Calgary and vicinity

D Rusak

D Rusak

Jedi Council Member
Well, with all of the worries going on about restricted travel this summer, I'm not entirely sure what to think of my travel plans. Originally I was supposed to be doing quite a bit of travel for work, and potentially a little bit for pleasure too :cool2: Several of these trips have fallen though, however: a tour to China with a group I play with (actually, the tour is happening, but they decided not to use me since I am not well "known" enough, apparently), a workshop in California (scholarship fund lost their money), one or two tours with another group (CD release has been pushed way back, so a tour up and down the East Coast USA and also NW Coast USA have been pushed back indefinitely). There is still a chance I will go with my good friend back to her home country (Bosnia), with a side trip to Croatia. This depends on timing and how much money I have.

The one trip that is happening though I feel very good about, so I have not hesitated to say yes and make preparations. To be honest things have gone surprisingly smooth- I found a round-trip direct flight to the location for only $400 (usually this is $600-700), and I have been given a few gigs to make money besides receiving a full scholarship for study, room, and board.

The trip is to Banff (outside Calgary) for a music festival. I went last summer as well and had a fantastic time. Also, I found that I will be having a lot of extra free time compared to last year. I am hoping for suggestions for what to visit- especially hikes. I did a lot of hiking last summer but want to try some new routes I may have missed, or check out any other interesting places. I am arriving in Calgary early and will be there a few days afterward, in addition to some performances in that area and the Bow River Valley so any recommendations in these locations would be highly appreciated! I will be traveling mid-July to mid-August.
 
Hi Rusak,
I have lived in Calgary for 28 years and I used to hike quite a bit, but not any more. We always found plenty of info at the Banff visitor info place in the center of town. The people used to be very knowledgable as many of them were hikers themselves, so they experienced the hiking trails themselves. I must agree that the Rocky mountains are amazing; to this day I still have not got sick of them and neither the Banff town. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for you when you get here in July. Today's weather has been a hell, we got over 10 cm of heavy snow and the temperature hovered at around 0 degrees C, with a windshield factor of -9. That I can never get used to no matter how long I live here. Last week we got a snow storm as well.

If you get some time to travel more you should check out British COlumbia. The area around Okanagan lake is so beautiful. There are so many towns to visit and the scenery is just out of this world. Nakusp is a beautiful town with a hot springs right in the middle of no where; you have to travel 10 km to get to the place. If I were you I would just rent a car and explore the interior of BC like Shuswap lake, Nakusp, Kelowna, Osoyos Kimberley, Radium Hot Springs...........you can see all these place in 4-5 days but I am warning you that you will find yourself stopping at every corner to take pictures. British Columbia has more beautiful places to see.

If you need more info let me know.
You will have a great time no matter where you go. I would only worry about the weather.....it can be very scary.
 
Hi D Rusak,

Yes Mona gave you some really good travel considerations into BC :thup:. Expanding on this and if you have the time, like Mona said, Nakusp area is great. You can do a triangle, called the Golden Triangle via Banff. There are two ways to go;


• Banff to Lake Louise (1 hr); nice lake and hikes in the area.
• Lake Louise to Golden (1.3 hr approx.), stops could include Emerald Lake for viewing and stretching your legs or you could skip Lake Louse heading directly to Radium Hot Springs @ Castle mountain junc (.5 hr from Banff and another 1.2 hrs to Radium (pools there too). If going to Golden from Lake Louise, you can then go to Radium from there (follow Columbia Wetlands south – 1 hr.) or west to Revelstoke via Rodgers Pass (1.5 hrs).
• From Radium then to Cranbrook or Kimberly (2 hrs) or Revelstoke to the ferry north of Nakusp (30 min) and another hour to that town (Halcyon Hot Springs along the way).
• Cranbrook to Creston (1 hr) and then to Nelson via another ferry (2 hrs+) or Nakusp (hot pools there too) down to New Denver (1hr) and Slocan (20 min) or over to Kaslo (nice drive, bendy road 45 min) and the down to Nelson (1 hr +/-).
• Hikes are everywhere in these parts as are spectacular vistas.


PS - as an excursion from Lake Louise you can also head to Jasper and about 1.5 hrs North you will come across the Columbia Ice Fields – very cool spot :cool2: if nice weather, good hikes, but high elevation (dress in layers).

Here is a Parks BC web site (map link). http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/regional_maps/nelson.html


Have a safe and fun trip wherever you go. :)
 
Oh, I can hear Radium Hot Springs calling me to come down to soak my cold bones right now. What a beautiful place. I warn you Rusak, if you decide to visit B.C. you will never want to leave. Ever! Parallax gave you a good start. And if you have the extra time you must stop in Kelowna and pick some big juicy and the sweetiest peaches you will ever taste in your life.
 
I lived in BC for 22 years, two of them in Nelson. If you really want beautiful, drive from Nelson to Kaslo, and stop at Cody Caves for a dip in the hot springs. Then continue north along the lake to Kaslo. At Kaslo, take the road over the mountains to Slocan Lake and New Denver. Along the way are old mining towns from the turn of the century. Just before you begin the descent to New Denver, you get a spectacular view of the Valhallas and Slocan Lake.
Just writing this makes me homesick. I moved back to Saskatchewan in '98, but a part of me will always be in this area of BC.
 
Wow, so it looks like I will have to figure out the car situation, I guess it's necessary to go anywhere. Last year I was able to just hike to places on foot from where I was staying, or as a trip organized by the center I was staying at. I am not sure if I'll have time to get to BC, it seems so far away and I am not sure if I will have time or not for that long of a trip, but I will definitely check out the sites y'all mentioned. The Golden Triangle sounds like a good option.

The hot springs are great for sure! I didn't go to Radium last year, but I did go to the ones in Banff at least once a week. It made for a nice trip- hike from the place I was staying to the base of Sulphur mountain, then up the mountain (total of these two takes 3ish hours? the mountain I would do in less than two for sure), gondola down and then jump in the hot springs. If I didn't have time to do the hike up the mountain I would skip that portion. The hot springs have a great mineral content, I noticed just being in them for some time all sorts of things began "popping" on their own and releasing tension. _http://www.pc.gc.ca/regional/sourcesthermales-hotsprings/itm3-/natcul2_E.asp This website has details on dissolved minerals and other characteristics of Banff, Radium, and Miette Hot Springs. A whole lot of sulfur and magnesium, especially in miette!
 
D Rusak said:
Wow, so it looks like I will have to figure out the car situation, I guess it's necessary to go anywhere. Last year I was able to just hike to places on foot from where I was staying, or as a trip organized by the center I was staying at. I am not sure if I'll have time to get to BC, it seems so far away and I am not sure if I will have time or not for that long of a trip, but I will definitely check out the sites y'all mentioned. The Golden Triangle sounds like a good option.

The hot springs are great for sure! I didn't go to Radium last year, but I did go to the ones in Banff at least once a week. It made for a nice trip- hike from the place I was staying to the base of Sulphur mountain, then up the mountain (total of these two takes 3ish hours? the mountain I would do in less than two for sure), gondola down and then jump in the hot springs. If I didn't have time to do the hike up the mountain I would skip that portion. The hot springs have a great mineral content, I noticed just being in them for some time all sorts of things began "popping" on their own and releasing tension. _http://www.pc.gc.ca/regional/sourcesthermales-hotsprings/itm3-/natcul2_E.asp This website has details on dissolved minerals and other characteristics of Banff, Radium, and Miette Hot Springs. A whole lot of sulfur and magnesium, especially in miette!
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Understand about the car thing D Rusak; locally too you could hike up the Spray River from the Banff Springs Hotel which connects to the Spray Lakes; renting a mountain bike could be an option. Also, as a outing in good weather could be to get a ride to Sunshine Mountain about 15 minutes from Banff, take the tramway up the mountain and head for Mount Assiniboine see link; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Assiniboine. Local knowledge should be ascertained first, but it is a marvelous and worth seeing.

Whatever you do have fun - you don't need to travel far from Banff to experience spectacular geological uplifts, rivers, fossils, flora and of course amazing fauna; enjoy :)
 
Redrock12 said:
I lived in BC for 22 years, two of them in Nelson. If you really want beautiful, drive from Nelson to Kaslo, and stop at Cody Caves for a dip in the hot springs. Then continue north along the lake to Kaslo. At Kaslo, take the road over the mountains to Slocan Lake and New Denver. Along the way are old mining towns from the turn of the century. Just before you begin the descent to New Denver, you get a spectacular view of the Valhallas and Slocan Lake.
Just writing this makes me homesick. I moved back to Saskatchewan in '98, but a part of me will always be in this area of BC.
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Redrock, it's time to move back to BC. Trust me you don't want to be in Saskatchewan this winter, it's gonna be a hell. I am planning on moving to Kelowna this summer after living in Calgary for 28 years. I think I reached my limit and I can no longer live here anymore. It's sad that instead of feeling more at home here after 28 years, I feel more like an alien. I will make my move easy, I am just moving myself, my cat, my car with a few possessions including Laura's books. I will probably earn myself a new nickname 'a gypsy' but I don't care. Actually I am a partial gypsy anyway. I heard that they are selling BC cherries in KElowna already. And our trees here have not awakened yet and it is already May 11; the nature in Sask is probably still snoozing just like here. I agree, Kaslo is a great place to visit. I used to go camping there all the time. I remember they had a wonderful German bakery there. But now that I gave up Gluten I would have to pass the place. But still their poppyseed pastries were wonderful, I will keep that in my memory.
Rusak, you don't know what you will be missing.
 
I will see what is possible as far as BC goes; I did not realize it Banff was so close to the border (a cursory check of the map would have made this obvious)! I'll probably figure things out once I get up there and not before, but these are some great suggestions to try for, both in AB and BC. I hope to get to downtown Calgary this summer as well just to check things out (a good friend lives there as well); I did not make it there last year. Why are you moving out of Calgary, if I may ask?

Good luck with your move, even if you don't have a lot of stuff it can still be an arduous process.
 
Yes, good luck with your move Mona - excellent central location, very lovely anytime of year. :)
 
D Rusak said:
I will see what is possible as far as BC goes; I did not realize it Banff was so close to the border (a cursory check of the map would have made this obvious)! I'll probably figure things out once I get up there and not before, but these are some great suggestions to try for, both in AB and BC. I hope to get to downtown Calgary this summer as well just to check things out (a good friend lives there as well); I did not make it there last year. Why are you moving out of Calgary, if I may ask?

Good luck with your move, even if you don't have a lot of stuff it can still be an arduous process.
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There are many reasons why I am moving out of here. I have too many bad memories that don't do me any good and Calgary does not feel like home anymore. I have tried to make my life better but everytime I end up meeting psychopaths at work and in my personal life, and I don't want to waste any of my energy for something that does not give me good results. I used to be hopeful until I realized that it was my curse. And I am not getting any younger. The energy just does not feel right anymore. The city is too expensive for the value that I get and even though the city is vibrant with the action of life, it seems to me that it is somewhat dead pretending to be alive. I don't know how to explain it; it's like looking through a microscope and seeing dead things that pretend to be happy with life. And I should not forget it is very cold here. And I could go on on, but I would bore you with the details. Many people like it here, so you never know you might like it if you moved here.
I don't expect miracles in Kelowna and will always expect attacks no matter where I go, but at least the scenary will be different. The surrounding areas are truly beautiful there. And besides I am not afraid of change; I used to backpack by myself so this journey will be easier as I will be traveling by car.

But enjoy your stay in Calgary. It is a young city so you will like it. Don't listen to me too much, I have lived here for way too long.
 
Not planning on moving there- I'm reasonably happy with the city I live in right now. Cities have a lot of bad things along with the good, yes they can be superficial, pretending to be vibrant and full of activity when it's meaningless stuff, or the same old thing repackaged. I grew up in the woods so I can understand also wanting to get out and back to nature. Bad memories sure don't help either! Of course, it's who you are and what you see, but if it makes sense to have less stress somewhere else, do it! 28 years is a long time!

I hope the change of scenery is an inspiration to you, I know that I always get a jolt of energy when moving, even if it was just to a new apartment in town.
 
I am just trying to figure out how to post pictures in here, so please forgive me if I am being impossible for trying to do the possible. I am trying to paste a picture of Calgary that was taken yesterday from my window. Yes, it snowed here again and it is sooo cold. I don't think I like mother nature anymore. She is so mean.

Moderator, is there an easier way to paste pictures? I downloaded the picture from my file but I was told that the image is too large. I think I need to go back to school to figure this out. Oh boy, you know what? I have also been having another issue with trying to post a message in here. Everytime when I type in more than what I can see right now on this page, the typed in message is constantly being pushed to the top of page, so that when I keep on typing I cannot see below this page what is being typed and I cannot even check right away the words, as they are being typed, if they were correctly spelled. In order to check the whole page I have to constantly use the arrow that moves the page down, but eveytime I correct a mispelled word the page moves to the top. Yes, I am an imbecil and I need some help please. I do not want to be an imbecil any longer. I think I have been one for way too long. Your help will be appreciated. I grew a few gray hair as a result of this frustration. :headbash:
 
Hi Mona,

Check out this topic on "Posting Images". Essentially, if your picture is too large (more than 128Kb in size) you will need to upload it on a photo album site than linked it in your post. :)

Added Later
I am not sure I understand your other problem. Perhaps if you give more details like, type of browser used and operating system members may be able to offer more help.
 
Thanks Vulcan, I will try to upload the image as described. I was doing it differently. The other problem that I have is I think my issue, I will have to figure it out. It's really hard to explain it when people actually don't see what is happening with the page while I am typing in a long message. Thanks again Vulcan
 
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