Hike to Cutbank Falls

On the weekend I took a little hike with the Junior Forest Wardens club to Cutbank Falls. The trailhead is located about 45 minutes south of Grande Prairie, just after you cross the Cutbank River. We parked out vehicles in the rather large area off the highway.This is a pretty easy jaunt through the trees that follows ATV trails. The trails are pretty rutted due to the heavy use of off road vehicles. There is a rather long hill about halfway to deal with but apart from that the trail is pretty straight forward and we had and number of small children that were able to make the whole trip with no major issues.
Once at the river you are treated to a nice view as the Cutbank River splits into two separate waterfalls. On the day we went it was pretty cool with some flakes of snow blowing about in the air. In the summer I believe people come down here and go swimming in the river below the falls.
On the return trip we picked up a few bags of garbage and beer cans. I can see why quadders aren't too keen on helmet laws. Probably makes it too hard to drink while tearing through the bush.
As I said above. It was a pretty easy trek with a daypack and some sandwiches. It would be interesting to go at different times of the year to see the river in its various forms as the seasons pass.

The Foulest of Murders

The Foulest of Murders: The Story of Grande Prairie's 1918 Unsolved Murder of 6 by Wallace Lloyd Tansem

Picked up this book at the Grande Prairie Farmer's Market a few weeks ago. I am always interested in local history so when I saw this and discovered there was an unsolved murder from the early part of the 20th century I just had to read it.

The book was published after the death of the author who had been researching this topic for a number of years. It is not so much a story as a collection of facts and transcripts of legal documents, police reports and newspaper articles revolving around the murders. At the time of the murders in 1918 it was big news as it involved two incidents. The first near Clairmont in which a man and his nephew were killed and their cabin burned to the ground in an apparent attempt to hide evidence. The second incident occurred three or four miles north-west and involved the death of four trappers who were in the process of moving out of the area to seek fortunes further south.

Hiking Prep 2012: Kleskun Hill Park

In preparation for our first family backpacking trip ever we have been using Kleskun Hill Park as our training ground. Kleskun Hills is located about 15 minutes east of Grande Prairie along Hwy 43. I like to use it as there is a nice trail going around the perimeter and a number of hills to go up and down to build up those leg muscles as well as get a good feel for the backpack and how it rides on your back.

Kleskun Hills is a protected area that is off limits to off road vehicles. Any place designated as off limits to ATV's, quads etc. is alright in my books! The unique thing about the Kleskun Hills is that they have been exposed due to weather and erosion. It reminds me of the badlands of Drumheller, Alberta though on a much smaller scale. It is very dry and cactus grows in among the hills. While we were out there some were in flower. There are also lots of Saskatoon bushes and we even found some wild raspberries and a couple of strawberries.

Trip to Fort St. John

This week I had to go up to Fort St. John, BC for work. I have always enjoyed travel. Even though it is only about two hours away, the fact that it takes me out of Alberta makes it feel like I am actually going somewhere.

While in Ft. St. John I met up with a few Twitter folks for some beers and food at Egan's Pub. It is always nice to get together with the folks behind the tweets and I was quite happy they took the time out of their day to meet up with me.

The drive up highway 43 (which becomes BC Hwy 97) is quite nice. What I have always liked about travelling in this part of the country is how the seasons continually change the scenery.