Lingering Dark Blanket

British Columbia wildfires, that's what they call it, which has been the result of, at least partially, the global warming, causes lots of problems every year, mostly in the province, of course, and then in Alberta and Saskatchewan, although not that much in the latter, and at times even at other corners of the globe, in summer. I was not in Alberta last summer and when I came back in middle of August there was no sign of smoke or anything but the year before that and also this year I had bad experiences including one hike/scramble which I didn't enjoy much. 

This week has been nice and clear mostly and today was beautiful. Now that summer is over I will only have a few more chances of good hikes before winter arrives and I'm going to use them,if the weather stays the way it is. 

It seems that there's no way, scientifically and physically of course, to stop this problem but what shocks me the most is the way the officials fight that! The fire season starts and there are fires here and there and quickly spreads and grows. I think the number of fires were more than 500 up until last week. I know fire management is very difficult but they usually wait until the number of fires go up and then announce that this number of fire crew were deployed from, for example Alberta and then after 3 weeks again this number of fire crew were sent to the area from, for example Ontario and the story continues. Wouldn't that be more effective, if they sent firefighters to the battle before it spreads and gets out of hand? Again I know it's not that simple but the question is do they do enough? It seems to me that the Federal Government cares more about the freaking border jumpers (to let them in!) and affairs in Saudi Arabia⃰  more than what's going on in the country. The fact is although I know wildfires are a provincial issue but since I have lost all my fate in the incompetent and disgraceful Federal Government, I can't expect them to do anything good for the country.

*Refers to the recent spat (That's what Canadians likes to call it) between Canada and the criminal regime of Saudi Arabia which I haven't written anything about because this is not a news-blog.
(Photo: I took this photo from on Door Jamb Mountain trail in early morning. It would have been much nicer and clearer, if it had not been a disgusting smoky day)

My Experiences with SOG

I found SOG products in the new workplace. I don't know if you're familiar with the company or not but apparently these are Vietnam War veterans who started this company by making knives, backpacks, flashlight and generally items which is used either during a battle or hiking.

I first bought a dagger and then a small knife and flashlight. There was a sort of promotion for the last two items that I bought them together: If the purchase is more than a certain amount, a patch and a little cheque is sent to the purchaser as long as they receive the original receipt and the bar codes on the item's box.

I did exactly that and mailed everything to their address in Arizona. I then received two envelopes each containing a patch and a cheque for US$ 5! The cheques though were payable through a credit union in Minnesota and for that I thought I would not be able to cash them and decided to send them back. However that means that whatever bank cashes it, would be getting the balance from that credit union, I guess. Even if that is not the case I never knew it would be easy until I went to a branch of my bank and talk to the teller after contacting their customer service.
The bank give me money for that in the matter of few minutes and although this is nothing, I never knew it would be that easy.
I then wanted to purchase a small (1-day hike) backpack from them and realized that they don't have nothing less than US$ 140 and a shipping amount of US$ 29 would be added to that. So I would have to pay almost US$ 170 for a small backpack which is almost $215. Considering I bought my small Columbia back-pack in 2003 and have been using it for the past 15 years(!), I am thinking if it's too much to pay.
(Photo: A SOG Backpack. This one, I think is 20 L. which must be more expensive than what I have in mind but they all have good design and looks like, durable material) 

The Chef's Discovery(!)

I usually have keen eyes during a hike. I spot plants and wildlife for photography as well as rocks and anything which might cause a risk, for the sake of a better and safer hike. However I missed this one:

I and The Chef were on our way back to the vehicle during our hike in Bob Creek Wildland when he spotted a bunch of Tarragon alongside the trail! Tarragon is a very lovely aromatic herb which is used in a Persian appetizer when it's enjoyed with Feta Cheese and Flat Bread and sometimes Tomato.

I did not have the chance to see if there was more Tarragon in the area or not and perhaps partially because I was very tired but the Tarragon plant should look like this

I don't know if this kind of herb can be found in stores here but some might have it. The thing is it should be fresh because the dried and powdered one, which might be found in some stores in packages, could easily be mixed with simply dried grass! 

He gave a few of them to me and took some for himself. I dried them and added them to my Quinoa and of course kept some for later. He said he would plan them.  I will check with him later to see how they have come out.
(Photo: Dried Tarragon leaves made by me from what the Chef had found during our hike)

Door Jamb Mountain (Under a Thick Dark Blanket!)

I had to work this past Sat. and therefore the usual weekend hiking was postponed to Sun. which was disappointing to The Chef because despite all his nagging and complaining during the last hike, he wanted to join. He says he cannot join on Sundays because, obviously he would work within a few hours and that becomes really hard. His shift starts at 02:00 on Mon. but because he's naturally a moron, he wakes up at around 23:30! It takes him 2 hours and a half to get ready and get to work! 

I set the alarm for 06:00 and although I had a good sleep, I was reluctant to leave the bed but after only a minute I got my determination(!) and left.
The disgusting and dark blanket was covering the entire city and in fact the province but what was even more surprising was that the temperature. It was only 5 ℃ while I was leaving Calgary and the closer I got to Canmore, the colder it got. It was 0 ℃ near Bow Valley Provincial Park which is only 10 minutes from the trailhead of my hike, Door Jamb Mountain.

I lost the path at a point and found myself stuck in the middle of these steep slabs! I had then to climb down and get back to the trail. 

I was on Highways # 1 before getting myself to Bow valley Trail when I heard that a woman had fallen down from a hike in Mt. Rundle and got killed the night before! I haven't hike that mountain and I most likely will never do. Mountains such as Rundle, Lady McDonald (Which might soon be changed since her husband's statue has been recently removed from a municipality!) and Cascade should not be done during weekend as tons of people flock to the area.  
The trailhead is right in front of a Lafarge Cement Plant near Exshaw on Highway 1A when you approach from east and the trail start right off the parking lot and goes up. You'd hear the constant noise from the plant for the first half an hour and then when you get more elevated it fades and at times you only hear the back up beeping of trucks. One idiot has this for the plant as a review (I didn't know that people review plant's performance!) in Google Maps: I don't know what this plant produces but it's like an eyesore in the entire area! 
The plant is an eyesore and has lots of noise and emission and as I said you hear that for the first 30 minutes of the hike but I'm sure that brings lots of business to the community and province and if we look at every noise and pollution making facility from that perspective, we will soon have to shut down all of the plants and factories and do nothing! Besides it's a cement plant, you moron! Lafarge has at least three plants in the area and a pit. 

The trail gets covered with lots of loose small rocks and if you're not careful, there's a chance that you lose your balance and land on your butt and at spots it could be dangerous because you would role down the hill. The weather was disgusting and there was no sign of improvement. A hike which could be full of nice scenery had nothing but thick smoke all around. This ascend is normally combined with a second one, almost at the same height, Loder Peak but I got tired of the situation and after reaching the first summit decided to turn back especially because at one spot I went the wrong way and got myself in the middle of almost vertical(!) slabs with no grip! So I had to climb back down and find the damn path which cost me at least 20 minutes. 

So I'm heading down slowly and I'm careful not to fall and not to lose the path and I see something moving down below me and I immediately realise it is a dog. The dog owner shows up right behind the animal and we have a little chat. He asked me how it was going, which is a normal chat everywhere and I told him that I was sick of the smoke and disgusted by it. He goes: I used to smoke so I'm used to it!!!

In addition to loose rocks, exposure and dark thick smoke, I saw these beautiful tiny flowers which are common in most of Alberta hikes

Can you imagine someone as stupid as this?! By smoking you destroy your longs and expose your surrounding to cancer-causing fumes. This is a national disaster! There're people here now that can't leave their houses. There're people who need Oxygen tanks to help them go through this, every day. You being such a stupid ass smoking cigarette is not comparable with this! 

I wished the stupid a joyful hike and continued down the hill. I think the entire hike took around 4 hours which is way too much for such hike. I wasted a total of 30 minutes but still shouldn't have taken that much because people have done the combination of Door Jamb and Loder Peak in 4 hours but maybe I'm getting old and being too careful because of some exposures on the trail. I'm sure it would have been much nicer and enjoyable hike/scramble, had it been a nice and beautiful Alberta day but I couldn't sit at home. I had to get home. Maybe I do this hike/scramble once again later when the weather is good. 

(Photo, top: Door Jamb Mountain after about 30 minutes on the trail. The approach would be from left or the west side of the mountain which has less exposure) 

An Amazing Attempt to Thrift Peak

The Chef wanted to join me for a hike and I welcomed him because going as a team of two always decreases the cost even if your partner is someone such as The Chef who is not fit but I have to admit that despite his nagging throughout the second part of the hike, he showed amazing efforts and was behind me to the last.

We, however, made the same stupid mistake and went to the silly Cowboy Taphouse the night before the damn hike and drank Beer and ate junk food! It not only cost us unnecessary expenses but also made us tired because alcohol, specifically Beer, makes you lazy! However I promised myself to wake up on time and make it to our meeting point and I did it! The Chef, to my surprise showed up within a minute of my arrival! We had rented a vehicle through Budget the day before. So we headed south and got ourselves to Highway # 22 to go to where I had discovered the previous weekend, Bob Creek Wildland to reach Thrift Peak.

I don't know what this barbed wire fence indicate because there's no mention of it in the information but that's where we distracted and eventually lost the trail which cost us the summit!

Upon our arrival at around 09:05 we noticed a big Ford SUV with a Idaho plate! I was surprised to see someone had come from Idaho, which is one of the greatest destinations in the US for outdoor activities, to southern Alberta, in a smoky day, to do fishing in a small stream! My surprise even was bigger when one of the trio old men told me they were from Pennsylvania and the car was a rental! That answers it. When I went to Arizona in 2015 my rental was a Texas plate. We all, two of us and the three Americans headed down the path to get ourselves to Old Man River. They for fishing and we to cross it to hit the trail. On the trail I noticed a few Saskatoon Berry bushes and ate a few and picked a few for them and offered them. I told them what it was but one of the silly ones(!) said that they called it Blueberry! I tried to explain to them that they were different from Blueberry but it's hard to make people understand especially when they are old!

We soon got ready to cross the river and that was where The Chef showed the first signs of reluctance! I told him that when I had talked to him the night before, he had called it an adventure(!) and asked him why he was complaining! He said that he was bluffing and added that he was scared that he might catch a cold! He, despite that, joined me after a few seconds. We both grabbed a stick and started crossing where the path would start at the other side. The water was not very cold. It was perfectly tolerable but the stream was fast at points and the river was deep at spots. We then continued our hike on the path on a meadow. The environment was smoky but not too bad especially after a few showers. The nature in Bob Creek Wildland is amazing. Meadows, hills, streams, forest, bushes, wildlife, you name it. While walking within short bushes and shrubs I even notices a Snake! It was a thin and not very long, probably only 2 feet, one. It moved away so quickly as soon as it sensed us but I was able to see its kind of grey colour. It was so fast that I only could track it by looking at the stems which were moving because of its escape! The Chef was kind of upset that he was not able to see it and I was disappointed that I was not able to take a picture! Before that I thought Snakes are only available in hot parts of British Columbia including Summerland but then I read that they are even available in Alberta of different species.

I'm quite sure this is bear feces but if anyone differs please correct me. 

I don't know how long it took to us to see a boundary which was divided by barbed wire. Not wanting to go to a private property, which would probably ended up with getting shot at, if anyone had seen us(!), we decided to stay at our side of the fence and continue our hike. We saw a number of Cows and they apparently were not happy with our presence in there! One of them went to offensive position when we were trying to walk by and the other one ran away very aggressively! After that we were accompanied by a load Cow noise for part of the hike. After a while following the barbed wire we gained some good elevation but we realized that we had sidetracked from the main trail. It seemed that it was the trail used by animals especially after we saw a big dump which I later realized it was a Bear's! At the time we were both sure that it was not belong to a Deer, an Elk or anything similar but The Chef doubted me but I was quite sure it was Bear's feces's. One reason that I was still a little doubtful is that I had not heard of Bear presence in Bob Creek Wildland. We continued on the slope and it was getting worse by minute both in terms of steepness and terrain. Both of us, especially The Chef, were sweating like a Pig and he at one point said that he couldn't continue anymore! I had provided him with a 10 minutes break already at 11:10 and it was only 12:05 when he complained again but considering his out-of-shape body, age and his shattered left knee I have to give him lots of credit for following me to that point. We had gained quite elevation at that point in a manner that I could say we were probably at the same height as our destination but we decided to go back. From that point I could see the rocks which were the sign that we were close to the summit and the fire look out but we headed down. After we reached the bottom of the valley saw the fire look put building behind us. From there it was nearly 1 hour hike to reach it but The Chef was not the man. We took the trial down back to the meadows and after probably half an hour and so we reached where we first saw the barbed wires! That was when we realized where we had made the mistake. All we had to do was to jump over the fence but we didn't because of not only the possible consequences but also due to the fact that the smokey whether prevented us from seeing the fire look out building while it was visible at that time because the smoke had become thinner.

We continued down the path and did the same practice with the water and I guess it was around 15:10 or so when we were ready to leave the area meaning we spent almost the same amount of time there and gained almost the same elevation but failed to reach the summit. The Chef was positive and called it a productive day which was correct. I, on the other side, was disappointed. We spent nearly $50 each on the rental and gasoline as well 6 freaking hours and exposing ours and our boots to creek water without reaching our goal. Nothing makes a day worse than attempting a summit and not being able to reach that and this is not the first time but I have to make a few more hikes and reach at least a few summits before the cold winter of Alberta reaches us again.
(Photo, top: This, in the middle, is the fire lookout building on the top of Thrift Peak in a hazy day. This is taken after we came down the mountain and it seems that we have at least an hour to reach it which we didn't actually did)

Running the Country by the 70's Laws!

I'm not a heartless person but news such as these doesn't hurt me:

Man dies after altercation with border officers at Calgary Airport

This is an ongoing story within different law enforcement agencies in this country as well as the US. Who's responsible for this? Both the so-called victim and the Government. People need to understand that they should not argue with law enforcement people even if they strongly believe the officers are wrong. That's what we laws are created. A law enforcement officer order you to do something: Leave, get out of the car, stay in the car, you name it, you simply follow. If you disagree, be polite. There's also ways of filing a complaint. Getting into altercation, swearing at the officers or yelling and acting like a complete lunatic gets you into trouble. And that's what happened to this fella and he paid a heavy price for that. This is from the so-called victim's side. 

The (pathetic) Government of Canada is responsible for this loss of life as well. They think they still can run the country with the stupid laws of the 70's! 

The world is not in a good shape. There's war, poverty, famine, genocide and all other sorts of disasters all around the world and with the Internet available even to the poorest countries, everyone looks at what Canada offers: Free housing, jobs, cash and similar things when a refugee sets his or her feet on Canadian soil. People use every and each possible excuse to get themselves into the country and because the country's laws are lame and stupid, at times, things like that happens. 

There was this quite and nice guy from a Central American country (possibly Nicaragua) who used to know back in the years that I work for Cargill Foods. He told me (and I might have said this story earlier so my apologies to the ones who find it repeated and boring!) that when he arrived at a Canadian airport years ago, possibly early 80's, the officers asked him what he was doing here. He simply responded by saying that he was there to work. And they let him in! It's not as easy as it used to be once but it's not as hard as it should be either. Therefore people take advantage and things like this becomes inevitable. The situation at the borders with the US is 100 times worse and I'm not even going to write about that. My only question is what the stupid and pathetic Government of J. Trudeau is seeking by opening the gates of country to whoever walks in?! I don't have many regular readers and have only a few irregulars who come to my notes by chance in a month but if you're reading this don't curse at me. I'm a foreigner and immigrant here myself. It took me 5 years to get my entry visa and my biggest law-breaking act in this country has so far been receiving parking tickets for closing close to an intersection. I have never had any encounter with law enforcement of any kind in the country and every time that I have been approached by such people for any reason, I always have been polite and obedient and that's why I have a clean record and have never been in a trouble. So don't come to me with stupid and meaningless comments about this and that! Thanks!  

(Photo: Arm patch of Canada Border Services Agency)

End of a Disgusting Week

It got finally much better yesterday afternoon when a few showers appeared in the sky, in Calgary. After a week of hot weather (got to nearly 36 ℃) and smoke (from the wildfires of British Columbia) today the sky looks much nicer and most of the disgusting smoke and heat is gone. It's currently 12 ℃ and feels good. I'm not complaining about hot or chilly whether but I hate smoke and air pollution and I'm happy it's gone. It's a problem here in southern Alberta almost every freaking summer! They call is Wildfire Season and I wonder if there's anything that they can do to stop. They say there isn't. I wasn't here last summer but I remember it was the same damn problem the summer before but not to this extent. I think it was Idaho or perhaps it was the summer before I clearly remember a few hikes that I performed them in haze weather, particularly a failed attempt to The Wedge(!), not something that I'm proud of! 

(Photo: For 3 or 4 days you could see the Sun with naked eyes due to the thickness of the smoke. An air quality advisory also was issued)

The Longest Passage

I finally received a message from my, hopefully(!), future employer indicating that I, at the moment, am in a specific stage of hiring which might take any time between a few month to a year!

While it is a good news, meaning I'm still in the game, it will suck to do this damn near-minimum-wage job. I have already started job searching and have found next to nothing. There was only one good position with a very well known company that I bet more than 500 resume has been sent to it! Not to mention the number of people who have been introduced to the recruiting person by the company employees! I think the only thing that I can do is to focus more on job searching and wait. The other good thing is that the message means that I have passed the medical evaluation but there's now another worry: They might ask me to redo the damn physical examination which I did it last Oct., I think it was, and now doing this damn stupid tiring job, I might not be able to do that as well as I did earlier! 

It's for sure a complicated situation but I keep my hopes up.
(Photo: For this post I chose a picture of the longest train tunnel which is under construction in Switzerland, I think. I, as well as the hiring team of the employer, are working on this tunnel to get me to a stable and somewhat well-paid job which I'm planning to retire in, if I can set my feet on, in the first place!)

A Short Hike in Bob Creek Wildland

I have had this moderate hike of Thrift Peak in Bob Creek Wildland near Highway # 22 south of Calgary as a gateway to more challenging ones for two weeks and every time I set my alarm, I didn't have the confidence and courage to get up and do it! This past weekend was the same! The reason for that one was that we had spent a couple of hours in Cowboy's Tap house with The Chef drinking beer and eating junk food, the night before that! So when I woke up in the morning I wasn't feeling really well but I finally got it together and left home at around 10:00!!

It's a major failure for me. In fact in the past 2 years and so all I have experienced has been failure: Getting kicked out of the job, my wife leaving, failing at CFLRS, failing at any job interview I had, failing at the Government of BC job application(s), you name it. I was the one who used to wake up at 05:00 to go hiking and now I have difficulty even leaving home!

Anyways I got myself out of the town after fueling up and getting some junk food breakfast(!) and happily didn't have much problem to get to Bob Creek. There, however, the map was not very useful and as a sign of stupidity I had forgotten to bring the detailed map. I decided to spend a few hours and get myself familiar with the area though. So geared up and hit a trail. The area is very beautiful but similar to most of places in the country is invaded by careless and stupid people who have no respect and regard for environment. I took a trail and after nearly 30 min.I reached Bob Creek. I, stupidly, had two attempts to cross the stream but didn't dare it! I eventually continued on the trail and realized that the peak, which has a fire lookout built on it, is to my left, at west. From there it didn't seem too difficult to reach but it was far. I had to cross the stream and get myself to a ridge and a long ridge walk would 

While I was wandering around the stream, I saw these beautiful birds which were having their bath in the water! I had not this type of bird anywhere before. They sort of camouflaged within the rocks but you can see four of them in this picture. Anyone know what they are? 

take me to the summit. My information had nearly 03:30 hours as the time to reach the summit and it seemed logical: Nearly 1 hour to reach to the ridge or a little more and then the rest to the summit. 

I had wasted around 30 min. on how to cross the stream and lack of confidence, stormy clouds in the area, being by myself and time of the day, all accumulated to make this decision that the hike should be postponed to another time. There are other peaks and hikes available in the area but this peak seems to be the most popular and easiest, something I was looking for. I failed to even start it, though! I hope I can do the hike one day soon.

(Photo: A view of Bob Creek Wildland, it's east side from the trail which goes parallel to the creek. The fire look out could be hardly seen at the top left corner of the photo. It seemed to me the path to the summit would be the ridge of the mountains seen on the center and right of the photo. We'll see in the next attempt)

Killed Month of July's Competition!

I finally got what I deserved. I won the volunteer work promotion competition of month July. This is the first one for me in 2018 and I worked hard 3 months for that but so far have been able to obtain one. As I wrote earlier, the June's contributions were considered for July because I deposited them during the Canada Day long weekend which was partially was on July.01. So this months without doing anything I won but now I have to focus on August and look for my gift which probably will come, now that it has been changed to electronic transfer, sooner. Even that much is good and I'm wondering should I just spend it, save a few month for buying something or simply save that.
(Photo: One of my competitors in this race, I would call it, has been a girl. I think this picture clearly shows what we have been all up to . I'm obviously the one in lane 2 having a purple tie on, beating everyone!)