Hiking in the Rocky Mountains

Although we are not 'hikers' by any means, my husband managed to talk me into getting out to view the wildflowers in Banff National Park. So the middle of August we headed up to Sunshine Meadows...

Situated at an average elevation of 2220m (7300 ft), the meadows straddle the Continental Divide and the boundary between Alberta and British Columbia. The Sunshine Meadows are known as one of the most stunning alpine settings in the Canadian Rockies, surrounded by some of the Rockies highest peaks.

As their brochure reads "wildlife abounds in the meadows, and the brilliance of the summer flowers and autumn larches guarantees spectacular scenery on every visit." I would say their guarantee works. Even though this was 4 hour hike for us, the trekking poles are a wonderful invention that enable one to go further and steeper than they imagine they can!

Rock Isle Lake:

Columbia ground squirrel looking for a handout:

viewpoint overlooking the Simpson River Valley:

It was 'wildflower week', and the alpine wildflowers were in full bloom:

Banff - Day 22

Snow! Just when you think spring has sprung - the last couple of days have been about +10c - you wake up to fresh snow, lots and lots of it! Because we are safely hunkered in and don't have to shovel it or drive in it, we could just sit back and admire how gorgeous the mountains look blanketed and muffed by it, while hearing reports of how Calgary was snowed in. My husband reported that the snow was over the top of his shovel and because it was so wet and heavy, it was exhausting shoveling it.

Here are some shots of my Rundle mountain and those pine from yesterday...


Meanwhile we were safe and warm in our cabin in the woods and everyone was working at being very productive. Wendy... Gloria... Ingrid... Lesley...

I was working on a couple of pieces. One was the squares I was attaching by hand that I finally finished and am now considering the next layers. I am between a gridded sheer, a hand dyed silk, or a combination of the two - leaning towards the combination.


Then I got back to my Rocky Mountain flowers and making dye samples for when we return to the dye studio on Monday. I have a hand-painted cotton background that I stamped the first week with hand-made stamps of the Brown Eyed Susan, Queen Anne's Lace and Indian Paintbrush flowers. Then I have been playing with squares of hand-dyed silks and their positioning. I have decided to echo the original spiral shape and sew them on with free machine embroidery. The next step is to put them into a dye pot where I will dye the cottons one colour and the silks another colour.

Banff - Day 21

A gorgeous day in the mountains today, so I went out and did some photography. Here is some growth of conifer and juniper with berries that have survived through the winter.



Then I started focusing on the bark of the pine trees around our studio. Some with lichen growing in it, some with sap running down, and just all the different patterns in the bark itself.






But the worst of all was the evidence of the mountain pine beetle which is decimating the forests throughout the Rockies. Where do they live? Right here...


Read about the beetle on Parks Canada website here.
But some good news on the horizon helping Alberta's fight, read the latest news and the results of our cold winter.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/mountain-pine-beetles.html

I am working on six pieces for a series based upon the results of the beetle for the Women Rock study. Did lots of hand stitching today on my pieces, but never took any photos of them... maybe tomorrow.

Donna Clement and her Women Rock work

As I am collecting items together to pack for Banff, I am narrowing down which pieces I will work on while I am there. I have five themes that I am exploring:

(1) flowers of the Rockies Mountains - specifically childhhod memories of Brown-eyed Susans, Queen Anne's lace, and Indian Paintbrush

(2) devestation caused by the mountain pine beetle

(3) fossils of the Burgess Shale

(4) textures of the Rockies (leaf shapes, animal pawprints, branches, fur patterns)

(5) and, continuing the work I started for the Winnipeg exhibit on immigrants to Canada, exploring the rounding up of Ukranians in Alberta during WWI into an internment camp located in the Banff national park.