Bad Knees Travel

     Our last event as a group was the boat on Mailgne lake. This is the tourist kind of thing I usually avoid like the plague. But out fearless leader said it is truly spectacular, so I went for it, am I am so glad I did.   The lake is the longest natural glacial fed alpine lake in Canada. The color varies from blues in the north to that green that marks the glacier fed lake at the south end.  The boat goes from the north end, to Spirit Island at the south. Winding between limestone peaks, draped with glaciers. I will let the photos tell their story.   Our boat captains/tourguides were two of the most competent, cheerful, kick ass young women, Bea and Kat. I have taken lots of photos of them to share with the granddaughters as role models. Kat was celebrating her 14km swim to Spirit Island the day before. An interesting story is how adding trout to the lake changed the local e...

The first outing with the Randy's group.  At the base of Hotel, this is a huge tourist destination. Parking lot full of tour busses. But once past all of the photo takers the number of people thin out and it becomes more day billers,  and people with kids.  A staircase goes up to the  for a 3 mile hike,  with altitude. The maright n trail continues flat around the lake. This trail is wheelchair accessible quite away, then there are two small creeks that have to be stepped over. These could be handled with an assistant  if you have a few steps available.  After  that tree test of the trail is flat and smooth to the top of the lake. At the top of the lake, where the stream flows in, the trail gets steep and rocky. I went a small way past that point around the curve to look up the stream.  I really enjoyed this small walk. Once past the maddening hordes, I met some vertu nice people,  from all over the wo...

Our second day in Banff Johnston Falls. Randy is starting us on some smaller hikes,  closet in.  The group is starting to get its stride. Cynthia will hike twice as far, and be waiting for us at the end of the trail.  I do far less milage than the rest of them.  But I am also accustomed to walking by my self and enjoy it. We have now got a tradition of estimating how long the hike,  and agree on a meeting place and time. We can each do as we like, and nobody has to worry about being responsible.  Johnston Falls is up a slot canyon. Breath taking beauty. But such beauty attracts a lot of people.  Over a million a year.  And this is one spot that people really want to see.  The walk is not steep,  but the surface is not suitable for wheelchairs after the guitar little bit.  There are two falls,  the lower falls is about a mile round trip,  the upper 3 miles and it gets steep. I did the lower falls.  The trail has been d...

As ever  I pull off the highway to find the perfect breakfast.  And I found Sprague while bumming around  south eastern  Washington. Hwy 90. Just another dusty  dieing town. Birthed from the railroad.  Boomed with  the railroad. And a center for the wool industry in the area.  Later it was on the the highway system, one of the towns on a AAA triptych. Then killed  as the interstate bipassed all of the small towns.  But wait. This place is different, really different. And weird. I was driving around,  looking for a place to eat and there was this yard full of old cars. The more I drove, the more cars I found.  And trucks old work horse trucks.  I finally found a restaurant.  Good food, except the sausages. They were horrible.  The waitress, also the owner, told me the story of the trucks. It seems that one guy started collecting old trucks, and more truck...

Looking for a specific photo online led me to meet the Bald Hiker. Paul leads hikes that are mostly beyond my hiking abilities. And he reviews places and things that interest me. So when this retreat hike with shorter walks came available for Galloway during my stay in the UK, I sent him off an email.  With his assurances that I could do this one I started my Scottish campaign. Step One: Getting There: Checking with Paul, he said it was easy to get close on the train and that he would be happy to pick me up at the station. I was a bit confused about how I was going to get to Ireland from Wales on a train.  I always assumed that there was a big piece of water between them. It turns out that Galloway and Galway are different places, the first being in Ireland, the second in Scotland. The train taking was great fun.  Trains are the transportation equivalent of "hold my beer." I promise you a future blog on using the UK trains. It is not as straight forward as one might thin...