It’s hard to believe summer has come to an end; I truly believe we blinked and missed it. Typically summers are hot and dry here, but with all the rain we experienced in June and in the last few weeks, summer has been a bit of a disappointment.

As I write this, the rain is pouring from the heavens and a little river is flowing past my window. The mosquitos however have been out in full force with so much moisture, so some part of summer did arise.

I was lucky enough to be able to take a road trip out west and visit the beautiful Waterton Lakes National Park, in the southern Alberta Rockies, for a few days. It truly is one of the most stunning places to visit and is a relatively untapped area relative to other areas (think Banff but less tourists).

ADVERTISEMENT

The scenery is absolutely breathtaking and like something from a movie. In fact, numerous movies have been made in the area, with Brokeback Mountain being one famous one filmed in the locality. It is an area with so much to do, but my absolute favourite is the hiking there, with the park having over 200 km of trails with something to suit most levels of fitness.

We opted for the Carthew-Alderson trail on this occasion and were treated to stunning vista’s and even a few black bear sightings. Bear sightings are pretty common but you hope it is from a distance and not up close while you are on foot. Getting up close for that great photo is ill-advised unless you want to become bear food pretty quickly.

We also decided to come over all Italian and hire mopeds to do some more exploring of the park and visit Red Rock Canyon, 15 km from the townsite. The park is open in winter also and is a fantastic location for snowshoeing and cross country skiing.

A second trip to Calgary allowed me to squeeze in some polocrosse. On this occasion, there was not just one, but two Irish participants lining out for Polocrosse Calgary, so the Tri-Colour was proudly flying beside the Maple Leaf and the Star Spangled Banner. When I can, I try to make it to this tournament each year, there are always several international guests and the craic is mighty as they say at home. It was also the last hurrah before classes start back this week.

Fall is now upon us and so brings with it hockey season. My goal this season is to go see our home team, the Winnipeg Jets, for the first time and hopefully, with that, a win.