After a long hiatus we finally went for a hike at the end of April. It was very hot and sunny but it was a relatively short walk and we were home by late afternoon. This is the sketch I did when we got to the top. I think I made the greens in the background too dark or too bright because the tree in the foreground should be standing out more.
Sun-26-Apr-2026
I did this sketch after our walk back down from Lake Agnes, I had stiff legs and sat in an awkward position which I don’t think helped me sketch well. And then I thought maybe I have sketched too many lakes in one day? As I was sketching this, the light changed the colour of the water, going from bright turquoise/cobalt green when the sun was shining, to dark viridian/blue green when the sun went in.
Tue-10-Jun-2025
After Moraine Lake we drove to Lake Louise and luckily found a parking space. We then walked from Lake Louise up to Lake Agnes, going past Mirror Lake. There were all types of walkers on the trail – some with very serious looking hiking gear, and some out for a stroll and completely unprepared! That day I did 22,000 steps – the hike had easy gentle slopes but it was a long one.
Tue-10-Jun-2025
This day we made an early start to get to the Lake Louise Ski Resort where took the shuttle to Moraine lake (they don’t allow private cars any more because it gets so crowded – and yes it was heaving with people). There we climbed up the “rock pile” first, then walked around the lake. I stopped part way going round the lake to sketch this and take in the fantastic view more thoroughly. After this we had (our own packed) lunch in the ski resort…though we did buy a coffee so they wouldn’t throw us out!
Tue-10-Jun-2025
After visiting Bow Lake, we walked through Johnston Canyon – which was quite busy and popular. It was an easy going walk with paved pathways, steps and handrails all the way. We had to queue to go into the cave at the lower falls (where you get to be face-to-face with the water fall) and then walked to the upper falls, which was a lot less busy. My sketch of the upper falls was aided by my white Posca pen exploding onto the paper! Afterwards we drove back to our Airbnb in Canmore and had an early night after a long day (because we had also stopped at the “Cascades of Time Gardens” and Bow falls!).
Mon-9-Jun-2025
The next few posts are going to include sketches of lakes and mountains as for the next part of our holiday in Alberta, we did lots of hikes and walks mostly centred around the beautiful lakes in Banff National Park. If you don’t like sketches of lakes…look away! On our first day in the area we made an early start, loading up the car with tonnes of food for our stay in Canmore. We began with a stop at Bow Lake, where I did this brief sketch…a person passing noted that the trick to sketching in the wind is the clips I use to hold the pages down! We then went on to Peyto Lake, which is a stunning green colour and then drove on to Johnston Canyon for our packed lunch and a hike.
Mon-9-Jun-2025
On this day we went out for a hike with my sister-in-law (in Drumheller Valley – known as the Dinosaur Capital of the World) aiming to arrive early to miss the crowds …but then found that there was no one there and no trail either! However, we enjoyed the spectacular scenery, walked for a bit (it was super windy) and then turned round to avoid getting lost. We then spent many enjoyable hours in the Royal Tyrell Museum (@royaltyrell) looking at dino fossils.
Sat-7-Jun-2025
On our last full day in the UK we picked up our friend in Hazel Grove for a 13km hike starting in Edale. We had tried to hike to Mam Tor from Edale in December 2022 (see sketch No.69-2262) but never made it to the top because of the rain. This time the weather was perfect and sunny. I sketched this after a scramble through rocks to the first high point where we ate lunch. We then hiked along the ridge past spectacular rock formations and then down “Jacobs Ladder” ending at the lovely pub, The Old Nags Head, in Edale for a beer. Somehow we summoned the energy to go shopping in Lidl when we got back into Manchester, so we we were very tired in the evening.
Mon-2-Jun-2025
We are still sticking to our resolution of doing at least one hike a month and so far I have also managed to do a sketch at each summit. This hike was to Mt. Malindig in Marinduque and after hiking for about 4 hours through forests and grassland we made it to the summit. The views on the way up were spectacular but the top was shrouded in clouds and forest, so I decided to sketch the sign that showed we had made it. It took us about 3 ½ hours to hike back down in hot and sunny weather, one of our telescopic walking sticks wouldn’t extend properly but our guide kindly cut me a huge walking stick from forest and I felt that I looked like Gandalf!
Thu-17-Apr–2025