Twinflowers

Linnaea borealis - like bunchberry, it is one of my favourites from home, possibly in both cases because I learned to recognize them early in my forest plant memorizing phase

Drumheller HooDoos

There simply isn't enough time to do everything. I'd really love to visit Vancouver and Victoria. I desparately would like to visit Waterton and the Grand Canyon and the Yukon and Yellowknife and even Inukvik... well and the list in Nunavut - where the problem is that I simply can't afford the airfare - although I'd really like to visit Pang and Qikiqtarjuaq and Pond and Cambridge Bay and hopefully I'll get to see Iqaluit one day. So, where I meant to go with my opening, is that long, long ago, when I was young and travelled across the western half of Canada via Greyhound with my best friend, we went to visit the Milk River and the Badlands there. They were much more impressive then these two baby hoodoos, but seeing these made me really want to visit the other ones because they are so different from any land form I know and I think of all the courses I teach, my grade 12 environmental course is my favourite, and geology is my favourite unit (tied with weather) to teach. Perhaps this is why I appreciated watching 2012 last night. There was a lot of geology, even if it was a bit sketchy at times. I loved that they mentioned the neutrino lab in Sudbury and I think what made it watchable, aside from the cliche disaster movie intro where the divorced father is spending time with his kids, is that it didn't take itself too seriously. Even some of the special effects you could kind of tell they were crushing models, but it was fun. It made a point of finding major world landmarks and destroying them and the family survived near death so many times that you had to smile. It may have been saved as my expectations for it were so low that I had expected to wander away from the TV after a few minutes rather than holding my breathe after 2 and a half hours, even knowing that the ending was as predictable as the sun rising each morning. While for Avatar, on the other hand, I had high expectations, and it left me disappointed.

As for the too much to do and not enough time, I think it is only the 4th movie I've watched this summer - Coraline being one other (which was a bit weird, but I was impressed in a way with it, but I'm not sure I'd say I loved it), 4 Weddings and Funeral (which was a tough watch) and the other was Invictus, which was very good - although I've really yet to find a Morgan Freeman movie that was a miss.

So, Disaster, Freaky, Horky and Uplifting.

As for other things I don't have time to do, I need to update my blog. I've added a few new links to the northern blogger section, but I suspect that there are more that I need to add or change and if I'm smart I'll do it while I have fast and nearly unlimited internet at my disposal. That said, I'm nervous about switching from the classic template that I've built myself to the new format as I've carefully built my blog over the years, and I'd hate to lose any of my links, while I do like having the ability to see who's updated recently. So, in the short term, I'm going to work on the new template for another project and see if it is worth the bother - and if I can get it set up and the gadgets allow me to do stuff I can't do in the oldstyle, then perhaps I will. Although, I've noticed a migration to wordpress lately - so I'm also a bit worried that I'll have to make the switch when google declares I'm out of space, which I'm sure will happen as soon as I've done the update.

So, I'll see if I can dig up a few more pictures. Its been really rainy the last few days - so maybe I'll find a hydrograph to post, as I haven't done that in a few years and my apologies for the ramble, I haven't had coffee yet this morning or Yoga.

Badland's Inukshuk

Roasting under the midday sun, this brave inukshuk stands gaurd in the dry and eroded terrain, perhaps he is marking the sight of dinosaur bones, as I highly doubt that the fishing or hunting is much good here.

The Drumheller Dino

Run! I hope he does change direction and stomp my car in the parking lot....

Yellow Cactus Flowers

Still hiking the interpretive trail, hot sunny day, hardly a cloud in sight, I figure, since I didn't burn, I may have gotten my annual dose of vitamin D. I know that a month from now I'll be wearing long pants and sweaters agin and 2 months from now it'll be dipping below zero regularly and maybe even snowing. So, I'm enjoying the sunshine while I can.

Dessert Flowers in the Badlands

I got to visit the Royel Tyrell Museum with my brother's family and parents this weekend. The museum was excellent, and improved on by the enthusiasm of children. I also got to accompany a child under the age of 5 on the really awesome playground. Afterwards, we did the hike around the interpretive trail and took some pictures of Cactus flowers, then met up at a splash pad in town by the giant killer dinosaur.

Mountain Rainbow

Is it a good sign that my Lotto Max ticket wasn't a waste of money? Is there gold at the end of the rainbow? Is there anywhere else that it can be storming and quite that blue skied at the same time?

Well, you can't complain about a rainbow at any rate.... it's its own kind of gold.

Yellow Lady's-Slipper

I've been very spoilt this year with Orchids - this is the last of the big ones, I think, that are found around here. It was fading a bit - but still an impressive bit of natural architecture.

Cypripedium parviflorum - and a cool fact courtesy of "Plants of the Rocky Mountains" - they depend on fungi in the soil to survive, which is coincidentally why they often die when unwise folks try to transplant them to their gardens. Without the fungus, they just can't make a go of it - so please - leave the flowers where they belong. (Silently shouted to the Arnica Bouquet Lady)

Castle Mountain

A brief stop on the return trip, I snapped a quick picture of this impressive mountain - which I shot from a general store near the Castle Mountain Campground - but otherwise, the name is just an educated guess.

3500 km and I still find bunchberry

Secretly, bunchberry is one of my favourite forest plants. Unlike most other forest wildflowers, bunchberry flowers well into the summer, rather than a quick showy burst in May or June. It even thrives in the dark and acidic-soiled coniferous stands. It is not colourful, fancy or graceful, but it is cheerful, abundant and produces a spray of bright red berrys to brighten the forest floor in August and sometimes September.  Even better I've seen it grow in the Maritimes, Ontario and now out West.... making it an easy to recognize plant all across Canada.

The Canyon Primeival

Speaking of dinosaurs, I almost expect to find one grazing in this deep and ancient canyon - there is something about canyons carved though layers of rock spanning millions of years in age that really brings the concept of geological time into sharp relief. Add a green, moist, and shady trail, and its hard not to imagine yourself years and years into the past.

Speaking of dinosaurs, the beeosaurus, my favourite kind of dinosaur, has reached the mighty age of 2. I hope he is munching on his greens and maybe some birthday cakefruit.

Bones to the Earth

Something about this fallen tree, half-buried by moss, reminded me of a skelaton returning to the earth - there was something spine-like about it and the way the moss has grown on and around left me with an impression of something decaying slowly - something more mobile than a tree - maybe a dinosaur.

Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel

Gee... it sure looks a lot like a Chipmunk - but it does not have stripes on its face therefore, it is a specimen of Spermophilus lateralis, or the golden mantled ground squirrel. They are in the same family as chipmunks and likewise charming.

Ink Pots

These are "cool springs" where water about 4 C bubbles up from below.... The picture really doesn't do the real thing justice though.

Johnson Canyon

The trick to Johnson Canyon is arriving before the crowds. So, at the crack of dawn, everything ready to go the night before, we headed for the stunning, but slightly too popular Johnson Canyon. When we hiked out to the Ink Pots we enountered 4 people heading in the oposite direction from us and 4 people heading in the same direction as us. By the time we left, we passed 80 people heading for the Ink Pots and 330 people between Johnson Canyon Resort and the Upper Falls. Still, I've seen it busier.

The ink pots are beautiful, set in movie set country, a wide scrubby valley surrounded by stunning peaks. I remember fondly my last (first) hike there about 10 years ago with family. We stopped to paint, I don't recall that I painted anything worthwhile, but it was a pleasant day.

One-Sided Wintergreen

Orthilia secunda - seems a funny name for 1 sided wintergreen, but still an intensely alien looking plant. Today, I was saddened to see so many people picking the Arnica in the park. People just are good at seeing consequences some days. I wonder how many will be left by this evening.

Yellow Columbine

Another personal favourite in both the wild and the garden, columbine always impresses me with its grace.

Wood Lily

One of the nicest treats on the Grassi Lakes Trail was seeing hundreds of these dot the open forests along the way.

Falls at Spray Lake Power Development

The peak in the background is Ha Ling Peak, the first big hike I did in the Canmore area about 6 years ago. The falls don't show well in the picture, but they are a lovely cascade of water down the side of a cliff. The impressive penstock running from the Rundle resevoir to the power plant is just outside of the picture. :D Just upstream of this impressive display of water the water appears nearly still in a shallow pond lined with Labrador Tea and mosses.

Grassi Lakes

I think this might be one of my new favourite places to hike. It had a variety of flowers, pleasant open woods, an impressive waterfall, neat stuff for civil engineers to appreciate, turquoise lakes, swiss cheese rocks and views of snow covered mountain peaks.

Looking Down the Valley

The view facing down the way we'd come up was also spectacular. It was well worth the last climb up and the scramble over bare rock and patches of snow to have the feeling of being on the utterly (well, more like nearly) barren top of the world. It was entirely different than any of the other places we'd been all day.

Upper Valley of 3 Lakes

In the background are evil black clouds and a shear wall of dark rock (probably near where the third lake is) The second lake is likely under all the snow you see. I actually had cold ankles.

Second View of the First Lake in the Valley of 3 Lakes

I'm not sure the camera actually does the view justice, but here it is nessled in the lap of a grey mountain sky threatening rain in the distance.

Spring Fever

These Hoary Marmots were smooching under a rock ledge..... ahhhh... too cute.

Spring

It was noted by a fellow hiker that it was unusual this year that many flowers were flowering at the same time, that did not necesarily grow together normally. It sounds as though its been a cool spring and that some flowers are late getting going.

A group of Glacier Lilies

These lilies were different than many of the others that I saw having bright red anthers.