Something close to forty or forty five years separate the two images used in this then and now. Our subject is the Homestead Museum, well their sign anyway, located deep in the Badlands of Alberta in the town of Drumheller. The old image comes via a reader of this website...
This in-city hike parallels the Bow River from a point just west of downtown Calgary, heading away from the core towards the green oasis that is Edworthy Park. From there, of course after crossing over the water, the route reverses direction to eventually bring one back to where it all...
A rare beast indeed, at least in this part of the world and of course based strictly on our own sometimes rather limited experiences, is this Diamond REO dump truck found in the Alberta Badlands. This make came about due to a merger of the REO and Diamond T companies...
Here’s one of the largest pieces of vintage machinery we’ve ever documented. A big-boy, a giant metal monster from the 1920s, a steam driven Industrial Works Company dragline that long ago toiled away in a southern Alberta coal mine. Rescued from an uncertain future not that long ago, it’s today...
A good sixty five years separate the two images used in this then and now article. The scene is Rosedale Alberta, in the Red Deer River Valley badlands, first along the train tracks in 1948 and then again in 2016, the same spot, but with the rails now gone. The...
For this then and now we’re in the “almost” ghost town of Rowley Alberta. Home today to a couple people at most, in the past it was a much busier and more populace place. Many of the buildings in town, long vacant, have been lovingly restored. Included in that are...
This hike takes one around Cochrane Alberta, making a nice moderate length loop using a series of paved and shale pathways and some city sidewalks. About half the time you’ll be paralleling the scenic Bow River while other sections take the urban-trekker through parks, green spaces and wooded areas, beside...
When playing the Boler spotting game, the rules dictate that a player shout out “Boler!”, as loudly as possible I might add, upon seeing one. Them’s the simple rules – well, there’s points for rarity and difficulty, but we won’t go into them here. When travelling with friends, all who...
The Mountain Mill United Church is located in a gorgeous pastoral setting, a secluded wooded river valley near the foothills of southwest Alberta, close to the communities of Pincher Creek and the Crowsnest Pass. At just over a century old (built in 1906) the building is still used from time...
We actually don’t capture that many Bolers in motion, so finding one on the road is extra special. Most we see are parked, at campgrounds or between outings, stashed away in alleys, back yards and the like. This example, a seventeen foot model, with a rather unique crocheted spare tire...
Calgary has an extensive pathway system, covering all corners of the city. It’s one heck of a great resource which we use a lot, especially so in winter, when we can’t always make it to the mountains. These paved lanes head here, there and everywhere, most of them passing through...
When one thinks of structures associated with Canadian railways, things like stations or perhaps roundhouses probably come to mind first. They both pretty iconic. There are lots of other types of buildings connected to then however. One that was once very common, yet little known or understood, was the lowly...
Fifty years separate the two images used in this then and now. Our subject will be the Canadian Pacific Railway and the location, a spot by the Elbow River, in the community of Inglewood, just east of downtown Calgary. We’ve been supplied an old image showing a passing train and...
Pretty much all that’s left in Sharples Alberta is an old grain elevator. The location here is a wide shallow valley, scenic, sort of unprairie-like and home to a meandering creek – a nice nice setting! The building is abandoned and while rough-looking and weather worn it has a certain...
Here’s a “loud” Boler. This thirteen foot model was spotted on some Calgary side street in May of 2015 (yes, we are behind in posting) and is so bold, so yellow, so glowing and dazzling and bright that it challenges the sun itself. At night, in a snow storm, its...
Three old grain elevators, very photogenic ones at that, can be found in small town Mossleigh Alberta. They’re located along a railway branch line that has been out of service for well over a decade, but as of spring 2015 (so just after our visit) hosts tourist trains coming in...
Spotted in the tiny community of Bow Island Alberta in the spring of 2015 is this fine looking Trillium Jubilee. While the Trillium make is the most common small fibreglass trailer out there, there are in fact more of them than Bolers, this particular model is super rare. It’s certainly...
A modest height bump in the Sibbald region of Kananaskis, Cox Hill is most often summited via the north approach. The trail is official, so it’s well maintained, is wide and has a fairly gentle grade the whole way. It’s quite doable even if snow is on the ground (like...
Today’s subject we briefly touch on a little known chapter in the province’s history, the life of Anastasia Holoboff (or Holuboff, sometimes Holobova, less common Golubova), aka Anastasia Lords. She was the one time spiritual leader of an little known Alberta based Doukhobor group and is interred near the former...
The General Motors produced New Look, “Fishbowl” to those who know and love them, was the most common transit bus of the 1960s-1980s. There were tens of thousands of them made in the US and Canada and nearly every transit agency, big or small, had some on the roster. Many...
A small bump among a sea of high peaks, McConnell Point offers up some pretty credible views from its rocky summit, despite its modest stature. Seen by many, the busy Trans-Canada Highway passes right below, it doesn’t seem to be a terribly popular objective. That’s changing however. The route we...
Story and photos by Chris & Connie. The old vehicles seen below were found in a very remote corner of Alberta and date back a long time, the earliest from the 1920s, the newest, the 1960s. Some are complete or mostly so, but the oldest ones are not. They’re just...
Join us for a very quick look at the Stranraer Saskatchewan United Church. Dating back to the 1920s, it’s simple and charming, made all that better given its location in a picturesque little valley on the otherwise flat and broad plains. Regular services were last held here many, many decades...
An article by Chris & Connie. Our route uses a number of easy to hike cross country ski trails connected to the Nakiska Ski Resort, and takes one up to an old dilapidated fire lookout now surrounded completely by trees. Most of the way up is sans any sort of...
The day’s objective is Mount Mann, a rather modest height, mostly treed ridge, overlooking the Highwood River in the foothills of south Kananaskis. It’s an easy task summiting this big chunk of rock and while the views at the top are limited in some directions, it’s still very much worth the effort. Along the way, explore a series of rocky canyons home to a noisy creek.
All the photos seen below come from our June 2015 foray into west-central Saskatchewan. Odds and ends from that trip, these old vehicles, some going back to the 40s and 50s, some decades newer, were found in an area west of Saskatoon and halfway to the Alberta border. Makers represented include Ford. a number of GM divisions, Internationals, Kenworth, along with rare and strange ones like REO and Hudson.
This hike is nothing but fun the whole way and the further in you go the better it gets. There are lakes, many of them, one a gorgeous jade colour, stunning peaks all around, giant boulders and if the timing is right (and it was for us) golden larches in the fall. At the end is a barren rocky basin surrounded by mountains that is incredibly photogenic. This is the Three Lakes Valley trail in Kananaskis and the scenery is simply amazing.
Join us for a tour of the long decommissioned Canadian Forces Station base in Alsask Saskatchewan, in operation during the dark days of the Cold War. We’ll be given extra special permission and all the time we need to explore most of the of the buildings left standing in the extensive complex, inside and out, some of them still used for various functions, others closed up and literal time capsules.
There is an old wood-cribbed grain elevator in Plenty Saskatchewan, which we’ll be looking at here. These once common buildings, which could be seen all over the prairies, are pretty few and far between today, most of them having been torn down in the last couple decades. This one is even more unique as it’s still being used.
This adventure we’ll be visiting the South Mist Hills and will summit the most westerly of the trio and the one that’s middle in height. Located in the Highwood River area of Kananaskis these modest-sized mostly grassy topped bumps are not visited as often as Mist Ridge just to the north. They’re very easy to get to however and offer up some very wonderful and inspiring views of their own.
Kenopsia: "the eerie atmosphere of a place that's usually bustling with people but now vacant or abandoned."
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