Monthly Archive: December 2012

Eagle Hill hiking trail

Eagle Hill

In the summer you are unlikely to find us on Eagle Hill. Normally we use this trail only in the shoulder season when other more desirable routes are still covered in snow, but here at the height of summer we have a different reason to tackle it. Less than two...

Dorothy Alberta elevator

Dorothy Alberta, the little grain elevator in the valley

Waiting patiently for a train that will never come, the lonely little grain elevator seen here sits abandoned and unloved. It’s located in the ghost town of Dorothy, deep in the Alberta badlands east of Drumheller. Somewhat off the beaten path (so perfect for us), it’s a lonely little dot...

Nanton Alberta elevator

Nanton Alberta, elevators and old things

Nanton Alberta is located south of Calgary along Highway 2. Looking much like any other small prairie town, it stands out today in that it’s home to four grain elevators. Perhaps that wouldn’t be so odd some years ago, but now these prairie sentinels are pretty rare and finding even...

Bosco the dog

Upper Kananaskis Lake to The Forks

Always remember to charge your camera batteries!!! For if you don’t you’ll find that it dies at the most inopportune time, like when you are deep in a gorgeous valley that just begs to be photographed. Oops, I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again! On this trip we do a...

Old water wheel

Old leftovers

In this post we take a look at some old gold mining equipment, an abandoned locomotive on an old rail line, a forgotten graveyard and a small glacier located deep in the mountains. These all date from 2003 and 2004 and prove that old leftovers don’t always need to be...

One eyed cat

One eye, the friendly tom cat

While exploring old buildings and sites we occasionally come across stray cats. Some are quite wild and very unhappy to see us, while others like one-eye here, are very social and friendly. Clearly he’s a fighter and beside his missing eye he had battle scars all over his entire body....

Brown Lowery old cabin

Brown-Lowery Provincial Park

In spite of being located not terribly far from Calgary, Brown Lowery Provincial Park is still not that well known. It’s a small oasis of wilderness in amongst farms and ranches and is home to lots of wildlife and a large network of hiking trails that you can enjoy. Often...

Torrington AB Pioneer elevator

A prairie sentinel falls – Torrington Alberta

The face of railways in Western Canada changed in the mid 1990s. Prior to that time the two major carriers were required to maintain most prairie branchlines, even if that line was a money loser (most were, even with subsidies). The government felt it was essential that they be kept...

Robert Scott time lapse snapshot

A brilliant time lapse from Robert J Scott

If you’ve been a previous visitor to this site you already know I’ve taken a great interest in time lapse photography, although my equipment and the videos I have produced are strictly amateur hour stuff (I have fun though). The work you see here is what I wish I could...

Trillium trailer

Not a Boler – just a Trillium

Often seen from a distance, what we initially think is a Boler turns out to be Trillium – like this cold little trailer seen in a storage yard in Black Diamond Alberta. This is a more modern example from that maker, called the Trillium Outback, which has a Boler-like feature...

Locomotive rivets

Bankhead Alberta ghost town

These photos, taken in 1992 and 2004, show some of the remains at the ghost town of Bankhead Alberta. Located inside Banff National Park, mining and other industrial activities were once tolerated here and what you see in this report is evidence of that. Quite a change from today where...

Turner Valley AB

Turner Valley to Black Diamond Friendship Trail

When the weather is ugly and it keeps you out of the mountains or if you’re not feeling terribly ambitious but want to get out of the city, the Friendship Trail is a nice choice. It’s a short little paved path that connects the small towns of Turner Valley and...

Chris BIGDoer

Find long lost friends or relatives or trace your family history

Hire Chris and his associates as your genealogist, history detective or research agent. As you can see by the “exploring history” articles written for this blog, Chris is fascinated with the past and is a real sticker for details – he digs up the real facts. As a “history detective”...

Boler trailer

Streetview Boler

Connie’s challenge to me, find a Boler trailer on Google Streetview. It’s the Boler spotting game to the extreme and after many months and countless wasted hours virtually travelling throughout southern Alberta – success!! The example seen here was seen in Longview Alberta and was visited in person on December...

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