Martha Miller

Eleven hikers came out in beautiful weather to hike the riverside trails in Edmonton’s west end.

At Laurier Park, along the river’s north side, the Silver Skate Festival was on. A highlight was the Heritage Village venue where we heard the Abraham Lake Singers play drums and sing.

Here are two of the seven ice sculptures:

We also saw three woodpeckers in a tree, all at once.

Lunch at Laurier was outside, just because the weather was so beautiful.

On the Whitemud (south) side of the river, it’s become trickier to find stairs from the trail to the street level above. The stairs from Groat Road/Saskatchewan Drive have been removed because of the Hawrelak Park renovation. There is an older set from the top of Keillor Road, and these were clear. By paying strict attention, we successfully negotiated the nearly two hundred steps without incident.

The question was asked, “Did we have to climb them on the return?!!” And no….

You can find more photos on Flickr.

Where we’re going next.

Edmonton’s winter had only recently arrived when twelve hearty souls ventured into the Edmonton River Valley to hike Snow Valley to John Janzen Nature Centre.

To our delight, we ran into Edmonton nature photographer, Wayne Oakes. Wayne was our guest at the 2022 Annual General Meeting, where he gave a fascinating slide show presentation on the remarkable animals and plants in the Whitemud Ravine. So far he has logged over 10,000 hours there. That’s 10,000 hours of opportunities to shoot amazing photos in just one area.

Wayne advised us to be on the lookout for “snow snakes”, which sounds rather alarming. However, we learned they are not literally snakes—just a snow phenomenon, so we proceeded with calm.

We also saw a variety birds, including a large pilated woodpecker.

The wind prevented us from taking many photos. Fortunately, we were able to have our lunch indoors at the Nature Center and to use the space to warm up. On the return, there was less wind, and so the walking was less difficult.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the hike, and to the City of Edmonton for maintaining these trails and the Nature Centre. You can find more photos on Flickr.

See where we’re going next.