Tag Archives: Edmonton

Happy Birthday Joanne

Me, Joanne, Sharon and Kate

Long walk in the snow to Rossdale to wish Joanne a happy birthday!

Sharon and Kate joined us. Not the celebration we would wish for Joanne, but nice to see the faces of my sisters and my niece! Or at least, part of their faces.

Walterdale Bridge

This will be the mildest day for the foreseeble future as we enter the first true cold snap of the winter (or as Shawna Gawreluck on Twitter says, “It’s not a snap, it’s a cruel, frost laden million pound anvil of death potential”). In spite of the wind and the snow, with all my gear and the walking, I was often too hot, but Sharon and Joanne were cold, so a short visit.

I was warmer than I looked
Tiny cross country skiers on the Victoria golf course
More golf course!
Almost home (trail below Victoria Park Road)

About -11C and snowing HARD. 15,412 steps, a little over two hours there and back.

Blue Sky (again)

At the end of Ravine Drive, looking at the city

A broken record, but another beautiful walk with Tom. Frosty but gorgeous blue skies. 14,222 steps but at least 1,500 of that was a brief trip to the grocery store after our walk.

Trail into Laurier Park
Windy day

-8C.

Around the ‘hood

Trees at the museum

Well, it was a beautiful day, sun-wise. The temperature is starting to drop after a pretty warm January overall.

‘My’ trail at the museum
Looking southeast
Looking southwest

Too late to coordinate with Tom, but we met coming around the corner along Ravine Drive!

Looking over the 102 bridge at Groat Road

About -13C to -11C over a couple of hours. 10,170 steps

A Walk with Sharon and Stella

Sharon and Stella

Nice walk with Sharon and Stella today in the newly reopened Whitemud Ravine north, east of the Snow Valley ski hill.

Whitemud Creek with a big ass tree

Sharon brought some seed for the chickadees, who happily obliged. Met Wayne, the resident birdwatcher in full camouflage taking photos of a pine grosbeak. Should have brought my binoculars.

Me and a Chickadeedeedee…
Sharon and a Chickadeedeedee…
That’s where the River Queen is!

Overcast but warm(ish).

Lunch ‘n Walk

A lunchtime walk in the river valley along River Road, MacKinnon Ravine, and Glenora. Once again, micro-spikes were a must. I did not eat lunch at the same time. I’m incapable of to doing two things at once. I would hyperventilate.

A view of our unfrozen river

It was spectacularly nice. Not super warm (about -2C) but blue sky and sunshine. I’m glad I went when I did because it was starting to cloud over by the time I was finished, about 90 minutes later. I need my blue canopy.

The river itself is not quite as frozen as it should be this time of year. One open area below the Groat Bridge sounded like it was deep in mid-spring melt.

Looking up from MacKinnon Ravine at the people (I think) standing on the grounds of the museum

0C by the time I arrived home/10,761 steps

Blooooo Sky

Me, after the Prisma app…

I’ve turned into a bit of a blue sky walker. If the sky is blue, I’m walking. If it’s overcast, I’m pouting. Luckily we’ve had a lot of blue sky lately. It’s been beautiful.

A killer view

Saturday, Tom and I went for our usual walk through Glenora and into Ravine Drive. A not uncommon event in our lives, especially in this ridiculously warm weather we’ve been having since mid-December.

Tom and I, Prisma’d

An Edmonton Journal confirmed what I was thinking about this ‘winter’ – that it’s very reminiscent of the winter of 2011/12. It helps to have a walking blog, but during that winter (apparently meteorologists define winter as starting from Dec 1) it was warm and largely snowless, meaning the snow that had previously fallen either disappeared or turned to solid ice.

It’s a dilemma for walking because the sidewalks are clear but many of the streets still have sheets of black ice. Do I wear micro-spikes? On long walks and in the woods, yes. Walking to the store two blocks away? No. Very much like the winter of 2011/12, which along with this year (so far) is one of three warmest winters ever recorded. We did get snow in February and March of 2012 but it stayed relatively warm.

Tom
Thistle (or somethng…)

-2C, 15,021 steps