Coliseum Mountain

The view looking toward Abraham Lake, you can see it threading it's way into the mountains off in the distance.

At the summit, 2045meters and 6.98kms from my van, it did take me 3 hours to get here, but I guess I wasn't moving much, gasping for air most of the time. :)

Peaking over the rocks on the way to the summit, that is Nordegg in the background.

Kramer and I at the top, behind us is the foundation of the first fire tower ever in Alberta.

Kramer cooling off in the snow near the top.

People wrote their names with rocks on the flat part below the summit.

That is the peak of Coliseum mountain, Kramer and I had to hike all the way along this ridge to the get there, the snow was several feet thick in places so it was slow going.

To hike along the ridge to the summit first we had to scramble down these rocks, it was very steep and Kramer had a few problems but she made it down and back up again as well.

Looking back across the bowl at the way we came up.

Another view of the bowl and the ridge leading up to the summit.

About 3/4s of the way up the first hill we came to this rocky area off the trail, Kramer and I stopped for a break and I snapped a few photos. That is Nordegg down below.

Looking down the other side of the mountain towards the East, you can see all the logging that is taking place as well as storm clouds rolling in.

Well I finally did it, I climbed Coliseum Mountain. I've been wanting to do this since climbing Shunda/Baldy Mountain earlier this spring, Baldy Mountain has a road leading to the top though and it is an 8 km hike. Coliseum has no roads and it is 14kms round trip from the staging area to the summit. Coliseum Mountain was home to the first fire watch tower in Alberta, all that is left now is the foundation. The trail leading to the summit has been there for almost a 100 years and was once used by locals of the area to bring mail and supplies to the fire watch tower. The trail is in pretty decent shape and switchbacks up the first mountain at a fairly decent grade for hiking, it does get steeper near the top though. I didn't bring water as I didn't want to bring the bottle with me so that was one downfall to the hike, it was a long hot hike without water and Kramer and I both got a little dehydrated. Once you summit the first mountain you have to hike around the ridge that tops the huge bowl between the peaks and then you can make the finally hike to the summit of Coliseum. The hike to the top was well worth the view and I even ran into some fellow hikers up there as well. Here is a website for the mountain. When I got home I hooked Kramer to her line and went and got the water dish and food dish, when I came back out she was passed out sleeping in the grass and she slept all night until the next day when she started to get some energy back again, she might run and hide when I ask her if she wants to go for a walk now. :) Anyway ride safe and have fun, hope you enjoyed the photos.

A lot of photo's!

Mom and Dad took me to Shunda Creek one night north of the highway, very nice...

Another photo of the creek with the mountains in the background.

Kramer, looking cute as always and enjoying her walk.

Myself, looking like a weird hippy or something. :)

A pelican by the weir in Saskatoon, fishing.

Some new baby geese out for a swim with there parents on the river in Saskatoon.

My van with my bed in the back, doesn't look nice but it is comfy.

Tina and I walked down by the weir one of the days I was home, it was a nice day out so it seemed like a good idea.

Julian and Leo going for a ride with me.

My Burley and Julian's new Rans Stratus resting at Cranberry Flats.

My Crosman 2240 pellet gun, this thing really kills pop cans well, too well in fact as I have had to use tin cans because the pop cans are so full of holes you can't tell whether you hit them or not. :) Kids must play right?

Well I'm back at work again now and I finally got up the ambition to post on here. When I was home last it was very nice so I went cycling again, first time in many months. The first day I went with Leo and Julian to Cranberry Flats, about 25kms, it was a nice ride and I discovered that I'm really not in that bad of shape after all, could stand to lose 50lbs, but not bad other then that. The second day Leo and I went for a loop around by the Berry Barn and back into Saskatoon on Highway 7, this was a little longer of a ride, around 55kms, again I felt a little tired at the end of the ride but really had no problems at all. The Burley worked really well and I seem to have my chain skipping problem fixed with a new cassette on the back and some chain lube. Not much to mention besides that. At work I did my first job all by myself and it was a 5 hour drive from Red Deer to boot. I did a small job on the Cold Lake Weapons Range with a truck I hadn't run in many months, I was really nervous but it turned out that I had nothing to be nervous about as the job went really smooth for me, I guess I'm either not half bad at this nitrogen stuff or just plain lucky. :) Anyway ride safe and have fun until next time.

Hello Again!

A photo I took at our location west of Bragg Creek, the small trees look really funny on the side of the hill, there is nothing growing between them.

Same hillside, different angle.

Looking up the valley into the mountains.

The road from Nordegg to Red Deer, this is what I was talking about when I said "Merry Christmas" in the title of my last post.

Looking down from the hill at our location west of Bragg Creek.

Two fish that I caught the other day at Fish Lake just west of Nordegg, big one was 5.25lbs and the smaller one was 2.5lbs. They are both Rainbow Trout.

I finally pulled myself together enough to hack out another post, a pat on my back is in order. :) I am working 5 extra days this shift, all of them so far have been at the shop. I put a bed in the back of my van so that I don't have to pay for a place to stay or drive to Nordegg, so far it has saved me at least $90 in gas or rent money t0 stay in my van. As it is raining like crazy here I didn't take any photo's of my modifications, as soon as if clears up I'll throw a few photo's of it on here. I used a old foam mattress that Mom and Dad had and cut it in half, I then cut one shorter then the other to make up for how much the middle seat sticks up and then placed the remaining parts of the mattress on top of this, suffice to say it is very comfortable and I have several blankets on it so it is also very warm in there. We are currently having a rain storm of sorts and it even snowed here today, pretty impressive for May 3rd. I also bought a pellet gun this shift, something to get rid of the boredom of sitting around all the time. I also don't have a photo of it on my camera yet, keep posted for one though. It is a Crosman 2240 .22Cal pellet gun, quite accurate, I can destroy a pop can with it very well. :). It does take CO2 bulbs to power it, which is the only thing I dislike about it, it only gets 30-40 shots from a bulb. I may buy the carbine version of it one day, as it is the same caliber and all, but you pump it instead of using CO2. Anyway that's about all I got for now, I will write something on here again just as soon as I get some more photos. Ride safe and have fun.