The weather was bleak and blizzardy, but our minds were made up. As we discovered at the coffee shop, the four of us had the same goal—to get out of the house and work off the Christmas eating and excesses.
For we were familiar with the rewards of hiking Edmonton’s Snow Valley trail: after you have passed through the parking lot, you are walking in the quiet shelter of Whitemud Ravine’s stately old spruce forest.
At the look-out point, we stopped and sprinkled bird seed on the railing. Sure enough, on the way back, we saw that a small crowd of chickadees had settled in for the treat.
Our lunch was at the Alfred Savage Centre. After that, we pressed on to John Janzen Nature Centre—adding 5 more kilometers to the day’s distance.
On our way back, the sun came out and warmed our faces. The other delight was running into David Mutch, who had planned to join us but got a late start. Better late than never. For the record, we’re giving David credit in our hike statistics.
Many thanks to John Scotvold for leading the hike. You can see all the photos on Flickr.
I want to comment on Shirley Jackson’s beautiful photographs. They are worthy of a gallery show anytime. I wonder if this could be arranged. She always had a sharp eye for what others walked by. I travelled the same ground but didn’t see what she did. Another good eye was Bill Hinchey, Happy travels Shirley and keep your camera handy.
I agree. Shirley’s apparent luck with the camera was really about her sharp eye.