My first blog on a new site for YEG-Ville! What I hope to accomplish in the next four months for the balance of 2023.

Remembering Where I Parked the Car

Idle Hands are the Travel-Guide’s Hands. This site had its writing origins in 2020 on another website as a snowshoe travel guide. Retirement and COVID meant I suddenly found myself with free time on my hands and a lack of excuses.

OHV Carnage. The idea for a YEG-Ville snowshoe guide, however, had its origins maybe a decade before as I was exploring locations for cycling. Alberta is dotted with small natural areas, each a potential destination. Many of these sites have been devastated by Off-Highway Vehicles. On the one hand, they create good trails for walking, but on the other, the trails are deeply gouged, watercourses ruined, and strewn with garbage and campsites.

SAPAA Start. It was from this position that I got involved in the Stewards of Alberta’s Protected Areas in 2021. Fast forward two years, and one refreshed website; and here I am back in YEG-Ville ready to report on places to go about two hours from Alberta.

Transfer, Report, and Visit

Thank You Hubert and Patsy. The difference this time from two years ago is that I much better understand and the Natural Areas and Crown Reservation system. I have also benefited from the deep and abiding knowledge of the SAPAA board, in particular Hubert T. and Patsy C.. I owe them a debt of gratitude for sharing a lifetime of passion for Alberta’s protected areas.

Double Dipping and Protecting. With this site, I hope to serve two passions, visiting nearby sites and helping to protect them. I have more latitude on this site because I can consider and visit locations that are not provincial crown land (e.g. federal or county parks, land trusts, etc.). By writing on blog here, I can potentially use it in two or more locations – something I call ‘Positive Double Dipping’.

Visits with Rigor. No matter the landowner, I plan to use resulting blogs and site reports to aid the same landowners understand the state of their holdings. For provincial Protected Areas, this will be done via the SAPAA Site Inspection form. For others, via the visit template on the What and Where is YEG-Ville.

Enjoy, Get Out There and This Site is for ME!

For legal and stylistic reasons, this site is for ME! It is meant as a memory jog in case I go back or if someone I know, or trust wants to visit. There are too many silly people out there who may end up in a ditch on a snowy winter day or lost due to a lack of skill/common sense. To anyone other than myself or those I specifically give permission to, my recommendation is to Stay in Bed. Alberta’s natural areas are wonderful but not without their risks and dangers; your comfy bed is a much better place.