Gratitude Monday - Full Cirque-l Edition

Warspite Lake with Mt. Black Prince.

Enjoying myself on the shore of this beautiful tarn.

We went hiking in Kananaskis on Saturday and I am very grateful. We found a short, fairly easy hike that led to the shore of beautiful, peaceful tarn. I found it difficult to leave.
The hike is Cirque Black Prince and once you get to the lake you can walk back on a parallel path for a bit until it joins the main path.
The loop makes for a delightful walk.

Gratitude Monday --Up The Creek Edition

We went to Kananaskis* on Saturday to do a bit of hiking, have a picnic, and look around.
I'd thought to check out what we took to be a hike along a creek. We'd had a picnic at King's Creek last year and saw people coming back from the hike.

So we did.

Except it's not a listed hike.
It's just a trail along and across the creek and it crosses the creek several times. It's a shallow, fast moving mountain stream and not all that wide. The crossings are done on logs and stones in assorted configurations.
I am not confident in my balance so these were difficult. Eventually I'd had enough and we turned back.
During a return crossing I slipped. One foot went to the streambed. The other was still on a log.
I was on my back wondering if this is how a turtle feels when it is flipped on its shell.
The most efficient way to get back up was to put the other foot in the water, too.
Mike helped me the rest of the way across the creek and thankfully, it was the last time we needed to cross.

I'd been scared the whole hike that I'd fall. I tried not to as what you fear is what you manifest, but the fear won.
On the whole the mountain stream was quite refreshing.
I am grateful that I only got wet to my shins. I am grateful for my new hiking shoes that dried quickly.
I am grateful for the day in the mountains and I am grateful that I'm only a tad stiff in a few muscles from this adventure.

We had our picnic after this hike and then found another hike to do.
It was a great day and for it I am grateful.
___
*Kananaskis Country is a mountain playground area east of Banff National Park and west of Calgary. There are provincial parks in it and plenty places to canoe, hike, bike, and just plain be in nature.

Gratitude Monday -- High Test

Ptarmigan Cirque Trail, Kananaskis, Alberta.

I'm grateful on  many fronts today.
The Ptarmigan Cirque Trail in Kananaskis is one of my benchmarks. I haven't done it in years, but wanted to so as to see how I am doing.
It's not that long a hike, but it is in the mountains and it is up.

The first time Mike and I did this hike, about 23 if not 25 years ago, it took me two hours.
About 15 years ago or so the same climb took me half an hour.
On Saturday it took me just under an hour. For the record it was nearly +30C (86F) during our hike. Later, when we had lunch, it was +31C.

It was a good hike and I am pleased with how quickly I did it.
I rested quite a bit. At one point during the climb I sat in the shade while Mike went to a nearby viewpoint. I had my head in my hands when a nice young man coming down the trail asked me how I was.
I respond I was good, thanks, and how was he before realizing why he was asking.
I expect I looked as worn as I felt.
He asked if I had water, did I need water, was I sure I was all right?
I am grateful for this and for knowing a stranger was willing to give me his water if I needed it.

The trail goes through a mountain stream, twice. I splashed refreshing mountain water on my face and even drank a bit. I am grateful it was there.

We had a fine picnic later on in a shaded spot by a creek. It was relaxing.

Afterward we went to the rock glacier where Mike set up a chair and waited for pikas while I set a chair under a tree. I'd been wanting to sit quietly under a tree for quite some time. It was wonderful.

For all of this I am grateful.

Photo-Finish Friday -- Pika Boo

This happy little lagomorph is a pika. 
We found it and another on Rock Glacier, Kananaskis, Ab. on our day trip last Sunday.
Pikas are very hard to see against the rocks as they blend right in.

Photo-Finish Friday --Summer in Kananaskis

Kananaskis

A beautiful summer's day in Alberta.

Gratitude Monday -- Still Here

Hiking in Kananaskis Country in August. Photo by Mike Mayrl.

Still here.

Still hiking.

Still grateful.

NaNo and the Dead Fish

Mt. Lorette Ponds, Kananaskis

I started editing my Nano* novel other day. I read it over to find the obvious mistakes and thought I might take care of them first. Then I realized bits of Chapter Two and Chapter Three are really Chapter One.

Knowing this, I started using my mad cut -and-paste skills. This led me to do a bit of rewriting and now I'm correcting in some chapters and rewriting in others.

It's hard to say if said novel will amount to anything other than an exercise in learning how to write a book.

As I read it I cannot help but come up with a tortured metaphor concerning the above photo. Like the pond it is shallow, rocky at the base, and offers the occasional dead fish on the bottom.

The above pond has been artificially deepened and is fed from underground water if memory serves. It is also stocked for fishing and is quite popular.

I'll be deepening my manuscript as I go and stocking it with whatever it needs. Perhaps something may come of it someday and it will be popular.

I hope no one sees the dead fish.

*Nano is NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Contest held each November. It's a contest you have with yourself to write a 50,000 word first draft in 30 days. I didn't register for it last year as I didn't know I was going to do it until the last minute, but I played along at home.

Photo-Finish Friday - A Kananaskis Hike

This is the top of the Ptarmigan Circe Trail in Kananaskis. It's one of my favourite hikes.
I haven't done this hike in years and I expect it might be a year or so before I'm able to do it again.
I can look, though, and that's good enough for now.

Photo Finish Friday - Beard and Toes

Our day trip to Kananaskis gave us many fuzzy sights from the furry creatures I posted earlier to these flowers we found growing near the Ptarmigan Circe Trail, deep in Kananaskis Country.
They're called pussytoes and it's easy to see why.

One almost expects they'd flex and send out some claws.

Here's another view of them.



As you can see they've surrounded a Slender Blue Beard-Tongue.

I hope you like the pretty, fuzzy flowers. Please remember to click, enlarge, and enjoy.

Furry Critters in Kananaskis

We took a day trip south to Kananaskis on Sunday. So did thousands of others as it was the Heritage Day long weekend. That aside it was a good day. I did a bit of hiking and we stopped and looked at assorted places along Highway 40, a. k.a. The Kananskis Trail.

We saw some wildlife mostly of the small, furry variety. At Mt. Lorette Ponds we saw this little fellow. We tried to get some photos, but being an Action Chippy he wasn't much for posing.




We'd hoped to see pikas at the Rock Glacier, but instead we found several golden-mantled groundsquirrels. This one was curious about us.

While this one was more Sphinx-like in its outlook.

Gratitude Monday - Not Forgotten

Alpine Forget-Me-Nots in Kananaskis.

I remember to be grateful most of the time. And when it slips my mind I bring it back to the forefront. There's always something to be thankful for, even on those days where it's hard to find something. I am grateful I rarely if ever have those days.
And what am I getting at besides a tiresome lecture on gratitude?
I have so many things to choose from I was unable to decide, but I couldn't let the day go by lest you think I'd forgotten.
So I'll simply say there's a lot out there as long as we remember.