Canmore & bad news

I'm writing this from Hinton, Alberta, and, as you will see, a lot has happened. Hope I can finish before my battery dies!

Lower Grassi Lake

Canmore

New home in Canmore

Canmore is beautiful. It's set in a lovely valley with high peaks all around, with names like "Three Sisters," "Ha Ling," "Ship's Prow," "Grotto Mountain," "Mount Lady MacDonald" and and more. There are so many high peaks that there are various "challenges" to climb two, three, or four peaks ("The Quad Challenge") in one day.

The town itself reminds me of other mountain winter/summer playgrounds like Aspen, Colorado, and Mammoth Lakes, California. There are some older homes, but many new upscale houses and a vibrant downtown with shops, eating establishments, saloons, galleries and gift shops.

Lily

The night before, I wasn't able to locate the library. N0MAD's Toyota navigation system led to me to an address downtown, but it was an art space, not a library. So I took a nice long walk to explore and get my bearings. Sometimes you find interesting things, or even the place you intended to find in the first place! But, no library. I was really okay with this, since I finally felt that the trip was starting. I'd dispensed with responsibilities and could start to truly enjoy things with a light heart.

The next morning, I wanted to get up and explore the mountains a bit, so drove up to the Nordic Center, where it looked like a lot of trails took off from. There was a big meadow where lots of dog walkers were congregating. Talked with some of them, and they recommended the hike to Grassi Lakes as a nice getaway.

So I did.

Grassi Lakes

Waterfall on the way to Grassi Lakes

It was still early in the morning, so I took my bear spray, water, camera and headed up. There are two routes: the "easy" longer route and the shorter "harder" route, which has stairs and a view of a waterfall. Recent bear warning signs were stapled to the trailhead signs, stating "6/25: Black and grizzly bears have been seen feeding on berries..." so I took this warning quite seriously.

Full of bravado, I took the second route, clapping and singing so as to not surprise any bears along the heavily forested route.
The trail then started to climb up the bench along which the waterfall was flowing, and let's just say that I was really glad there was a handrail.

Turns out the trail is quite heavily traveled and the stone steps (which really are quite good) are a bit slick from being polished by so many feet!

However, it was a lovely trail and soon done with. I did not tarry on the steep slope. The photo shows  the weeping wall next to the trail — yes, it's that steep. There are springs all along the trail at this point.

Weeping wall on the trail

At the top, one is rewarded by two lovely little lakes, named after Lawrence Grassi, an Italian immigrant who came to the area in 1912 and worked for the railway and in the coal mines. He fell in love with the mountains and became an avid mountaineer and trailbuilder. One of the peaks around Canmore as well as these lakes were named after him; he built the original trail to the lakes, cutting stairs in the rock!

The lakes are not large, but they are spectacular in color: shades of aqua, turquoise and emerald green. As far as I can tell, the color is not due to glacial flour, as they are very, very clear, but perhaps there is some extremely fine sediment that's causing the startling color.

The hues do change with the light and camera angle; in some of the photos I took, the color is deep indigo.

One of the reasons this trail is so well traveled is that it is a favorite mountain/rock climbing area. Despite the avalanche danger, climbers were already setting up along the limestone cliffs. Nobody was on the cliffs yet, just lots of equipment checking. Swallows darted over the water, feeding on insects, but surprisingly there were few mosquitoes.

Spectacular color of Upper Grassi Lake; climbers preparing along the cliff

By the time I'd finished exploring, a lot of people were arriving at the lakes. July 1 is Canada Day, and the beginning of the summer has officially begun, so many happy Canadians (and people of other nationalities) were getting an early start to the holiday.

Lower Grassi Lake

I somewhat regretfully left, but felt the road calling. I took the "easier" way down, and it was. Lots of families, babies, and dogs were taking this route!

Two ladies from Manitoba stopped me to ask about bears, but I said it really wasn't necessary by this time in the day — the trail was very crowded and any self-respecting bear would be foraging somewhere else. Besides, I hadn't noticed ANY of the buffalo berries that they were supposed to be eating (maybe they'd eaten them already)!

Since I'd gotten there early, I had a great parking spot by a picnic table and had the first cooked breakfast (not in a motel) since Montana: a two-egg omelet with peppers, onions and cheese. OMG so good.

In my pre-hike wanderings around town early in the morning, I'd located the mysteriously missing library. Turns out it was located in the community center called "The Elevation Place," so named because they have a huge climbing wall as part of their fitness center. The location of the center was where the railroad roundhouse used to be. It's a great central location, and the town made it a priority that it be accessible by bicyclists and pedestrians.

Bike/pedestrian path along the railway

In fact, ALL of the towns I've been in have really excellent bike and pedestrian paths. One lady I talked to said that this was part of town planning — alternative pathways were put in BEFORE or as part of housing developments. It certainly shows — everywhere you go there is easy access for non-vehicular transit. For instance, there is a 22-km dedicated bike/ped path (the Rocky Mountain Legacy Trail) between Canmore and Banff, and in town there is the Bow River Trail, as well as too many intersecting pathways to count.

Many Canadian towns have a center with library, fitness areas (gym, basketball), pool, community meeting rooms, food, and more; yes, sometimes a curling and/or hockey rink! Having seen a so many of these that are new, it almost seems that some funding became available nationally at once. The chalk marks were still on the cement here.

Anyway, I figured I'd hit the library, check in, post a blog and be on my way to Banff or points north within a few hours.

Bad news

I checked mail and, while things were downloading, checked Facebook posts. Always fun to see what's happening at home.

In flicking through email and responding, I saw that there was a message from my neighbor in Mill Valley. 

And, shock. There had been a fire at my house early that morning. 

The upshot of this was: my tenant and her daughter made it out okay. The fire alarms woke them up. It was called in by several neighbors, and must have been fairly spectacular. One neighbor said she saw it, called 911, and packed a suitcase in case it spread. Jerri (next door neighbor), said the "crackling" woke her up. The firefighters from three departments: Southern Marin Fire, Mill Valley and Tiburon, responded and arrived quickly. There were four big trucks and any number of smaller vehicles there, with 12-15 firefighters on site.

They supposedly got it out in about 20 minutes; but remained there from 12:30-3:30am. And much of the next day, taking pictures and doing their fire investigation.

The story slowly unfolded through the course of the afternoon. Of course, there was no thought of continuing on that day – wifi has been harder to find than I thought, so it seemed best to try to stay put and figure things out. 

Back of the house

I sent an email out to friends. My friend Becky (THANK YOU, Becky!!), dropped everything and ran over to see the status of things, because at this point I didn't know anything other than Jerri's report that the house was "still standing."

Kitchen

Reassuring, I guess, but a little unsatisfying.

When Becky got there, the firefighters were still there and not letting anyone in. However, Becky was able to talk to Kai Pasquale, the battalion chief, and (on her phone) I was able to talk to him and let him know that I had NO cell service and only intermittent wifi, and to please email me any information, which he did do. So now I have pictures.

By the end of the day, the County inspector had red-tagged the structure (nobody in or out), and the firefighters had concluded their investigation.

I did attempt to call the insurance company at the 800 number provided, but was unsuccessful using Google Hangouts through wifi. I kept getting asked to complete a survey... (like WHO wants to do a survey when you're upset and wanting to report a claim!!????), and every time I tried to respond to the survey, the call terminated. Additional calls resulted in a polite robot saying that I was calling from an "unapproved area."

Need I say I had some frustration here? When the library closed at 8pm, I lost my wifi connection, and tottered off to calm down, digest everything, read a book, and sleep on the day's events.

So much can change in 24 hours!

Aftermath

I have managed to contact the insurance company, thanks to my agent, Denise Billings, for whom I have to give a HUGE shout out — she has been amazingly helpful throughout this ordeal. The ball is rolling there.

My tenant is fine (other than being considerably shook up); she has a place to stay.

Decks

The report from the fire department investigation is that the "point of ignition" was the BBQ. The fire appears to have started on the lower deck, gone up the wall, and ignited the upper deck, creating a merry blaze that alerted the neighbors and blew in the double-walled glass doors on both levels. It was well on its way into the attic when they got to it.

It was a near thing, as the whole thing could have gone up. Let this all be a lesson to everyone that smoke alarms DO save lives.  DO NOT just take the battery out when they go off unexpectedly!

The story even made it in the Marin IJ! What a way to make the news, eh?

I don't know anything more than that at this time. The insurance company is sending out their own investigator next week. 

A HUGE thank you to the firefighters who put it out; to my neighbor, Jerri, who is anchoring things while I'm away. And everyone else who has offered condolences and "if there is anything I can do to help." There might be!

Above the kitchen (I think).

In particular, I am looking for a rock-solid, reliable contractor.

Going forward

So... the big question is: do I go on or do I go back?

I'm not sure at this point. The prudent thing would be to go back, but I have never been known to be entirely prudent.

This is is so disturbing on a number of levels:
• My house was burned: it's unlivable. This was my source of income and future refuge. I understand that it can be fixed, but I had planned everything so well, and now have a new set of worries.
• While of course I'm glad that no one was hurt, the fact remains that I have to deal with this, and in a timely manner — it can't be put off.
• There is a sense of violation when something like this happens; not a happy thing. Have to find out how to deal with smoke and water damage, and the residual smell...
• Not only do I have to deal with my house being burned, but it's jeopardizing this long-planned and anticipated trip. I am really, really tired of having to make alternate plans due to things out of my control.
• I'm starting to get really upset about the roadblocks that have been put in my way to achieve this life dream (Alaska)!

So. I am moving on in the hopes that this can be handled from afar. Unless something happens to make me reconsider, I'm going to "mek tracks" for Alaska, because at least then I will have hopes of having cell service, which I do not have here in Canada.

Stay tuned; down to 25% battery so need to wrap this up and post it.

But... I need to remember that after the storm, there are rainbows. This was the view outside the library when I finally emerged: it was a full double-arched rainbow.

Full arch double rainbow over Canmore!