Exploring has been a bit of drug for me this week and I've been out a lot. I decided to go outside the city again and see what I could find that's off the beaten path. What I can only describe as a mid-life crisis, has prompted me to leave my career and make some big changes. Long story short...I have a couple more weeks with a lot of free time.

I've hit up quite a few locations with various success. Some I couldn't get into. I marked a lot of spots for the spring when they will be easier to access. It's been cool to get outside of my usual places and see parts of the area I've never seen. I also saw a lot of deer, a couple of coyotes and an owl. I don't think I've ever seen an owl in the wild before.

I'll add to this thread through the weekend and share some pics of all the weird and randomness this area has.


One of the stops yesterday was an old church built by German settlers here in approximately 1910. It remained in use until the late 80's but now sits alone and forgotten on a remote backroad. I couldn't help but wonder where the congregation came from as there wasn't much around this building and it was a bit of a challenge to find. The building, itself, was essentially gutted.

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Another stop was a very old homestead. There are literally dozens of these around and this one was relatively close to the road which made walking in doable. The house was made of wood and mud and had a water pump outside underneath the windmill looking thing. There were a few outbuildings and a very old piece of farm equipment.

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I'm not sure why some of these pics flip on upload. #7&8 are flipped. Any way to fix that? Prevent it?

Some nice well square off shots
Damn desolate like a frozen desert.
Watch the WB on those snow shots; looks too cool to me.

Posted by blackhawk Some nice well square off shots Damn desolate like a frozen desert. Watch the WB on those snow shots; looks too cool to me.

Thanks
I've learned a fair bit from the feedback you give to others on picture taking. I'm a complete noob! I often have to google words you use but I'm learning.

Damn! Lola hits the ground running! You've been quite busy since taking up the hobby. Looks like you're having a lot of success too!

Posted by Technomancer Damn! Lola hits the ground running! You've been quite busy since taking up the hobby. Looks like you're having a lot of success too!

More like Lola quits her job and has time on her hands LOL I have to go back to reality soon so figured why not take advantage AND it's been warm too.

I have a few more stops to post. One of them, I thought of you because it had that weird vibe and I freaked myself out there. Actually, literally ran from it. First time that's happened. I'll post that up later today but may have to add it to our full moon tour! I have at least 6 places for spring too for us to hit up.

This stop was unplanned but I decided I'm out in the middle of the country and why not. It's also an abandoned house about 300 m off the road and looked to be in newer condition than the super old farmhouses. It seemed like someone got halfway through moving and then just left it. Lots of records and cassette tapes around.

This was the first time I've actually run out of a place. I'm not totally sure why but it had a really weird vibe, I kept thinking I was hearing things like howling (even though there wasn't anything that close that I could see and no tracks around the place going in) and I watch too many ghost shows so likely just completely freaked myself out.

Let me just say....300 m through knee deep snow....I'm a little sore today. LOL

I have discovered quite a few of these old Ukrainian orthodox churches around. I stopped at 3 more of them in the last couple of days but with some research, these ones are all in various stages of use and for the most part, locked tight.

I was able to access the basement to one of them but no entry into the main area. I was also able to access the bell tower at one location and climbed up to have a look. The bell was still there and in pretty decent shape. I can't say the same thing for the upper floor boards so stayed on the steps.

The bell tower...Unfortunately, the pic doesn't quite capture a clear shot of the bell. I couldn't go up any higher.

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6. On the wall in the basement...does this not look like a demon head?? I know..too many ghost shows!

Trying again with more pics













Modified for change in pic sharing format

Next full moon is Dec 3rd, a Sunday. I'm mighty curious about the place you fled!

Great momentum Lola, you've been covering a lot of ground, keep it coming! I'm planning on making at least one or two AB trips next summer, I'll have to shoot you some questions when I start planning my route. I'd prefer to bypass Calgary and ride through some of these old neighborhoods instead.

Posted by Technomancer Next full moon is Dec 3rd, a Sunday. I'm mighty curious about the place you fled!

I'll send you the location details. That creepy place is a ways out there but I pinned it so I could find it again and there's a few others around there. It's not too much beyond the first abandoned church I posted too. All north east of the city.

I'm game for whenever....especially if it's still this warm ;)

But I've already had one bad dream about that stupid house. Man I did a number on myself there. lol

Posted by EPOCH6 Great momentum Lola, you've been covering a lot of ground, keep it coming! I'm planning on making at least one or two AB trips next summer, I'll have to shoot you some questions when I start planning my route. I'd prefer to bypass Calgary and ride through some of these old neighborhoods instead.

Thanks

And definitely! I'm working on putting together like a little route almost which covers the most amount of ground with the highest returns, so to speak. I've been out there enough last week that I started seeing the same landmarks on the road so thought...I gotta map this out better.

I have discovered an old Monastery (although haven't been able to find it's exact location yet - I have it narrowed down to a 20 km radius, which is still too big) but it apparently has about 8 buildings on the property, and also found an old Romanian settlement, which is on the list for this week. There's another old abandoned Ukrainian settlement about an hour north but I've heard it's fenced. I'm gonna swing by and have a look too.

So short story long...I'll have lots of ideas for you if you make it this way.

Awesome, have you been pre-checking your routes with satellite view as well? 20 km radius shouldn't take too long to scope out, especially in a rural location with ~8 outbuildings, should be fairly easy to spot.

A few more pics from last week's adventures.

This is a house I read about online. It's a "brick" house, only when you get up to it, you realize it's not really brick. It's covered in what almost looked like roofing shingles but disguised as bricks. I'm sure there's a word for it but I can't think of it. Infilbrick or something like that.

I read about this place but only had a general idea where it was. I just happened to see it as I was on my home one day. It sits in the middle of field right off a secondary highway. I decided to stop and have a look anyway and I'm glad I was there in the daylight. There are a few big holes in the floor and I didn't go in too far. The place is pretty trashed and not much left.

And one final post for now....

A few leftover pictures of a couple other buildings I found. Two are churches and one is a very old, stone community hall. Not much for POE's but still pretty cool buildings.

Thanks for coming on this ride with me

Posted by EPOCH6 Awesome, have you been pre-checking your routes with satellite view as well? 20 km radius shouldn't take too long to scope out, especially in a rural location with ~8 outbuildings, should be fairly easy to spot.

I have been using google earth although haven't used it with this place yet. I think by that time, I'd been at the desk for about 3 hours and thought...get up and go do something! lol

Are there other satellite programs I should consider? I'm not the most techie person.

I've been doing research, picking out a place or two and then the rest is just from driving around while en route to those places. It would likely make more sense to spend more time online first and scope out the surrounding area before leaving. ;)

Posted by Lola AB I have been using google earth although haven't used it with this place yet. I think by that time, I'd been at the desk for about 3 hours and thought...get up and go do something! lol Are there other satellite programs I should consider? I'm not the most techie person. I've been doing research, picking out a place or two and then the rest is just from driving around while en route to those places. It would likely make more sense to spend more time online first and scope out the surrounding area before leaving. ;)

Google Earth is plenty capable enough, I'll message you some tips on getting the best out of it.

Posted by EPOCH6 Google Earth is plenty capable enough, I'll message you some tips on getting the best out of it.

Thanks so much! I really appreciate it.

And if you make it out this way, I'll buy you a beer!

I made it out again today but it was more of a shorter spontaneous trip given life getting in the way of a longer trip I had planned. I had another interesting experience today and a first for me.

I stopped at a remote house that appeared to be in decent shape from the outside but clearly had been vandalized. There were some tracks in but nothing recent so I went. The house still had most of it's contents and although it was trashed, it was frozen in time, right down to the kitty litter. My thought was that whoever lived here must have died, although I didn't find the house creepy.

I took some pics and found a newspaper dated from 2009. I also found a box of personal effects and took a pic of the name. When I got home, I googled it and sure enough, found the obituary for the man who lived there. He died in 2012 and had no wife or children and very few extended family members still living. He was 93.

Sad isn't quite the right word but I felt something in that ballpark. It puts a face and a story to the person who had lived there.









An old wash tub and clothing line in the basement.