Tag Archives: yeg

Christmas Eve Day

Stella makes her case for a walk

I write this more than a week past my last ‘good’ walk and on my last day of work for the year. It’s Christmas Eve, and while I am here until noon, there is not much going on, so…

And also, this may prove to be my one and only post from December 2018, but I hope not. Surely there will be some walking opportunities over my week off? You see, that’s the difference between Donna pre and post 2011, when I moved over to the south side. Before, I would create the walking opportunities. It was very rare that I didn’t walk five or six times a week, even if it was just the short 25 minute commute home to Mill Creek. Now, I seem to wait for the perfect weather, or I don’t think about it at all. Sigh…

Stella and I in Whitemud Ravine

Funny how habits, ingrained habits, can vanish if the circumstances change. I moved out of my very walkable neighbourhood in 2011 to move in with Sharon’s family for a year, and I stayed for six. And now, back on my own for eight months, I’m still struggling to regain my old habit of making a daily walk my top priority.

In any case, last Friday, December 14, my office gifted us with a day off, a ‘shopping day’, and so while I did hit a mall at some point, I still managed to drive over to my sister’s place to take her dog, Stella, for a walk in a deserted Whitemud Ravine. It was almost creepy how deserted it was, and gloomy. It was book-ended by two beautiful blue sky days, but Friday was overcast and it felt very dark in the woods. Glad I had Stella with me for this reason, and a million more.

We had a good time. I wore my micro-spikes and they were extremely helpful. The trails are quite icy from the warm weather and occasional rain mixed with snow, which seems to be the norm these days. Stella, as usual, wore her naturally spiky nails.

A walk is a walk, though, and we had a good time.

I don’t remember what the temperature was, but not too cold. Probably around -2C.

Mill Creek in Peak

I am writing this post retroactively (and re-dated) because I forgot to post, and then I saw the photos when I was scrolling on my phone as one is want to do. Last Tuesday was nice, around 17C, so my intention was to walk home via the new Indigenous Park where the Queen Elizabeth Pool used to be, but I took the wrong path and ended up in my final destination first – Mill Creek Ravine. I’ll try again this week.

Mill Creek was of course beautiful, sporting its yellowy cardigan and still greenish trousers. I walked a loop around the lower path first, and then strolled along the upper path to 99 Street. Ingeniously, I had a dental appointment earlier in the day so rather than park at the university for 16 bucks, I parked on my old street, and so at the end of my walk I had a car to drive the rest of the way home. It was the tail end of rush hour so it took me a long time. A bus, or on foot, would have been quicker.

On the lower path in the area closest to the last bridge, slightly south of the entrance, the path has been overrun with mud and is apparently now permanently blocked off. As I often do, I ignored the signs and walked through it anyway. My running shoes got covered with mud and about half way through I was questioning my life choices, but it was still worth it. At the end, where the cement outfall structure is, the creek was stoppered with sticks, branches and a brown tangle of unidentifiable ravine detritus. No wonder that area keeps flooding. Not sure what’s happening. Further south along the trail, one of the paths has been cut off for years due to erosion (I still cross that one too). This whole area is poorly maintained, or at least to my eyes it is, so it’s doubtful that this not-caused-by-beavers dam will be un-dammed anytime soon.

Outfall looking north
standing on top of the outfall, looking south

Note: for some reason the photos were all kind of foggy, although it was not humid. I chalk it up to the fact that the pants I was wearing have really short pockets, so I had to carry my phone in my hand – hence the fogging. Or my phone is possessed. Or I’m a shitty photographer.

One other note. This month has been the coldest September on record, Tuesday’s temperature of 17C not withstanding. I hope (beg, plead) that October is mild. Bah.

And then this happened…

I made a Chelsea and Andy in honour of their wedding

This is going to be a photo post, because it’s so nice and pretty today (Sunday) but Friday and Saturday were pure rubbish. Once again, it snowed. It snowed hard. Snowed so hard I had to shovel my car out.

I am dog-sitting Stella for four days because most of my family is in California for my step-niece Chelsea’s wedding. Even though I went for two walks a day with the doggo in the heavy wet snow, which did not make me happy, I will admit to a small frolic in the snow on Saturday. It wasn’t until all the snow melted (6cm plus) on Sunday morning that we went for a proper walk in Whitemud Ravine. Landscape-wise, it was like the snow hadn’t happened at all. Mentally…I’m still scarred.

Snow or no snow, ball is still ball
Whitemud Creek Ravine, the next day
First full day of Autumn in Whitemud Ravine

It was about 6C. 

 

A Summerfall Walk

Yes, it’s still technically summer, but in Edmonton in the middle of September, especially this September, it’s just a word that elicits fond memories of a season that has already passed.

But yes, Wednesday, after a week (or is it longer?) of inclement weather, it was finally nice enough to really enjoy the changing colours of the river valley. And it was beautiful, especially against a blue sky. How I have missed you!

I walked from the university, over and then under Groat Bridge, and then west through MacKinnon Ravine and finally Glenora, followed by Oliver. About an hour of gorgeous vistas and autumnal scents.

And a random wasp nest.

5:00-6:15 pm, 15C

 

It’s snowing

Yeah, it is.

And for the last 24 hours.

Not an actual post (more of a whinefest), as my only walk today will be to and from work, via bus, train and a short two-block scurry to my snow-covered abode. What a kick in the lady business.

We had a warm day on Friday, September 7 and Tom and I went for a wonderful walk after work. Since then, we’ve had cold weather, rain and last night and today, snow. Not a little bit of snow. Full-on cover-everything-green-and-pink-and-alive (or it was) snow. It’s also cold, so I have my winter coat out and my gloves. Yes, the snow will melt, but we’ve lost any semblance of summer. Once the white goes, we will have dead flowers and mid-autumn foliage, even though it’s still summer. I said (almost) more fucks this morning on my way to work than I did the day Trump got elected.

What a weather year. First, our winter goes on and on, and then there is barely a spring before summer hits with 30+ temperatures beginning in May and carrying on through August. On the first night of the Folk Fest this year, it was 34C and smokey (from BC fires) so Tom and I didn’t go. And now, we didn’t even get a chance to enjoy early fall. Yeah, I’m crushed, as are all Edmontonians.

At least we have Trevor Robb, a reporter for the Edmonton Journal who has been entertaining us with his depressing (but hilarious) headlines about our weather this year. This one, today, was particularly good.

Bugger

1C and cloudy

Walterdale Bridge (Junior)

First time to walk under and over the new Walterdale Bridge (Walt Jr.).

It’s really something, and the area around it is gorgeous! For all of the inconveniences – of having that trail cut off for years on both sides of the river; for all the trees that I knew, that were cut down, I would say that this new bridge makes up for it. As a driver, it’s amazing. As a walker, even more so.

The pathway across the bridge is extremely wide, with a wide open view to the sky and the river valley. It’s like a promenade. Below the bridge is a paved pathway leading to the trail that eventually becomes Skunk Hollow, which I will take next week sometime, especially as the new Indigenous Park is scheduled to open at the former Queen Elizabeth Pool area. There is also an unpaved path that is closer to the river and actually leads to the shore. The stairs are nice. The replanted foliage is nice. I give it a 10.

This path from the university to the Walterdale Bridge used to be my main river valley commute. There are trails leading off to other areas, in particular the trail that skirts around Rossdale beside the north side of the river (which is still blocked off), but this was the one that most often got me home.

I missed it.

For the first time in over five years, that trail got me home yesterday, but circuitously. I took a few photos of the bridge and then carried on the far path to Rossdale and then Louise McKinney Park, which is currently cut in half by the Valley Line LRT construction. It was wonderful to walk such familiar paths again. Once I was in McKinney, I took the stairs to downtown and then walked home from there.

Rossdale, headed toward the Low Level Bridge

We’re having a bit of a reprieve from the cool weather that hit us like a bang mid-August. It’s been cool and rainy ever since, with a few sunny days thrown in. Yesterday (Thursday) and today, however, it’s beautiful and warm (21C and 25C, respectively). A smattering of yellow here and there, and a bit of crunch underfoot, but for the most part, visually it still looks like late summer.

North Saskatchewan River from Louise McKinney Park

Red leaves, Louise McKinney Park

There were no posts in August. It’s been a rough couple of weeks, and I had little opportunity or inclination to walk in the woods. My sister Barb spent most of August in ICU, and then passed away on Sunday, September 2. She was plagued by Lupus and latterly, COPD, for decades, and in the last few years her body grew increasingly exhausted (but not her mind!). Her lungs struggled to breath and her kidneys shut down, and while she had been on dialysis for a year that too proved to be a burden on her health (although I’m sure it prolonged it for a little while). In the hospital, she was communicative and even sometimes, quite happy. She had reached the stage of acceptance with her failing health. But the last week, and her last 48 hours, were extremely difficult and sad. She was gone by Saturday morning, but her body continued on until Sunday afternoon.

Walking has helped to shed some of the grief, but as I have learned (unfortunately), it is something that comes and goes on its own capricious schedule. Rest in peace, Barb.