Category: TRAILS

If it must be cold, let there be snow.

Posted on by lindaskelton

I’m really not a cold-weather girl, but if there must be winter, let it be lovely and let it be opportunity to move in ways you cannot do in summer… And so we have.  Saturday afternoons often find us on one trail or another working up a sweat as we have a look around cross-country ski territory here.

Here’s a jumle of the views we have enjoyed over the last month or so…

And of course, iconic Lake Louise, in winter:

 

Look closely and you can see an ice climber just below the frozen waterfalls below.  This is a popular spot for this brave sport!

These days we are having to drive to snow-country, an hour in either direction.  Our out-back is dry and bare.

But oh the ice is lovely!

Like icy jellyfish!

  

Will it be a snowy Christmas yet?  We shall see.

Here’s hoping you are finding beauty in the hard and cold seasons of your life. The Creator and Sustainer of all we see and know has been born to us a Saviour as well.

–LS

What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.

Ps.116:12-13 ESV

A snowy tromp-about just for fun…

Posted on by lindaskelton

We had a happy tromp about at Bow Valley Provincial Park–perfect pastime for a Sunday afternoon…

The wind was fierce, the ice thick on Middle Lake, and the wild swans on the Bow River picturesque…

 

  

If we must have cold, let it also be picturesque!

This was also the week of our first official cross-country ski outing (not including the backyard warm-ups of last week!).  It was hard slogging up Morraine Lake Road in Lake Louise but the downhill return, with scenic stops to boot, made it all worthwhile!

And the new week dawned with a lovely sunrise…

His mercies are new every morning!

 –LS

God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.

Job 37:5-6 KJV

 

As Autumn creeps over the landscape

Posted on by lindaskelton

We have largely neglected exploring K-country, as the region between us and the Calgary kids is called.  But one evening we took a little stroll and were pleasantly surprised with this view of the Kananaskis River–

I’ve been reading Wendell Berry’s nostalgic memoir of Jayber Crow, local barber of the fictitious town of Port William, Kentucky.  The presence and imagery of the river running through it figures largely in his story so these pictures seem just right for a bit of setting ( :  for an old man’s musings…

Now I have had most of the life I am going to have, and I can see what it has been. I can remember those early years when it seemed to me I was cut completely adrift, and times when, looking back at earlier times, it seemed I had been wandering in the dark woods of error. But now it looks to me as though I was following a path that was laid out for me, unbroken, and maybe even as straight as possible, from one end to the other, and I have this feeling, which never leaves me anymore, that I have been led. I will leave you to judge the truth of that for yourself…p.66

Some more of our ramblings that evening:

I’m fascinated at the variety of ways things go to seed!

I snapped this picture on another lovely evening stroll in town along the river…

One morning I said ‘yes’ to an invite to go walking.  My friend appeared at the door with a big backpack and I realized this was going to be more than a little stroll!  We checked out the Highline Trail just behind and above our house.  Fancy that, it’s been here all this time and I’ve never followed it for more than 10 minutes…  We followed it for 2 1/2 miles before turning back, disappointed that there had been no view, but glad for the chance to visit.

Our latest discovery is the trails that climb to Grotto summit on the other side of the highway–what’s known as the ‘sunny side’ because at this time of year the sun begins to neglect our side and leave us in the shadow of the mountains all day long for the rest of the winter, until spring comes round again ) :

We look across at the sun shining on these slopes and long to be there. So Sunday afternoon we finally got around to going over there to see what it is like!

The tallest tree in the center of this picture marks roughly the location of our home at the bottom of the Three Sisters.

And back home again… fading pinks invite the last of the season’s moths

 

and our resident squirrel perches on my new bike rack one morning, as though joining us for breakfast!

And those are our latest out and abouts in the Bow Valley. Next time, I hope to feature a road trip and some light glinting off a familiar ocean strait if we’re lucky enough to find sunshine on the Coast!

Till then,

LS

This is what the LORD says– your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea. Isaiah 48:17-18

[oh, and if you’d like to sample some more of Jayber Crow stop by my Quotes and Notes blog (https://dictationbydawn.wordpress.com) where I’m posting weekly snippets. This gentle soul is coming alive to a group of us who are reading and discussing together at Living our Days    (https://michelemorin.wordpress.com/) on Thursdays.]