Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Las Flores


Flowers.... don't they always brighten up a day!?

Yellow Daisy

Cool insect!

Purple Lily

Purple Lily (with my foot in the background - LOL!)

Yellow Lily

I don't know about you, but I needed some cheer this morning.... and nature's brilliant colors always make me feel better!

Enjoy!!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Jurassic Park!


The Royal Tyrell Museum.... it's been a few years since I've been, so today we took a little road-trip to Drumheller....

Holy cool, Batman!!

Red Deer River Valley

Royal Tyrell Museum


T-Rex

Bronto


My favorite - the Stegosaurus
 
Mammoth!
 
The girls only came up to the knee-cap
of this Camarasaurus hind leg!!
 
What an amazing place - and the neatest part is, that many of the dinosaur fossils which have been uncovered come from the Central Alberta area. The museum and surrounding landscape are super interesting and it was an awesome place to spend the afternoon. Check it out if you get the chance!
 
Cheers!
 


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Lovin' the Lake Life


Some things, just don't float. As in, stand-up paddleboard paddles...... and Oakley sunglasses.... Oy.....

Still wearing the Oakleys!

This past weekend was spent hanging out in the heat at Shuswap Lake - what a blast! We SUP'd, wakeboarded, tossed some horseshoes, drank many beers, and all around just had a fantastic time!



Beach fire!

The redneck in us had some pellet gun fun!


"Cliff jumping".... I'll show you the video sometime! LOL

Crazy reflection - we look like aliens!!

Chris is on his second pair of sunglasses....

Gorgeous views!

Fortunately, the paddle was recovered. The Oakleys however, came to a less auspicious ending and are now about 80 feet underwater....

The weather was amazing, the company was awesome, and we had soooo much fun - I'm looking forward to going back! Life is good!

Cheers.





Monday, July 15, 2013

Charity case....


Soooo. I did an 8-hour stint on the stairmaster yesterday.

"But Cheryle, you don't have a stairmaster," you say.

Well, this stairmaster of which I speak, is the Middle Sister 'hike'. And oh boooy, what a doozie!

Let me start by saying that I am very happy to have summitted the peak - "Charity" was my 35th summit, and I've gazed at the Three Sisters trio for years, wondering what it was like up there. Now I know. But in all honesty, it is not a venture I would recommend, at least not to anybody that I liked!

Right from the get-go, the trail is tedious. It starts off with a monotonous 3km walk from the parking area to the creek bed. However, even though boring, it is on a nice, flat road - and in hindsight, I should have savored those steps! Because once you reach Stewart Creek, kiss level ground goodbye!


This is where the real fun begins - a boulder-hopping, bushwhacking good time is had by all, for the next 4-5km. The entire drainage was annihilated by the recent heavy rains, and there are barely any banks and virtually NO trail left whatsoever.... this part of the ascent is now made almost completely by clambering over large, unstable rocks and maneuvering around huge fallen trees and other debris.




At the end of this unexpectedly arduous section, and if you are not out of water and haven't poked out an eye or taken a nasty tumble, an unrelenting, neverending (okay it's only about 2km) scree slope awaits. Yaaayyyy!! Scree!! My favorite!! Ummm.... NOT.  The lower half is black-diamond steep and covered in that awkward size of rock that is big enough to trip over but too small to actually put your whole foot on... once you reach the slope below the col between the Big and Middle Sissies, the scree becomes more tolerable... and the slog continues. And continues. And continues.





Eventually, you do pop up over the col, and I will admit that at that point, the whole twisted effort becomes worth it.... The views are amazing, and the exposure is dizzying. Big Sister looms to the left, the Bow Valley is spread out in front of you, and the ridge drops off horrifically on the right. Little Sister is seen from a cool perspective, and after trudging for just a few more minutes, the Middle Sister summit cairn is apparent.




*SIGH* The summit! I packed a beer (one was not enough!) and a yummy lunch, and I spent about 45 minutes basking in the glorious weather at the top. Of course I picked out a small souvenir rock... and then.... the descent.





Surprisingly, I was not stiff today. I kind of thought that I may not be able to get out of bed this morning, after covering 18 challenging kms and gaining 1450m of elevation. My theory is that it was because I stayed so well hydrated.... mmmm beer.... haha!!

Next weekend - more of the same! And have you seen the weather forecast?? Oooooh I can hardly wait!! Being outside is so much fun!

Cheers!

Saturday, July 13, 2013

There's nothing minor about Miner's....


It is the Miner's Day Reunion weekend in Canmore.... and ironically, my friend Sheila and I zipped up to Miner's Peak today - how fitting! I say ironically, because initially we had intentions of summitting the good ol' stand-by (read: my lazy arse got a super late start today) Ha Ling Peak. However, the crowds dictated we deek over to the alternative, and there you have it.... we stood on top of Miner's Peak on the Miner's Day Reunion weekend.



Sheila on the approach... I think she's having a good time!

The mucho busy Ha Ling Peak.

The road less travelled.


It took me about eight tries to get a selfie that
did NOT have the peak making me look like a
total conehead!! LOL!!

One of my favorite places, as seen from the top of
another one of my favorite places!

Miner's Peak summit

Can you see the "new" Cougar Creek??



The clouds were a little suspect at first, but it never did end up raining. The temps were perfect actually, and it was a really fun way to spend the afternoon!

Tomorrow, I am going to have to drag my carcass out of bed at a decent hour - a few of us are going to scramble Middle Sister. "Charity" has been on my hit list for quite some time, so I'm excited to finally get the chance to do it!

Cheers.