In the bright sunshine of a glorious summer’s day, Skrastins C hikers gathered in Spruce Cliff at the parking lot by Pie Junkie (temptation for later). Following our leader, Jay, we walked a short distance on the street to Quarry Road Trail, and a short distance downhill on that trail to Douglas Fir Trail. Fall was just coming into its natural garb, with flickering yellow leaves, tall pale grasses and tiny ripening berries. A few hikers chose to take the infinity of stairs up the looped path on the escarpment. The rest of us meandered along an easier path to the top of the same stairs. From our height on the escarpment we could see the downtown towers over the pointy pine trees (no Douglas Fir). Far below was the river v... read more

On the last beautifully warm day of summer, a good number of C Hikers from the Skrastins club gathered on the eastern edge of Nose Hill Park. Ann led us round the gentler slope of the park, avoiding the unnecessarily aggressive stairs to the top. Grasses waved golden heads around the Scotch Thistles, which were fuzzily going to seed, as so many plants were at this time in the season. Most attractive were the orange-red rose hips, just beginning to ripen. One last Alberta Wild Rose shone in the sunlight. Deeper into the park, we walked through groves of Trembling Aspen, enjoying the cool air as a respite from the sun’s heat. The path dipped into ravines and small coolees. A few flowers still shone through the grasses, especially mauve Wild Geraniums and ... read more

Hidden by the green-belts along Crowchild Trail and Silver Springs Gate is the almost miraculous community project of the Botanical Gardens of Silver Springs. There are a lot of determined, persistent gardeners in the neighbourhood. We entered from the south into a broad treed and grassy expanse beside the tennis courts, giving the pleasant sound of the ball bouncing to take over from traffic noise. In the woodland setting, special flower gardens are named. The Oak Grove first entices with the classic leaves on oak trees along the pathway and then invites walkers to rest a while at the picnic tables. The Oval Garden catches attention with multitudes of showy blooms, carefully planted to look like an English country garden. More restrained is the Shade Garden, which nevertheless draws the eye to modest dark-red leaves and ... read more

The C Hikers met at Elliston Park under gathering dark clouds. As Wendy remarked, a few “chinks of blue sky” shone through. Our mood was cheery when Sylvia led us part way around Elliston Lake, up to 17 Avenue, and onto the Calgary Greenway. Spreading out along the groomed path, we found our pace. Because this part of the Greenway is along Stoney Trail, we had the weird sensation of looking one way to see thundering goods trucks and the other way to see the wildness of our prairie landscape. As the route moved slightly up hill and down, wildflowers took over from long grasses. Goldenrod and Vetch spread in broad swathes, a background for Oxeye Daisies and Yellow Toadflax. Red and white clover formed a natu... read more

An extraordinarily large group of C hikers (15 members, 4 guests) joined a steady crowd of families at Big Hill Springs on one of our best summer days. Nominally separating into “faster” and “slower”, we spread out along the forested up-hill trail. At every glance, bright flowers popped up into our view. Pink and white Wild Geraniums greeted us on both sides of the path. Wild Roses thrilled us with their abundance – not just along the trail but in immeasurable array into the woods. Near the stream, Potentilla (Cinquefoils) added sparks of yellow in the dark shade. Long-stemmed url=https://www... read more