trailhead

No those are flavors that come from the ageing process, and also from the sugarcane that the molasses that rum is made from. Kind of like how different locales will produce a different flavor in wines made from the same type of grape.

Yes in Calgary we are incredibly fortunate to have two fine trout streams.

Playground zones always start at 8:30

RUB UP! DRINK DE RUM RUM RUM! Ah yes the rums of the Caribbean are truly one of the gifts of the gods. I like many of your suggestions here; Flor De Cana, Cruzan, Gosling, Mount Gay all excellent. I also like Coruba, the standard which I am sure most true rum lovers started with. I have been to the distilleries in Bdos ( Mount Gay & Cockspur) found Coskspur to be more interesting and the rum a bit more spicy. Then hit the St Vincent distillery and the extra strong rum the locals drink with a water chaser is very smooth but very potent. My favorite was the St Lucia Distillery and the Admiral Rodney and the Chairmens Reserve; both splendid. Lots of vanilla, spice, smoke, butter and coconut flavors. I am sure if you visited any of the reasonably larger islands you would find a local distillery that would blow your socks off.

Having had a few Banks with the Bajans I have to say from my experience Bdo's is more about the flying fish than fly fishing. Beautiful beaches, friendly people and rum rum rum. It's the furthest east of any island in the area and so you don't get the tarpon type situations. The best bet for you might be on the Caribbean (west) side of the island. Might be some snook, or bones over there cause it is shallower and doesn't have the pounding surf of the Atlantic side. If you get out you have to post some pics, hell if you don't get out post some pics.

This is a step in the right direction, though I noticed that there are no direct proposals that address water quality abuses. I put my comments in the appropriate boxes in that regard and maybe that will raise some attention on that issue.

Both Lakers and Brookies are not common in the Bow, but not totally unusual. I have caught brookies, but no lakers yet. The brooks come in from the Elbow, upper Bow etc. The Lakers are in the Ghost reservoir and also in the Bearspaw reservoir.

nice report and pics, thanks. That the kind of fishing is so rewarding.

And I behold once more My old familiar haunts; here the river blue. The same blue wonder that my infant eye Admired, sage doubting whence the traveler came- Whence brought his sunny bubbles ere he washed... Here is the rock where, yet a simple child, I caught with bended pin my earliest fish, Much triumphing,---and these the fields Over whose flowers I chased the butterfly... Me many a sigh. Oh, call not Nature dumb; These trees and stones are audible to me, These idle flowers, that tremble in the wind, I understand their faery syllables, And all their sad significance. The wind... I feel as I were welcome to these trees After long months of weary wandering, Acknowledged by their hospitable boughs; They know me as their son, for side by side, They were coeval with my ancestors; Adorned with them my country's primitive times. And soon may give my dust their funeral shade

I think that it's people that don't know how to drive on gravel roads. They stay in the middle because they are afraid they'll slide into the ditch and they drive too fast and don't slow down because they are stoopid. Basically just poor drivers. What is it I once heard when I was getting the mud dug out from the chassis of my old Landcruiser? Oh yeah, 80% of 4X4's never leave pavement. Get one of those drivers on gravel and they just sh*t themselves.

I just drove through it, worst part of the hail was happening in West Hilhurst. Golf ball sized hail put a nice new crack in my windshield. There's supposed to be another cell coming by just in time for the drive home. The rain was pretty intense too, and in fact made driving more difficult than the hail. Damn droughts.

In K-country proper you are on crown land and are allowed to go wherever you want, however there are a couple of areas that are historical ownership. Notably along the Sheep about 8 km west from the Bluerock Campground. But there are trails through there including the one up to Burns Lake, and I have not had any problems going through there. Now south of K-country in the grazing lease areas you are in a different situation and remember K-country starts about 30 Km west of Longview so most of the land along the Highwood is also private, and I have had some people down there tell me that they own the rights to the riverbank.

Try Chris's in old Coleman, great burgers and quart sized milkshakes that they serve in in the big metal mixing jug, along side of your glass.

There are good and bad to every city, as for a area in Calgary that has a unique flair. Try Inglewood, the BRZ there has mandated a `no chains` policy. So no Starbucks, no MacDonalds, no Timmies. Lots of really funky cool shops and if you check it out you might find a really cool beer store too.

Rick, you might have to try the Calgary one out this year. I heard Edmonton was already sold out, and Calgary is getting close from what the young lady said when I picked up my tix.

Try the Folk Festival on for a cultural slap upside the head. This year is going to be awesome, that former Albertan Michael Franti and his band Spearhead will be there, and that Alberta guy who played with Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin etc. Ian Something, he'll be there along with Stars, the Avett Bros, Cat Empire, Shakura Shaida, Greg Brown, and of course the Hurtin' Albertan Corb Lund. But there really isn't any culture here, not at the Ironwood or anywhere on "International Avenue" or at the Sled Island festival, or the BBQ on the Bow, Calgary Farmers Market, Calgary Blues Festival, Word Fest, the Calgary Film Festival, One Yellow Rabbit. I could keep going on, the biggest hindrance to culture in Calgary is attitude, people from elsewhere always compare where they are from to Calgary and I'm afraid the majority of Calgarians don't take part in most of what is available. Then join in and say" Yeah there's no culture in this town". Calgary the city where eveyone is a "cowboy" for ten days a year and part of the herd for the other 355. Giddup, move 'em out Yaw!

Totally agree with all your points as I have had experience with most of them. I don't think guns are an appropriate response, a park ranger friend told me a "good" bear was shot in K-country a few years ago because someone had a gun in their trailer. Also avoid females with cubs, that video where that guy was charged by the female with a cub and he fired a warning shot, duh! And I have mountain biked the Cascade Fire Road during buffalo berry season with bells on our bikes and early in the morning we passed numerous piles of steaming digested berries. Found out later that there were 8 grizzilies in the area, it was pretty obvious to us that the bears heard the bells and probably just moved off into the underbrush, then resumed feeding when we were gone. I think bears are one of the things that make flyfishing special in this part of the world.

My son has had a personal experience with Sasquatch, so it's real.

I had a young bear do that to me a couple of years ago on the Oldman. I was inadvertently lucky in that I had a fish on the line when the bear charged ,did not have eye to eye contact. Which I found out later from a bear cop is key in avoiding a full out attack. Funny thing is, I told that story to a friend of mine and he had the same bear charge him in the same location. Which really does tell you they are creaures of habit, just like us.

The one thing about watching soccer, it sure beats watching golf. Talk about a snooze fest.

Yep every year opening day is in the middle of the June monsoon. Which is preceeded by the late winter drought. " I sure hope we get some rain or we're in serious trouble"

That's kind of hard to say because there are so many variables, location, time year, time of day, what the fish are taking etc. Because from one year to the next the Bow changes an awful lot. For me I have been skunked too many times to count them. Then I have had stellar days where I hooked 30 fish landed 12 or so. Usually I manage 4 or so to hand.

I'm going to head out to Working Creek and catch a mess of Paper Trout.

The Palliser River outside of Banff Park in BC is Classified. Where did you pick it up your daily permit and pay the $20?

Yeah it is a bit overwhelming, I usually take an empty plastic shopping bag along and fill up when I leave. But when I come back to the same spot later on, it's like i never picked up a thing. Just gotta keep keepin' on though.