July 4
Barb and Gordon got in about 9 PM last night. They set up next to us in a site that was connected to ours in the living area. The sites at Lower Lake campground are carved out of the pine and spruce forest, so you have quite a bit of privacy but occasionally they have made adjacent sites that connect, so people traveling together can set up like we did, side by side.
We went for a good forest walk over to the Inter Lakes campground where most of the sites had been taken, but it looked good for another time as some of the sites are beach front on the lake. After the walk we returned for lunch and the weather turned intermittently rainy so we went for a drive to the southern parts of the park.
July 5
We walked the Ribbon creek trail up past ribbon falls and ribbon lake to Guin pass which took us to the Galetea trail and out to the highway. It was a beautiful walk but one part near Ribbon creek falls was up a limestone cliff using chains bolted into the rocks which was not a lot of fun at all! This walk was about 20 kms long and had an elevation gain of 800 m so it left us all a bit stiff.
We took both trucks along and left mine at the base of the Galetea trail. We took Gordon's truck to the Ribbon Creek parking lot near Kananaskis village. The Ribbon Creek trail is a gentle climb of 200 m over about 8 km until you get near Ribbon falls and then you climb steeply up to the cliff face and chains. The limestone cliffs would pose no difficulty for climbers but for those of us with a fear of heights it was an adrenalin pumping knee shaking experience. We rose about 50 m in three or so vertical stages interspersed with scrambles along ledges, all aided with chains. We were all glad to get to the top and there was no way we were going back down so we were committed to doing the Guin pass over to the Galtea trail. On the Guin pass we ran into snow going up and this makes trekking a bit harder. The snow was packed so we walked on top but soft enough to kick in toe holds for traction. Once at the top of the pass we had panoramic views of the rugged mountains of the area. On the way down the south side of the pass we again encountered snow in a 5 -10 m wide ribbon down a sinuous creek valley. This side was steep too so digging in your heals was the order of the day. Gord and I were about 50 m in front of Lee and Barb when we heard shrieks of laughter from behind. We turned around in time to see Barb scooting down the hill at us on her bum having a whale of a time but unable to stop. There were sharp rocks on each side of the snow and further down some small spruce trees laid over by storms so we had to stop her. Gord stood in her path with arms out stretched and I stood behind him with my trekking poles slammed into the snow to stop him if her momentum took them both down the hill. Gord got her stopped by himself I think. Barb wondered why we stopped her because she was having fun and getting down very quickly. Later that night Lee pointed out that with the spruce trees laying over she may have become a Christmas tree angel!
Once over the pass it was a comparatively gentle walk down to the truck, but we were all very tired and glad to get there.
July 6
We walked up to Rawson lake. This walk starts out level-ish walking along the Upper Lake shore and then turns up the hill for a steady 300 metre climb to Rawson lake. The weather had been a bit threatening on the way up and just as we got to the far side of the lake rain began to fall. We found a big spruce tree to shelter under and ate our lunch. After lunch we headed back down to Upper Lake where we watched some fly and boat fisher-people going after trout. By this time the mountain weather had decided to be clear and sunny again. We had a wiener roast for supper.
July 7
We broke camp and drove to Pincher Creek. The drive south out of Kananaskis is quite a beautiful one. The road takes you slowly out of the mountains into beautiful green foothills. Once you are getting close to Pincher Creek literally hundreds of wind turbines become visible on the hill sides, often lined up in a huge line off to the horizon. It is good to see that oil rich Alberta is looking to the future and using a renewable resource for energy. Needless to say, it is a windy corner of the province.
Once setup in the camp ground at Pincher Creek we drove to Frank Slide, a land slide in the Crows Nest Pass area. A huge quantity of rock fell in this slide, killing about 70 people. There is a short walk of about 1.5 km through the fallen rock and back up to the interpretive centre which incongruously was closed for renovation over the busiest tourist time of the year. We then drove a bit further up into the Cross Nest pass before turning around and heading back towards our camp. A little way past Frank we stopped at an old coal mining historical site to look at the old stone buildings and read the displays.
July 8
We broke camp in Pincher Creek and drove to Waterton National Park, where we set up camp in the National Park campground. This camp ground is right on Waterton Lake and we had good views of the lake from our site. There are numerous Richardson's Ground Squirrels living in the campground, and everywhere you have to watch for their burrows or you will twist and ankle.
After lunch we did a drive up Red Rock Canyon. This is a very nice drive. We stopped at the canyon and did a very short walk up the canyon and down the side. On the way home we had a look at the campground along this road but decided it was not really suitable for anything but tents and campers.
July 9
Another driving day, today we drove the Highway to the Sun road in Glacier National Park south of th border in USA. To get there we had to drive an hour and 15 minutes south and pass through the border. We struck a problem when we hit the border because our visa waiver had expired on the 16th of June. We'd be through the border since then but no one picked it up or no one cared, I'm not sure which. But we got to the crossing on a day when they had all the big shots there, so I suppose everyone was one his and her toes. This cost us ½ hour to fill out a new form and $12 to get a new waiver. This could all have been done in a few minutes as the customs guy promised, except that he had to triple check everything, with each check being like he had never seen this particular piece of paper before and it was highly suspicious. He even scrutinized our American ten dollar bill for about 5 minutes! We finally got on our way feeling a bit relieved to be out of there.
This is a stunningly beautiful drive up through the mountains to Logan's Pass and then down the other side to Apgar. We stopped at Logan's Pass to do a walk up and over then down to a lake. There is a parks interpretive center where the walk starts. Because winter was a big one and spring was late, there was snow right down to the center, so we were slipping and sliding all the way up and down the other side, but Barb managed to not get into any bumbogganing this time! Once we reached the steep part of the trail down to the lake we called it quits and had lunch. While eating lunch a billy goat came strolling by to investigate our packs and then laid down and contentedly chewed his cud! He was in magnificent shape.
The road west down from Logan's Pass is a bit hairy and was under construction, so some places were down to one lane, with traffic control. I was glad Gord had volunteered to drive. The road clings to the mountain, in some places blasted out of the cliffs, in others built up against man made stone walls. Often water falls come down beside the road and are channeled under but in one spot called the Weeping wall, there is an almost continuous fall for about 100 metres of road.
At Apgar we had a huge ice-cream cone and headed back up to the sun again and then home.
July 10
Today we took the boat from Waterton down the lake to Glacier National Park to do some walking. We had another customs scare when we got to the ticket office, because there was a notice that only Americans and Canadians could use the customs office at the boat dock at the Glacier end of the boat trip. We waited for the customs guy to show as he takes the same boat down and told him that we had visa waivers (very fresh!) and he let us in, probably because he believed us that we were born in Canada, even though our passport just says Nipawin as our place of birth.
We did the walk to Kootney Lake first, a 4.5 km level stroll to a nice lake. We saw lots of moose at the lake, about 6 in total, in different groups, mostly cows with no young calves in sight. On the way out we also saw several deer at a salt lick. After a short rest we did the 1.5 km Rainbow falls walk. On the way in we came across a small garter snake, about 40 cm long and 1 cm thick. These are non venomous snakes. The walk to the falls is mostly level until you reach the falls where you climb about 40 metres up and along the edge of the falls. The water doesn't fall far but puts on a pretty good show woshing though a narrow channel.
After the boat ride we had chicken wings and beers at a local pub in Waterton.
July 11
Barb, Gord, Lee and I did another 20 km walk starting at Cameron Lake which is found on the Amamina Parkway road out of Waterton. This walk is a very well engineered trail with nice easy slopes on switchbacks up to Summit Lake. From there the trail is only slightly harder and climbs through forest to the tree line then a bit steeper switchback up scree to Carthew pass where there are stunning 360 degree views of the mountains and lakes in the area. The pass is a razorback ridge and was quite cold and windy so we did not stay too long before descending to Carthew Lakes where we stopped for lunch. We had a lot of snow in this area. Once past the lakes the trail gets a bit steeper and passes through a series of ledges with waterfalls in a valley so steep looking when you turn around that you wonder how you got down through it so easy. We stopped again for a snack at Alderson Lake campsite. From there the trail meanders slowly back to town. Most of the gradients are gentle by mountain trail standards and I think it was made long ago with horse travel in mind.
This was a stunning walk, right up there with Tongariro (sp?) crossing, the most popular day walk in New Zealand. While thousands walk Tongariro each day, there was only about 15-20 people on our mountain the day we walked it. One of Waterton's best kept secrets!
July 12
Today we drove to Fort MacCleod where we set up camp at the Riverside Campground. This is very near to highway 2 but is a nice treed park and the highway nose wasn't too bad. They had WIFI so we could get email again after the long dry spell at Kananaskis and Waterton. Unfortunately I didn't have the blog files up to date, so had to wait to post them.
After lunch we visited Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump and interpretive centre. This is an amazing place and is a must see in Western Canada. The building itself is an unobtrusive structure built into the side of the hill. From outside it looks small, but inside you will be surprised to find 5 stories of displays vid
eos and movies describing the buffalo jump, the hunting methods before horse and gun and the Blackfoot tribe culture and lifestyle. As well, there is a lot of information on how archaeologists uncovered all the information by digging into the pile of debris left where the animals were butchered. Outside there is an informative walk along the top of the cliff to the jump and another one at the base of the cliff. Each of these has information signs along them explaining how th hunt was done. We spent about 4 hours here and really could have used more time. Allow half a day.
July 13
We broke camp at Riverside and drove across Alberta into Saskatchewan, via the Cyprus Hills. We did not manage to find an information centre big enough to take a 5th wheel, so I still don't know much about the Cyprus Hills. Some day, we'll go back and do it properly. We stopped for the night at a little town called Milestone whose campground had about 6 sites that cost $10 for full services. The showers were about 100 m away at the swimming pool and were a bit rough and not really too clean, but they were serviceable.
July 14
We drove on through Weyburn and after filling up with water at Kisby, we landed at Smithfield around 11AM. Smithfield is a two story stone house built by Lee's step great grandfather. Lee's brother Rick has leased the house and yard site back from the current owner and has been working on his holidays restoring the grand old lady. Rick has put in a huge effort studying the structure and it's problems and cleaning up a century of mess, while trying to save the treasures. He has had the roof re-shingled to arrest the water damage to the ceilings and now is working on stopping the wet doing damage to the walls under and above the windows into the basement. We plan to stay here and help with this work until late July.
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