Trailer parks have a bad reputation. If we believe the stereotypes they’re home to hardened criminals with extensive rap sheets, drugged out slackers with bizarre haircuts, boozers and other undesirables. lumped together with the working poor and old folks on limited incomes. It’s one ugly, unfriendly place best given a...
Inspiration for this fine inner-city hike comes from the book Calgary’s Best Walks by Lori Beattie. Here we’ll be following Route #12, roughly, taking in a series of parks and hitting the pavement in number of older established neighbourhoods. The going is super easy. You don’t have to follow our...
Well lookie here, right in front us of on the highway and headed in the same direction, a cute little Boler. Another added to the list. That was easy! The location is Yahk British Columbia (“We’ve bin to Yahk ‘n’ back”), right as you enter town after crossing the Moyie....
You’ve probably heard us speak of the film Forgotten Prairie. A number of posts we’ve published over the last few months have touched on it to one degree or another. Now you’ll get to see it. Finally! A production of Rueben Tschetter’s Cache Project, it’s a fine little piece about...
Each and every day it’s within view of tens of thousands of passing motorists but I bet a lot of them pay it no mind. There, along side road set back a bit from the #1A, but easily seen from it, and a mere stone’s thrown from Calgary’s City Limits...
This one’s for the adrenaline junkies. Imagine it – extreme grades, hands-on climbing, narrow ledges, acute exposure, rock falls and danger at every turn. This is where the Reaper hangs when he needs to meet a quota. They call it the Devil’s Drop, in hushed tones. Seasoned mountaineers have to...
A couple years back we were commissioned by a good sized publisher to do a piece on the subject of farming. It was to be a grand article about the people and machinery that make things happen, covering the complete “A to Z”, so seeding to harvest and everything else....
There is nothing more exciting than poking around an old metal collection. It’s doesn’t matter the size of it, or what’s inside, it’s always a magic experience. All those ancient cars, trucks and machinery or whatever to photograph, these rusted monuments of days past, formerly someone’s pride and joy or...
Proof that Boler-radar, that uncanny sense, something akin to the “force” that tells one a Boler is in the area even if unseen or mostly so, is strong stuff folks. Take in this one, a Boler well set back from our position, so far a 500mm lens did little compress...
At the extreme western edge of Inglewood, backing on the Elbow River, beside the tracks, and in the shadow of downtown, stands the old Penguin Car Wash. The building has been empty for a good half dozen years, give or take, a shell of a place open to the elements...
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" 🤪 and miss those days. It was so much silly fun and often frustrating as heck. In these we'd invite people to send in random photos of obscure locations, but not give any information, and then we'd track where it was and shoot something similar.
Most of these came from old family collections, as was the case here. Anyone up to resurrecting the series?
In hindsight, why didn't we pose someone in our shot?
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster.
If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/ Thanks to Connie for making this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: ca1970 and 2014. Posted by Connie.
Captured on a cold, cold day many years ago. We've been passing this old house for decades and it's little changed in that time. At some point we expect to drive by and it'll be gone.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
When retired old railway cars usually get cut up for scrap. Sometimes, however, they find their way into the hands of the general public or whomever. Flat cars make good bridges, and boxcars can be transformed into storage buildings and the like. Case in point here. We see them used like this often enough and in this case, it's part of a corral.
Incidentally, this boxcar dates from 1950 and this was found by tracing the old road number, which is still visible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
This central Alberta racetrack was never a commercial operation but instead just a fun place for car enthusiasts in the area to get together. Early '70s or thereabouts and it only lasted a few years. Even thought it's been abandoned for that long, there is no doubt what was here.
You know we like the the obscure stuff and this one fits the bill perfectly. Found by accident while backroad cruising and the history comes thanks to local car guy Mike.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
On top of little Myrtle Mountain in the Kimberley (BC) Nature Park.
There's some good wilderness fun to be had here and nice views as you can see, but the real reason we came is mining history. The whole area near the ski hill was extensively worked over a century ago and we were looking for evidence of this. We didn't find much in the area searched, but it's a big chunk of property and we hope to return to cover more ground again soon. Of all the subjects we cover, mining related is a favourite.
Still, it was a good hike and that can't be bad. Look to the comments for more info 👇.
Exploring nature and history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
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