2012: a slow start

January 2012:  A slow start

The Passionate Hiker has made a slow start to the new year, and next month will be even slower.

Not that January has been a complete waste of a month.  After all, there was a whole week of bitterly cold temperatures with windchills down to minus 40 C, when I would have stayed inside anyway. And then during January I have completed two books which are now at the binder’s.  The first is the diary from my 2011 travels, which completes a trilogy.  This one is called:  “Striding Past Sixty” to celebrate my sixtieth birthday with no change of pace.  I also created an album of random photos called “Picture of the Week”, which I have dreams of being a best-seller!

And there was time for a couple of trips into the outdoors.  On a Sunday morning in late January, I visited the Cross Conservation Area, the unspoiled hills south of Calgary.  There was some snow on the trails, and great views west to the mountains and north to the city. But the highlight of this hike was the sight of two huge herds of mule deer.  By cutting off the trail at the far western end of the park, I contoured round the hillsides and came up to the herds from below.  They caught my scent as I was still just out of sight, and hundreds of deer streamed down the hillside, across the floor of the narrow valley, and into the trees across Pine Creek.  The only sound they made was a swishing of the grass as they moved quickly down the hillsides.  It was worth it just to experience that grand sight.  I saw no people on the trails that morning, until I was right back at the start, when three people were setting out, two with snowshoes and skis hoping for some winter sport (not enough snow on this hillside yet for either skis or snowshoes). 

My other trip was a few days later with a ramble around the outer edges of the Weaselhead area on the west side of the city.  My route is only possible to do when the ground is frozen, as there is a huge area of standing water on the far western edge by the broken down fence, which of course is a large frozen lake now.  One day the western ring road will pass by here I suppose, but today it remains a wilderness, strewn with fallen trees and brush.  The paths roughly follow the meandering course of the Elbow River.  Again I saw nobody on my travels today, despite the perfect sunny weather on a beautiful winter’s day.  I returned along the edge of the Elbow river as it enters Glenmore Reservoir, then I cut up the hillside back to the car at the far western end of 90th Avenue.

And then of course there was the trip to the surgeon which will put an end to any amount of activity during February.  The Passionate Hiker may be down for a while, but he is far from being “out”, so stand by for future adventures.