Two different attempts to paddle board in Calgary have been thwarted in two days. There is thwartage. Getting a paddle board onto a lake in a Calgary park is more involved than anticipated. This is largely due to the fact that Calgary has become an overcrowded craphole. The population has exploded to the point where there are more people than there are amenities for them.
I have already detailed yesterday evening’s misadventure. The weather was better tonight, so I thought, “why not Bowness Park?” Um, because the parking lot was full to overflowing. No spaces were left so people were parking in spots I would have never thought of leaving a vehicle, like teetering on the bank of the upper lagoon creek. Jesus wept. I never saw anything like this as a kid when I grew up in Bowness, that is for damn sure. It was time for Plan B.
Carseland Provincial Park, AB, 2024-07-27 (TG-7)
Carseland Provincial Park, AB, 2024-07-27 (TG-7)
Google Maps said that if I rolled immediately I could be at Johnson’s Island in Wyndam Carseland Provincial Park by 8:15 pm. I rolled. The sun was just dropping behind the hill to the west as I got my board on the water at Johnson’s Island.
Carseland Provincial Park, AB, 2024-07-27 (TG-7)
Carseland Provincial Park, AB, 2024-07-27 (TG-7)
It was lovely. I had the park all to myself, except for one fisherman who was packing up to leave as I came in. He wandered over briefly to check out my board and to ask about my seat. I would have given him one of my Bad Day cards I had printed so he could email me for info, but they got moved from where I keep them when we went to BC and I haven’t been able to find them since.
I spent forty-five minutes on the water, but packed it in as the light began to fail and the mosquitoes started to go through my bug repellent. Some time on the water is better than no time at all, so I called it good for the day.
I’m still trying to decide if I’ll take a run at the lagoon at Bowness Park this weekend, but if I do I’ll have to get there before noon. The place obviously fills up early and stays filled for the day. Argh.
Some images were made with my OM System Tough TG-7 and some with my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Check the caption of the image to see which camera was used for it.
