Thu, Oct 17 2019 - A Walk in the Woods: Nature Explorer, Foraging, Forest Bathing - Glasgow and Elbow (View Original Event Details)
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We had a lovely day out, taking our time to slow down and learn a bit about some plants. We meet at the Cinnamon Spoon in Bragg Creek, which allowed us to sit inside to go through some resources - maps of where we were headed, the various land use zones within Kananaskis Improvement District, likely plants we’ll see, and a last-minute change to start from Forgetmenot as the Elbow Parking Lot was still under construction for another day.
Temperatures were very pleasant all day, although we soon encountered more snow than expected. The first half was a bit slower going and the meadow held some snow. We found a nice spot on the slope to make some spruce tea, look some more at the plentiful kinnikinick that we had passed for the last couple of hours, and some took it as an opportunity to build a snowman or take an afternoon snooze.
From the meadow we continued through beautiful open forest, which, although off-trail, made for much easier walking than the North Glasgow Route had for the first third. Once we made it to the Big Elbow Trail it was an easy walk bag to the river and our cars.
Common plants that we saw:
- Kinnikinnick (aka bearberry)
- Potentilla
- Roses
- Engelmann Spruce
- Pine
- Fir
- Grasses