there where the tracks used to be. A couple are traditional wood “prairie sentinels”, one’s a fairly modern, albeit modest sized, concrete silo type elevator. And...
Saint Nicholas, a devout religious figure from the early days of Christianity, and to many today, the face of everyone’s most favourite holiday ever, Christmas. Said to be a miracle worker, benevolent, a helper of the poor, advocate of the hopeless, the destitute, the damned, his life’s work was in...
East Coulee, in the Alberta Badlands, is split by the slow flowing Red Deer River. Space was limited in this deep valley, so homes and businesses, the highway and in years past, the railway, were all located on the north side, while on the south there were coal mines and...
Give us an old scrap yard to explore and we’re happy campers. Dirty, full of dangers, it’s hardly a place one would think fun, but to aficionados of the decrepit and all things damned, Team BIGDoer, it’s a giant amusement park. All the cast-away things found there, they’re not shiny...
The community of Beachwood Estates in High River Alberta is doomed. It has been for a while. Once vibrant and full of life, it’s now empty after every last soul was forced to move away. The boulevards are quiet, the dwellings are quiet, there’s nothing but total silence and come...
As the game is played more, a person’s Boler spotting skills generally become better honed. A trailer need not be out in the open and can be hidden in behind something, lost in the clutter, partially out of view and a hit is still well within the realm of possibility....
A rare look inside our lives…for a short time, when I was about seven or so, my “family” and I lived in Nelson BC just across from a Dairy Queen. Our home for a couple months was some flea-bag dive motel, that tiny little shack looking thing in back, over...
We’ve trekked around the Glenmore Reservoir an awful lot. Most of the time we don’t record the outing, but it’s been a while since we posted a trip report on the place, so here we go. Usually you’ll find us here when there’s snow on the ground, the mountains of...
Scrap yards are filthy dirty places, full of dangers and populated by big brawny men in grease soaked clothing, dudes you give lots of room. They roam around in “road warrior” service trucks, hammers, wrenches and cutting torches at the ready. This is where old vehicles, machinery and anything that’s...
Once a subject is photographed and the images processed, we enter the research phase. This can take no time at all or it can be a long, painful, drawn out process. For most gigs it falls somewhere between the two. Regardless, budget constraints means we often can’t commit to more...
Here’s a nice little walk in a small town setting. You can’t beat that. It makes an easy loop around much of High River, passing all manner of interesting places and things to see along the way. There’s wooded groves near the Highwood River, lonely stretches along an irrigation canal,...
We’re in Pincher Station Alberta, passing through, heading west for a couple days of rest and relaxation. Timing is everything, and as it happens, we’re here and so is a train. Pull over, brakes on hard, jump out and run around like someone who’s mistakenly kicked a hornet’s nest. Catch...
Pinball, where have you been? This once insanely popular game has been in hiding the last dozen or so years, falling out of favour for a time, but now appears poised to make a comeback. Slowly but surely, building speed and growing with each passing day we see more and...
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