Alberta, Alberta

Google Map of our Alberta route

So here we are in Alberta – southern Alberta to be precise. Not initially our plan but our plan seems to change daily. We are still sticking to the rough itinerary though – we head west and then north. Our first stop after Medicine Hat was Writing on Stone Provincial Park (about a 2 hour drive south west of Medicine Hat). Once again travelling through long country roads and rolling farm land to get there. And it was hot. The park itself is a really neat little area of crazy rock formations (hoodoos) that just seem to appear out of nowhere. Did a quick tour of the visitors centre and then took the 2.2 km Hoodoo trail to walk in around the hoodoos. Did I mention it was hot? The hoodoos are really crazy to look at but without tree cover, they are really hot to walk around. The “writing on stone” part of the park is the designs created by an indigenous artist (not sure the date – obviously didn’t pay enough attention in the visitors centre). Unfortunately there are still wanna be artists like “Ashley was here” and “240” that also like to write on the stone detracting from the enjoyment of the park. The staff do their best to try and rub off the graffiti but I wonder at what point they will just have to fence everything up and you can only view it from a distance.

After a lunch break under some tree cover, we were onward to Waterton Lake National Park. This place is just beautiful. A crystal clear lake encompassed by mountains on every side. Warm sunshine but that nice cool breeze off the lake. Cute little touristy town which I am sure is hopping in the summer. Although most of the hiking/mountain biking trails were closed due to both the damage/continued restoration from a large forest fire in August 2017 as well as a mama bear with her cubs showing some aggressive behaviour, we couldn’t help but stay 2 nights as it was just too pretty a place to want to leave. We did frequent walks along the paved trail shouldering the lake and got to view how close the fire came to the town on walks to Cameron Falls. 

Dropping off our recycling in Waterton Lake National Park

Mike tackled fixing the screen in the van while I did a little work out (thanks to a certain physiotherapist who gave me a tin of popsicle sticks with various exercises on them – BRILLIANT - they don’t fly away!!). 

We also had our first random encounter with a former Kenorite who just happened to be visiting the park for the weekend. Of course, I have to thank to my Thunder Bay book club whose birthday/going away present to me was a 1 year National Parks pass which is already being put to good use.