Depending on the write up you might see it called Sunrise Hill, Rainy Summit Overlook or maybe both will be used (like here). It’s an outlier of long Powderface Ridge and can be reached in one of two ways. The first is via a side-path off the popular and aptly...
St Francis in the Woods is found out in BC’s Kootenay region and dates back well over a hundred years. Secreted away down a seldom used back road, this quaint little church seems far removed from the modern world and while no longer used in a spiritual capacity, it still...
The Crowsnest Pass of Southwestern Alberta draws us in like a magnet and we’re regular visitors. If you’ve followed our exploits for a bit, however, then you already knew we had a romance going on. Today our subject is the CPR Crowsnest Railyard at Summit Lake, at the west end...
We’re in Three Hills Alberta doing a research project and have a few hours to spare after finishing early. What to do…what shall we do…? How about a little walk about and let’s get to know the community a little better. Sounds like a plan but given it was a...
“Thanks” to prevailing winds, smoke from distant forest fires will sometimes blanket the city of Calgary during the summer. It’s just how it plays out and the skies will often remain hazy for days or even weeks on end. Heaven help those with respiratory problems and even for people who...
We’ve driven through beautiful Kaslo British Columbia countless times but any stops made in the community have always been brief in nature. It’s odd, because it has all the traits of a place we’d really like to get to know, yet here we are. There’s so much history and it’s...
Random Pick: It’s just as the title suggests and we simply close our eyes, select a previously unpublished photo and post it here. Be it good or bad, profound or embarrassing cringe. So far it’s been pretty decent stuff, but one day it’ll be awful and we just know it....
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster. Yup, that’s this post nicely summarized and while it might seem silly, we love stuff like this. If it’s got an obscure angle, like here, we’re on it even more and although a serious time waster, we can’t help ourselves. Presenting the Pointless...
The Marblehead Underground Quarry is an expansive, graffiti covered chamber, that up until the late 1930s produced dimensional building stones. These blocks were shipped out by rail and used in the construction of commercial and institutional structures in the region and all across the west. We’ll list a couple of...
It’s Boler Bob, a little egg-camper from the 1970s spotted for sale in the Crownest Pass of Alberta in August 2021. It’s not ours, so please don’t message us. It happens every time we post – remember we have this weird obsession and only photograph them. These trailers are always...
These Alberta Government grain cars have been roaming the rails for forty+ years and approaching retirement, but a select number have found a new home on the Battle River Railway. While looking worn out, and graffiti covered, they’re still serviceable and help alleviate car shortages on the line. That they’re...
This hike to Myrtle Mountain, in the Kimberley Nature Park Trail Network (Kimberley British Columbia), visits a number of superb viewpoints. Look out over town, the broad Rocky Mountain Trench and up the St Mary’s River Valley – it’s all wonderful scenery. It’s a fair sized loop with a bit...
The historic Pilot Bay Lighthouse, in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, dates back to the early 1900s and remained in use for almost ninety years. Post retirement it’s been preserved in place on a point overlooking gorgeous Kootenay Lake and easily reached via a short hiking trail. Spectacular...
Let’s stop and pay a visit to the little community of Willingdon Alberta to see what’s going on. Such diversions are a road trip ritual and we simply pick some town along what ever route we’re on, ditch the car and get acquainted for a bit. We’ll wander the streets,...
Meadow Creek BC: stopping in a small town museum while on a backroad adventure in the remote Lardeau region. It was early May and the place had yet to open for the season, but we could still wander the property to view outside exhibits. That’s a good start and we’re...
The Bee Line Cranbrook BC is a fun, albeit relatively short hike, in loop form, and goes up and over a low hill just outside town. It’s in the Community Forest Network and if you want to do more afterwards, there’s an endless number of connecting trails to help round...
The the first image takes us back to 1974 and shows a Calgary Transit trolleybus heading south down Elbow Drive. There’s downtown in back. Forty years later we’ve returned to this location to see what’s changed and you’ll notice it’s been dramatic. The city skyline today, if not for a...
This former mobile home (or maybe it’s a retired construction/oilfield bunkhouse) might not seem like the most secure building for such a purpose, yet it didn’t stop a certain entrepreneur in this prairie community. Presenting small town mini-storage, satisfying a need with an economical and gloriously makeshift solution. These “relocatable...
Shelter Bay Boler: here’s a little fibreglass trailer discovered in the Columbia-Shuswap region of British Columbia and a little south of Revelstoke. It’s seen at a landing while waiting for and later onboard the MV Columbia Upper Arrow Lakes ferry. The water crossing is otherwise too wide for a bridge...
This adventure happens in front ranges of Kananaskis, out in the Highwood River area and for a modest effort comes a nice reward. Be in awe of that mountain scenery! Following a trail up Pack Trail Coulee, one tops out at Grass Pass, then it’s on to Fir Creek Point...
We’re down by the tracks in Coronation Alberta or rather on our visit, standing where the tracks used to be. From this angle and observed today there’s nothing left of the railway. Not a thing. Presenting two views captured from the same location but separated by many, many decades. It’s...
Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park is a wonderful natural area between Calgary and Cochrane. There on the north side of the Bow River, it’s a huge playground for outdoorsy types, with lots of rolling hills, grasslands and the odd wooded grove. Despite being close to the city, it’s easy to imagine...
Main and Railway or 50th and 50th? In most Alberta communities one or the other usually marked the most important intersection there in downtown. Or what was the most important – things change but names remain. In some communities it was one then the other (almost always the former to...
Flashback to a couple summers ago (how time flies) and we’re out cruising backroads of British Columbia. While exploring one of our homebases for the trip, in this case Revelstoke, we came to a realization. It turns out this mountain community is a real hotspot for little fibreglass trailers. Remember,...
Shaunavon Saskatchewan is located in the southwest corner of province, it’s been around for just over a century and home to perhaps eighteen hundred people. Give or take, that is. There’s a quaint downtown with lots of nice old buildings and a few of them will be seen in this...
We’re looking at Jack’s Shoe Store, in business as long as anyone can remember but now just another shuttered store in another small prairie town. It’s a trend common out in rural parts and one by one they close and the local economic base shrinks yet again. Rinse and repeat....
Here’s the last hike of the winter season for us, although the route documented can be enjoyed any time of the year. Things are warming up (finally) and this shoulder season is a quiet time for the West Bragg Creek Trail system. Presenting a pleasant little loop in the woods...
There’s some rather interesting architecture from the 1960s out there and this building is no exception. It’s completely circular and while not that over the top compared to some structures of the time, it’s still unconventional enough to be of note. Originally Calgary Builders’ Exchange, it’s now home to the...
The mission assigned us this day is to explore Trochu Alberta and we’ve got no other goal than to get to know this little prairie community. That’s all and nothing more. Our little soirée just happened to take place on what must be the coldest day of the year, so...
In this piece we’re revisiting Beachwood Estates High River Alberta, a once thriving community built in a flood zone. A known flood zone – anyone find that funny? Then guess what, the river flooded – the watercourse does have High in its title after all. This happened in 2013, and...
Posted
Rob Pohl & Arturo Pianzola: Alexandra Bridge Fraser Canyon BC
Bob Fortin: CPR Illecillewaet Bridge Revelstoke BC
Rory Brown: Downtown Calgary & CPR Tracks 1977-2014
Dale: The Forgotten Cemetery of Morrissey BC
Sharon Wingenbach: MacDonald Bridge Calgary ~70 Years Apart
Gary Small: Polish Hall Coleman Alberta (1927)
Twold7: Calgary Inglewood Haskins/Victory Block
Gary Small: CPR Bow River Bridge (Abandoned)
Ken Newel: Grain Elevators of Turin Alberta
Gary Small: Silver Creek Coal Mine Skunk Hollow
Bonita Hudson: Coleman Miners’ Hospital 100 Years Apart
Gary Small: Dunshalt Alberta 1974 and 2013
Rob Pohl & Arturo Pianzola: The Giants of Cathedral Grove (BC)
Gary Small: Highway History (BC): the Garbage Gobbler
Posting soon!
Byron Robb - Sharon Wingenbach - Zeke - Rob Pohl & Arturo Pianzola - Don Wilson - Johanna (Connie) Biggart - Dale
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