Paradise Valley (Lake Louise Area, Alberta)

Last week's plan was to go up Wasatch Mountain in Lake Louise area and for that reason I woke up early Sun. to beat the morning heat and rush. It is a damn long drive to Moraine Lake where the trail-head is located. I guess it was around 08:15 or so when I reach there. I my way to the lake I realized an old Toyota sedan behind me with two passengers, one, the driver, was smoking and exhaling the smoke out of the window every now and then. I thought to myself what kind of jerk he was. After parking and checking into the washroom I saw the same guys getting their hiking gear out of the vehicle! Realized they were hikes/scramblers! As surprised as I was I asked them if they know where the trail to Wasatch Mountain would be. They were no familiar with the mountain and its whereabouts. 

I, then, grabbed my gear and walk toward the major path besides the lake. That apparently was the trail-head. The guys, I later learnt, Ryan ans Scott, caught up with me soon and I realized that they were heading for Tower Mountain. Couple of young fellas one Caucasian and the other one looked like Natives but I didn't ask him. They were nice fellas but apparently their stimulant was Weed Cigarette! When then ran to a couple a young Caucasian guy with his Korean girlfriend and we all went all the way to Sentinel Pass and went up. Ryan believed if I intended to go up Wasatch Mountain, I had to take the trail to Eiffel Lake but my printed information did say something else. 

What I had forgotten to check that morning before leaving the parking lot was my water. So when we all reach the top of the pass I told them that I had forgotten the most important asset in a hike! Ryan and Scott were going up to reach the summit of Tower Mountain and the couple were heading back. So they both offered me some of their water! Thanks to them and I hope they read that one day. I then started going down the valley at the other side of the pass and through a scree.

You can see the climbers on the snow patch in the center of the picture. This is on your left (west) when you are going down the valley after the switchbacks of Sentinel Pass.

The more I went down, the more I realized I could be wrong. then when I reached forest again I truly understood that I had been trapped! There was no way out. Front were just high mountains partially covered with snow and rumbling now and again from the avalanche sound! I admitted that I had screwed up the hike but I had no choice but to carry on. I check a few available signs and I realized that I either had to go all the way to Lake Louise or as far as Paradise Valley and turn back. Going to Lake Louise would have been a disaster because then I had to walk all the way back to Moraine Lake to get the car. So I just decided to go to Paradise Valley Campground and turn back from there. 

Surprisingly that campground was nothing but a few flat spots for tents, a few picnic benches and food lockers! I always though a campground should have had more than that:  An attendant, gate, walls and most importantly a roof but I was wrong! 

The river and falls in Paradise Valley are beautiful and unique

I spent a few minutes around and took photographs. The area is beautiful but requires so much time to discover it. The river and fall continues to Paradise Creek which further down reaches the Moraine Lake Road. I looked at my watch it was around 13:30 hours and I decided it was the time to go back. A few small groups were coming towards the campground when I was leaving. On the way back when I again started going up the valley I saw a small group going up to the pillar-like rocks at the west side of the valley! It looked so crazy! One mistake and they could fall to their death or a sever injury at least 100 m. below. Reaching the parking lot is not hard after Sentinel Pass. 

It was only then I realized how big of a mistake is hiking in a Sun. of July close to a popular lookout of Alberta! It was crazy! People were in line to rent Canoes or were climbing up the nearby rocks to get a shot of the lake or struggling to find a spot to park! 

Overall it is a nice hike but give yourself to be able to discover as much as possible in the valley. Start early if you are going in a weekend so you can beat the crowd. I had read that bear are very frequent in the area and the advisory was not to hike in groups less than 4 or 6, I guess and that was why we got together on our way up to the valley but I saw nothing! I had purchased a Bear Spray and kept it in my pocket. It was not very irritating and I can keep it for the next three years. I hope it never comes to the point that I have to apply that but I will, If I have it and only if I'm not frozen the minute I see the bear!

(Photo, top: This map taken from Google maps shows Moraine Lake area and the surrounding. The red line shows my route until I reach Sentinel Pass and climbed down to Paradise Valley from there. The blue line shows the route I should have taken to first see Eiffel Lake and then climb up Wasatch Mountain. Bad mistake! But at least I saw this other nice side and maybe I get another chance one day to do this route) 

No one Ages in Magadan

The introduction of the worldwide web and particularly in the past 10 years development of several different webpages has helped to improve the knowledge and broadcast the news which without them was very hard if not impossible.

One story that I recently ran to was about an Iranian guy who had recently died in Toronto and had an amazing life story: A survivor of Soviet Labour Camps or Gulag. It's interesting how he ended up in Toronto; it was not a pleasant life though.After all we should not forget that Canada is the trash-bin of the world! Whatever cannot be tolerated at any corner of the globe, would be dumped to this toilet, called Canada. No offence to anyone. 

Anyways Dr. Ata Safavai left Iran at age 20 or so, for his dream of Soviet Union. The land which was supposed to offer free education, work, free health services and a society based on no class. It was 1947 shortly after the WWII when Stalin was so proud of defeating the Nazi Germany and wanted to show the world how great the Soviet Union was.

The Doc. and two of his buddies, all supporters of Iran Tudeh Party, a traitor group which was later on, after the Islamic Revolution destroyed and its leaders were prosecuted and sentenced to long-time imprisonment, crossed to the Soviet Union where today is Turkmenistan. They immediately were arrested by the border guards. Their first offence, that they were accused of, was unlawful entrance to the country. That shattered their dreams. They were sent to a brick factory near Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. Late Dr. Ata in his interview said that he had to throw 6000 bricks in a day to get his 500 g. bread portion! Nevertheless he survived the harsh work and I guess spent there for 3 years or so. He then was prosecuted again and got accused of spying for the US and Iran! This time the sentence was heavy: He was sentenced to work in Gulag for the rest of his life. 

In his interview, Dr. Safavi says that he then wrote a letter to Stalin and his sentence was reduced to 10 years!! I find it very hard to believe. What has happened there will remain a great secret but he then was shipped to this small Siberian town of Magadan where he had to work in a coal mine. Magadan is a town a little more than 5000 km north of the Russian port of Vladivostok, the place that I always wanted to visit and will one day. 

Working and living condition was harsh there but he survives that too and after death of Stalin he is forgiven and released. He decides to use this opportunity and pursue his dream of becoming a physician. So he goes to Tajikistan a former Soviet Union republic which is an independent state now, studies and becomes a physician. He practises medicine there for years and even gets married to a Russian girl and for a reason which is not said he decides to go back home! 

He finally returns home after a little more than 40 years and starts a career in the capital of the country but finds it hard to get along with his fellow Iranian colleagues! he accuses them of not letting him do his job, making obstacles on his way and not trusting him. He finally decides to go to Canada and spend his retirement years in there. Considering Canadian authorities are so naive to accept any bullshit story people make up and also him being a physician, although very old, I'm not surprised that he is allowed to enter the country and live in here.

In the clip which is available in Youtube, it is shown that the interviewer goes to this apartment building in a dark, gloomy and cold day of Toronto and enters the small apartment of the Dr. and interviews him. Considering what the Dr. had been through, living a 1970s apartment building in Toronto should not be a very bad option for him. Seemed that years of work as a physician had not brought much wealth to the life of poor guy to make him able to rent a nice place in a better neighbourhood. His memory is fantastic during the interview and he speaks of what has happened to him with such excitement and enthusiasm. That's what I like about the guy. Dr. Safavi finally died in 2012. 

(Photo: It is said that millions from different nations were forced to work in Labour Camps in former Soviet Union, during Stalin era and many didn't survive. Here labourers are pulling and pushing wheelbarrow-like carts in apparently a sort of mine) 

Spruce Meadows

A few weeks ago we had this little kid over. His parents had to work so we babysit for them. This kid is so much in love with horses that everywhere he goes just looks for them. So we decided to surprise him by talking him to Spruce Meadows somewhere his parents had never taken him!

He was so happy that he didn't know where to look at. We stayed 2 to 3 hours and he even got the chance to ride a pony.

It is said that more than 7000 people work in this industry in Alberta but I barely saw anything that you had to pay for in there, maybe serious races. You can wander around for hours and see different things, eat and watch without directly pay a penny but maybe that what the plan is. 

I have never been a fan of pets and animals. I like animals but I like them in the wild and free so these things never attracts me but I could see how passionately kids were petting the animals!

It's a fan place for animal lover and particularly horse lovers. I was just happy for the little boy.

(Photo: Kids are petting horses. One of the riders said that these poor horses were standing like this for over1 hour. Who says this is not animal brutality!?)

The Middle Sister

This past weekend I wanted to go to Wasatch Mountain in Lake Louise area but after checking the forecast learning it would have been rainy, I changed the plan to the summit of Middle Sister in Canmore. I had to drop the lady at work so by the time I was parked at the parking lot of Stewart Creek Golf Club it was I guess 09:30 or after. I checked around and didn't see anything which could have been similar to trail-head. So I checked with a few young fellow of golf club and one of them told me where I had to park.

After parking at the end of Stewart Creek Dr. I started my walk toward east and based on the information I had downloaded from the web got myself in the golf course. It actually is very nice place similar to most of the course. The difference is it is in middle of forest. I kept going and at my right I saw a tall rock which was standing hundred of meters but I was not sure which sister out of the Three Sisters it was and didn't see any route to it.

I walked toward east for about half and hour and then there was a branch to northwest which seemed to be the right way because I realized I was distancing myself from the sisters! I took that road but just after a few minutes I found myself in front of a confined fenced room with an antenna beside it! It was dead-end. I turned back and went to the golf course again and that was where after crossing a little footbridge I realized I had crossed Stewart Canyon Creek. I then turn to south and saw the water control section. It was the trail-head. I guess it was around probably 11:30 or maybe 12:00 when I started from there.

The trial is basically no trail! Most of it has been washed off in the last year's flood and after 1 hour of so you have to walk in the creek and over the rocks.

This is how most of the trail look like: A big pain in the butt! You have to have your eyes glued to the ground, minding every rock that you're stepping on. This happened in the last year'f flood. Many trees died. You can see a few in this photo. 

I once turned back to see if there was anyone else behind me and that was when I saw a guy coming up. He soon caught up with me but we were at different sides of the creek. I waived at him and he waived back and I then asked him where he was headed. He pointed at the big rocks ahead. They were one of the Three Sisters and asked about my destination my answer was the same: The Middle Sister. I then joined him after the creek narrowed. He surprisingly extended his arm, offered his hand and introduced himself as Boris. I told him that I knew Boris is a Russian name but he could be Ukrainian too. He said he was Russian and from Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) and had not been back to Russia in the past 16 years.

That is a case with most of the former Soviet people and former Eastern Block fellas. They hate their previous life so much that they don't want to go back to see what's happened in the many years that they have been away. Perhaps now that the Iron Curtain has come down they are jealous of the people who have a little bit of freedom they never had, although their economic and financial situation might not be very good!

I and Boris went up for a while and he told me that it was his third attempt. It seems he knew where he was going because he told me that I had to go right at the end of the creek while I thought I had to go left! On the other hand when I asked him if we would be able to find water when we get higher, he was not sure. The fact is I found stream in a bit higher in the creek and filled up my water bottle. I would not have been able to make it to the top, if I had not have access to the glacier water. Then a light shower started and he told me he wanted to take a short break. I told him that I would be waiting for him a bit higher and left. I then stopped shortly and put my windbreaker on. When I looked down after a few minutes I saw him climbing up while had a cover on. I then reached a snow patch a big basin and took a rest.

Took this beautiful tiny flower's pictures just a few minutes away from the summit

My decision was to take a break, take a few photos and then head up the scree for the summit. According to the information I had received from Canmore Nordic Center the summit was 1 hour above me and I had to make my way up the easiest way up!!

I waited for about, I guess, 20 to 25 minutes but there was no sign of him so I decided to go up. The way up to the summit did not have a trail until you make a half of a circle and then you can see a cairn and footpath. It's not very steep but breathtaking a bit.You walk the col which connects two summits and reach where you can see Bow Valley to your right and Mt. Lawrence Grassi to your left. That's where people have used small rocks to write messages on the ground. Then you go higher to reach another spot which again you can see Bow Valley, Highway No. 1 and the plants to your right, which is east. There are still a few meters to the top and then you see a wind shelter and to your north is Mt. Grotto, Town of Canmore and the entire Bow Valley from east to west. I only stopped there for maybe 10 minutes and took a few photos and headed back. It was on my way back when I realized that Boris had gone back down. 

Going down, particularly after I passed the cairn got really nasty perhaps because I missed the major route. Every step I was taking I had to watch where I was putting it. That didn't help much either because I lost my balance at least 5 times and fell at least 3 other times! 

I was happy when I reached the basin again because I thought I had finished the hard part. I also knew that I would be getting water. My throat was parched. Based on my calculations I was supposed to be in the parking lot in 2 hours but I later on learnt that I miscalculated because it took 3.h damn hours to reach down there! I guess it was around 21:50 when I reached the car! 

Grotto Mountain is seen in the back and Stewart Canyon Creek in the middle where you have to come up to reach a natural rest area, a basin. From here to the summit of Middle Sister should not take you more than an hour and a half, tops.

I was tired and I had bruise on my right palm because once I stepped on a rock and the rock rolled down my foot and I fell. The wooden stick that I was holding and helped me a lot to get to the summit scratched my palm and a subsurface wound appeared but I was happy that I was able to reach the summit in a timely manner. 

Here is the information about the Three Sisters in case anyone is interested:

• Big Sister (Faith Peak) - 2936 m. - 9632 ft.
• Middle Sister (Charity Peak) - 2769 m. - 9084 ft. (The one that I reached its summer) 
• Little Sister (Hope Peak) - 2694 m. - 8840 ft.

Under the following circumstances you should be able to the summit in 7 hours or less:

• You are physically fit.
• Don't have much to haul.
• Don't stop a lot on the way up or down for photographs like I did! 
• Have enough water.
• Don't take too many breaks.

Overall the Middle Sister is a hike which provides both scenery and beauty as well as a good exercise. As far as wildlife I should say that I only see a few Ground Squirrel and a Rabbit. In the last 100 meters to the basin I notice rocks are falling off the east side of the creek and when I look up I saw a light brown creature passing quickly but I was not be able to distinguish what it was. The key to this hike is to start early and keep going. That's all! The elevation gain in this hike is around 1400 m. 

(Photo, top: Bow Valley, Town of Canmore and Highway No. 1 from the summit of Middle Sister)

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

We finally caught Dawn of Planet of the Apes after months of waiting. The movie was displayed in 3-D but I was not impressed by that. The movie itself is a good one and I would recommend it. I will definitely purchase the DVD.

The story, unlike what I had thought, is not just simply the apes attacking humans or humans attacking the apes. It was more than that which make it to have a sequel. I don't know if they have it in their plans or not but it sure has another story to follow it.

I don't want to spoil the movie for the ones who haven't seen it yet but what it would be is there's a disagreement in between two apes, Caesar, the leader of the group which in the previous movie led all the apes to freedom and Koba, one of smart apes in the lab which was freed later on. 

The disagreement and that is because Koba believes Caesar is too soft on humans, concludes in Koba stealing a gun from the remaining humans and shooting Caesar with it after killing two guys. He, after that, sets fire to the apes community and blames everything on humans. 

He then led the convinced apes in an attack to the city and eventually defeats humans and tries to take control. The rest of the story is interesting but even I would like to see it for the second time. Don't miss it and wait, for sure, for the sequel! 4 out of 5 star, at least. 

The visual and sound effects are amazing and Andy Serkis and other actors and actresses who play apes are very natural in their moves, talks and behaviour. 

(Photo: Koba, the lab ape, here is messing with two guards of armory and later kills both and steals their guns. The story this time revolves around Koba, not Caesar, mostly)

Crypt Lake

Crypt Lake hike in Waterton National Park in southern Alberta was in my list since early May but I had to postpone it due to weather issues. Last week M. C. told me that they would wanted to go for the weekend but since The Lady had to go to work I shortened the trip to a one-day and just by myself! 

As crazy as it sounds I woke up at 04:00 AM on Sat. and after preparation head down Highway AB-2 south and then turn to southwest on Highway AB-3 and passing through Pincher Creek finally found myself in Waterton National Park's gate. The admission for one day is almost $8 I guess and then I easily found the Marina and checked out the ticket counter. After making sure that M&M have the same ticket as mine, I paid $21 to cross Waterton Lake. Our departure time was 09:00 AM and the bout had a capacity of, I guess, around 125 passengers. It was a very sunny day and not a single cloud in the sky but early morning was not very hot. This is one of the disadvantages of Crypt Lake hike that all the hikers start at the same time but on the other hand there will not be many hikes after the first group because there would be only one other bout and that would be at 10:30 AM, I guess. 

The first few minutes of the hike is quite similar to a race. Everyone takes long steps and really paces himself or herself and that is what I don't like in hiking. So we took a short break and let the maniacs go. 

The paths has beautiful views but it's not as great as I read. Maybe because I have had so many hikes so far. The interesting part of the hike is where you reach this very narrow ledge, the metal ladder and then the tunnel. The tunnel is not very long. You can see the other side and the ledge is not very dangerous but hikers should be careful. You see metal cables at the other side of the tunnel which are very helpful to pull yourself up. I forgot to mention two waterfalls that you also see on your way. It's pretty much it and after the cables you will have a short hike and will see the lake. 

The lake was still partially frozen and snow patches could be seen on the shores. M&M wanted to have a long break and eat something as usual but me disappointed at the amount of energy I had spent, only drank some juice. I was not hungry at all. To me this hike so far was much easier than Rockbound Lake. 

We rested for a bit and then checked another side of the lake and after that headed down. Going down felt harder and longer for me probably because of the heat. I stopped once and filled my water bottle from a 

This beautiful scene is seen through the trail before and after the tunnel. The little pond down in the valley has no name or at least I haven't seen it be named

stream, something M&M does not normally like it. Our bout departure was set to be at 17:30 so we took our time to take enough number of photos on our way back. In fact we would have been able to make it to 16:00 hours bout but the guys wanted to enjoy the hike and not rush it. I guess it was finally 17:20 that we arrived at the pier. 

Reaching at the other side I said goodbye to M&M and grabbed the vehicle and headed back home but I wanted to get something to drink so stopped at Pincher Creek to see where a McDonald's is. I really liked their Iced Coffee when we tried it the week before with The Lady. I first didn't find the McDonald's so got a small bottle of water and an Iced Coffee from a Tim Horton's which I was able to find t through my GPS. The Iced Coffee was OK but the guy had added sugar and that is what I didn't like. Plus it was much more expensive: I guess $1.90 or something versus $1.05. Then I headed south to turn east and get myself to Highway AB-3 and that is where I saw Wal-Mart and McDonald's logo! 

I grabbed two Iced Coffees in there and that was a mistake! The amount of caffeine in the three drinks helped me to leave through the day although I only had 4 hours of sleep the night before but sure prevented me from sleeping almost the entire night!
If I wanted to summarize the hike, I would say that it is a nice one but it has been exaggerated. The views are nice and the ledge-tunnel-cable challenge is worth trying and you even can deep in the lake but it is not considered a strenuous hike. My assumption is the guys has given it extra credit to attract more people to the park. After all Waterton is far away from most of the populated major cities both in the US and Canada.
(Photo, top: Crypt Lake from its east shore. I wanted to go a bit higher but didn't want to split from our small group)

Similarities between ISIS and MEK

There was so much news about this apparently extremist group called ISIS in the last two weeks and now it's died down. It was being said this Islamic State of Iraq and Syria had captured a few cities and town in northern and northwestern Iraq including the major City of Mosul. 

I wonder if that's another Western media propaganda or they are real. For years they fabricated Taliban and Al-Qaeda and sold it to the public without mentioning it once that it was the US and its major allies in the region, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and so on who supplied and funded Taliban and Al-Qaeda! The funny thing was the story they were saying about their organizations and successors and lieutenants and so on. The fact is these were bunch of Arabs and Afghans who happened to receive lots of money and weapon and first used it against the Soviets in the 80s and then against the Americans and other Westerners in 2000s. All these guys did was playing the game of Hide and Seek with the Western forces. Is this so hard to pull a trigger and kill people? Killing people and destruction is easy. That's why bunch of Arabs, Afghans and Pakistanis are able to do easily. Planning and construction is difficult. So I never bought those stories that they were telling about Al-Qaeda network, their rank and organization. 

It's also hard for me now to believe what they are saying about these guys of ISIS who happened to change their name to IS, standing for Islamic State which means they would rule not only Iraq and Syria. They want to have an Islamic State for a vaster area. 

A funny thing here is the guys who have left Europe and the US to fight with extremists in Syria and Iraq and these Westerners are concerned and surprised!! I don't know what the fuck they were thinking when they let all sorts of people in! What made them think that a person from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Algeria and all other Muslim countries forget his or her past and become a Westerner?! These people are here and now they go back where they can fight if it's not here. Here they do what they have done in England, butchering a soldier in bright light day. Here they do what those two terrorists did in Boston last year. So don't be confused and surprised why these guys have left Canada, England and the US to fight with the Sunni extremists of ISIS or whatever fuck name they have. 

The other funny thing is what I read a few days ago about these apparently Sunni extremist group which has introduced a Leader for themselves as well. Their plan is to extend their territory from western Africa to Eastern India in the next 5 years. This actually is hilarious. The Western media actually is like someone who sees a fire and instead of trying to put it off, he tries to add gasoline and wood! They were saying that this ISIS is no very strong with funds over $2 Billion. But I don't know why they never said that who these fucking idiots are going to capture all those countries in the next 5 years! What they are saying is Iran has no army, Turkey has no army and is not a member of NATO and Russia in north will just sit back and enjoy the show and India with over 1 billion population does not have an army to defend its independence! 

Any plan similar to this by fucking ISIS or any other fucking extremist group reminds me of these fucking idiots of People's Mujaheddin of Iran or MEK who at the end of Iran-Iraq War in 1988 intended to cross the border from Iraqi side to Iran, capture the towns and cities one after another and go all the way to the capital, Tehran and overthrow the government with an army of maximum 5000 to 7000 soldiers which the majority of them had never held a weapon and had never had a training in their life!!! 

What happened to them is clear: They were surrounded and devastated by the Iranian Army and volunteers as well as the gun-helicopters, mostly. The rest flee with their tails between their legs! 

ISIS's story is not very different from MEK. Both are extremists groups, both have a cult-like leader, both have childish dreams and both are considered terrorist groups. Sure ISIS's destiny will not be very different from MEK's! 

I have this plan to go and see the battlefields which in where MEK was destroyed and will have posts about that. I'm sure this story of ISIS is something that the media is hanging to for s while until they find something new! 

(Photo: This map issued by Deutsche-Welle shows the counties in Asia and Africa after the 5-year plan of IS or ISIS is performed. International borders will be changed and countries will be given new territorial names. Sounds like science-fiction to me but a very cheap and stupid one!)

Tower and Rockbound Lakes

We start our trip toward Castle Junction, the area which offers scenery hike at about 06:00 AM yesterday. It was very brave of The Lady to wake up at that time to accompany. The road, Trans-Canada Highway was extremely easy due to the fact that the majority of the out-goers where loaded and asleep from the previous night's partying!

For minutes I was looking ahead and back, in the rear-view mirror without seeing any vehicle. Lovely! We started from the trail-head, which was founded easily at around 08:15 AM. there were only two cars parked there at the time which we later on learnt that they were not on the trail to Tower and Rockbound Lakes. The trail is fairly easy and wide with no loose rock but starts going up shortly after the start and gets muddy at spots before Tower Lake. The other good thing about it is that it remains in the forest for a quite long time and offers you beautiful wildflowers while you are not exposed to excessive sunlight of July!

The Lady was pacing herself well and didn't show signs of tiredness for the first two hours. We stopped frequently for photographs and sips of water, very briefly. She wanted to get to the destination and I was not tired at all.

You basically go around Castle Mountain on this trip and find yourself behind its beautiful brownish-yellow walls which stand more than 2700 m.! Tower Lake is 45 min. to 1 hour from where you get the first glimpse of Castle Mountain and that is where the muddy road starts. There are streams crossing the trail which are made from the melting snow on the mountain. I tried one of them on the way and I'm still alive! When we were going up Old Goat Glacier I suggested to try some ice cold melting snow water but M. C. said he didn't want to get seek because of a Moose defect in the water of Beaver Fever and I didn't try either but this time I did and it was delicious!

So Tower Lake is there with it's green beauty. The Lady said that she wanted to go all the way to Rockbound so we just quickly took a photo or two and carried on. This last so-called 0.7 Km of the hike exert the same amount you have to burn in the first 7.7 Km(!) It becomes really step and similar to going up high stairs but gives you good view of Tower Lake. You go up and then after a few minutes it's the lake surrounded buy rock walls: Rockbound Lake.

There was nobody there and it was quite and amazing, a little bit windy. We sat for a few minutes of rest and photography. A good extra would be finding a way to go up the rocks and have a nice whole sot of the lake but  The Lady was tired and I didn't want to leave her there but next time I'm in the area to go up Castle, I will take shots of Rockbound from above. 

Rockbound Lake with its waterfall at left. This is not normally how you find it on the web as photographers often post pictures taken from a little higher grounds

We spent a total of one hour at the lake. The last 15 minutes of that we saw someone in the trees right where you get to the lake. It was not obvious what that fucking idiot doing but looked like he was checking on us. That was one of the reasons I didn't want to leave The Lady by herself. I don't know what kind of fool come all the way up and just 5 min. to the lake stops in the woods! I hope he reads this and finds out what as ass he really is. I then went to the other side to get a few other shots and learnt that fool was with a fucking female who was sitting on rocks! What a pair of assholes. We paid no attention to posers and morons and by the time we were leaving another pair appeared and carried out toward the downward trail. 

The Lady was tired so on the way back we took a break and had a sandwich by the streams. As I said I filled up my bottle and drank some glacier water. We saw a few small groups on our way back. Out of them one just turned back after we told them that they were 45 min. away from the lake! By 18:15 we were at the parking lot which is considered a good time. Overall this a very pleasant and nice hike and we had the entire trail to ourselves all the way up, a private hike I would like to call it. I only recommend to start as early as possible. There was no wildlife on the way but two types of Squirrels. When you get to Rockbound make sure to check all around and find different angles to shoot different scenes. If you have energy and time go up the walls and take an aerial shot too. 

(Photo, top: Tower Lake from the trail before getting to Rockbound Lake)

True Meaning of Human Rights

The City of Detroit in the State of Michigan got to a big trouble a few months back. It went bankrupt! It was obvious to me why something like that had happened. Excessive spending, overpaid employees, over-allocation of the resources, etc. Things you see probably in many municipalities around the world. I have seen it in Tehran and I've seen it in Calgary. There is a small pothole at the size of a bit bigger than a frying pan(!) and there is a group of 6 workers and a truck to patch it! 

In Tehran the municipality became the gem stone of the country for all poor and hungry. I personally saw city garbage and cleaning employees who made a dwelling out of a public bathroom in a major square of the city to be able to save as much as possible out of their big salaries which they had never seen in their lives, in generations! 

Open the City of Calgary website and look at the positions that the municipality defines and their earnings! I'm sure that's what happened to the City of Detroit as well. It's crazy! There are other problems with the City of Calgary and its Mayor but I'll let them out of this discussion.  

Another problem was emerged just yesterday, I guess, and that is the people who have not paid their water and sewer bills for months. They simply say: The city cannot make me pay. I get away! 

It's understandable that people have financial difficulties but fighting with their own city water and sewerage department and feeling tough over them, I don't think is right. So people live their daily lives but just don't want to pay this specific bill, maybe other ones too. The City starts giving them warning and then offers financial help, such as payment installments, to make the citizens pay. They don't comply. The city decide to shut off the water for the customers who have not paid their bills for months. People start screaming about Human Rights and maybe Lefts! 

They show this extremely heavy (fat) African-American lady who is said is a single mother, on TV, and she turn the tap and nothing! Her human rights have been violated! 

First of all she did not have to be a mother, if she could not afford. Has she ever heard of a condom or Morning After?

Secondly she did not have to be single. She likes to fuck men and give birth while she doesn't like the men to live with and take care of the child?! Or maybe the man left her which cannot be fully blame her for that.

After that why doesn't she go on a diet so part of the money she spends on food could be saved to pay her water bill!? She must be over 200 lbs.!

And last but not least why does she have to dye her hair blond if she cannot afford her basic bills?! 

So this is the new and true meaning of Human Rights in the Sates now: You can fuck around and pork around with everything and everyone and can stay unharmed! 

(Photo: Water and Sewerage Department sign of City of Michigan. The photo is selected from internet)