Hikes

Eleven people came out to hike the Kopp Lake trail, one of the oldest sections in the Waskahegan Trail system.

The conditions these days are ideal for hiking: not too warm but not yet cold, and no mosquitoes. We can see not only the start of fall colours, but fat juicy cranberries ripening on bushes, a greater variety of birds as they make their way south, and huge perfect orbs of grey paper fashioned by industrious wasps.

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Thanks to Helen for scouting and leading the hike and to Trail Maintenance for the great work in clearing this trail. You can find more photos on Flickr.

Nineteen people came out to hike the Ministik Bird Sanctuary. This is an area we had not hiked for a few years. Most of the path is through dense bush, so we understood quite well what a challenge it must have been for the trail maintenance work party to do the clearing for this hike.

The whole area is dotted with sloughs, which makes it very attractive for nesting birds.

When we reached Williams Lake we stopped for lunch. A pair of swans were in the distance.

On the way back, we checked in on the Berg Stopover, which was built in 1984 on the private land of Dr. Berg, a former dean of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Alberta.

Thanks to Lee for scouting and leading the hike and to Trail Maintenance for a job well done. You can find more photos on Flickr.