Headed Home

Feeling sad.  But looking ahead there doesn't seem to be much [sun] light at the end of this [cold] tunnel.  So with much disappointment, we decided to cut our Fall camping season short and head home.

We had a great 2 weeks but mother nature hasn't been very cooperative.  We have emptied and prepped the 5th wheel for winter, but if someone were to turn up the heat, we could be convinced to head out for a few more nights.  Anyway, looking forward to a hot bath and a warm bed tonight!

I've added a couple more photos from Writing on Stone.  You can view more by clicking on the photo link in the left column of our RV Travel webpage under the heading Trip Pics. 

Writing on Stone Prov Park

Milk River, AB
Writing on Stone PP - Site #22, $33 p only (x4), Temp 11C, no cell, wifi Interpretive Ctre

Writing on Stone turned out to be a good choice. When we arrived on Friday, the sun was shining and at 12C, it was probably the warm spot of SK and AB. But, what is with this weather?? September used to be our favourite camping month with continued summer-like weather. Not so much anymore. I miss those good old days.

The campground was quite busy with weekend campers. We are continually amazed when the cooler weather doesn't deter campers. Not even the tenters! There was a group from the U of C Archeologist program camped across from us in tents. One of the fellas told Ron he was quite comfortable last night, but if he got cold he'd come and knock on our door. (It was about 5C outdoors when we woke up that morning.)

We were disappointed to see the fire ban when we arrived on Friday, but we made use of our propane pit.

Then good news! The ban was lifted on Saturday! We were burning wood by 3 pm for the rest of our stay.

Ron hiked the hoodoos and took some great photos. I biked around the campground and did a little walking with my walking sticks. Also, there is no cell service in the campground so I drove to the Visitor Centre at the top of the hill for cell and wifi updates. (Poor as it was!)

We enjoyed those early fires (to keep warm!!) but moved indoors in the evenings for a game of Sequence or some reading. Damn! It was just too chilly outside.

We have paid for one more night and then will decide if it's time to give up and head home. Or maybe we'll do a couple nights at Taber Municipal Campground. Decisions decisions.

Moving Day

Wednesday afternoon at Cypress was interesting. Thunder, lightning, downpour, then sunshine and blue skies. All within 30 minutes. We remained at our campfire with a little help from our umbrella and the canopy. 

It actually turned out to be a beautiful evening complete with rainbow. Gail was back in Cypress on Thursday and joined us at the fire for the evening. 

Friday we awoke to -0C on our thermometer. It was wet, foggy and friggin' cold outside! Time to move on. We decided to go the shorter south route through Consul. Wrong decision. The road beyond Consul was gravel and slippery with the recent rains. We turned around, headed back the Maple Creek, Hwy 1 route and marked it up to a wasted 2 hours and an extra 120 km drive.

Lunch and a quick stop in Medicine Hat. We were passing through, so why not. We dropped off laundry, picked up mail and it was on to Writing on Stone Prov Park.

Our week at Cypress

On Monday many of the campers checked out. Maybe they had heard the SK/AB snow forecasts and decided to flee. Then there was us who actually paid for 4 of more nights! Ron loves having all those vacated sites to check out for little treasures that may have been left behind.

Our Monday and Tues weather was great and we continued to enjoy our biking and campfires.

Popcorn, yum! And our bikes are a great way to check out those "closed for season" campgrounds.

The deer were never far away, and that little guy in the next photos came for daily drinks. (Yes, we will need to get that leak in our water tank fixed!) 

Wednesday we awoke to rain and cold. A good day for a trip to Maple Creek for groceries. The day certainly looked brighter and warmer when we returned to our RV.

So here's hoping that the weather warms up for the weekend. We have yet to decide where (or which direction) our next stop will be.

more from the Hills

Except for the wasps that continue to torment us, we are enjoying our stay in the Hills. The weather has been awesome.

On Friday we biked and did a driving tour. Ron drove with Mike to pick up Zoe and Ashton. We had our evening fire at their campsite in Rainbow. 

Saturday we decided to would ride our bikes to the Bald Butte lookout. The sign at the corner of our campground said 5.4 km. Not so far, right?? Well we peddled for 20 minutes or so thinking we would be arriving soon. And then we came to the next sign saying 2.4 km. A much younger, much more 'in-shape' couple zoomed by. We left them to it, turned around, headed home, got the truck and drove to the lookout! We passed those in-shape bikers on their way back. 

Saturday evening Mike, Gail, Zoe and Ashton came for supper. Their day had consisted of painting rocks, the Segway tour and watching the Rider game via laptop. We enjoyed a chicken/pork tenderloin meal together and we roasted marshmallows over the fire.

The evening entertainment included a couple of bucks locking horns just behind our campsite. Cool. Unfortunately it was too dark for photos. Mike and gang left early for the 'Star gazing' program at the Observatory. Ron and I enjoyed the stars from our spot at the campfire.

Sunday came and went with more of the same - great weather, biking, campfire.  Loving the Fall Colours!

And that brings us to the office this morning to pay for a few more nights. We are a little worried about the upcoming weather forecasts, but will stay put for now... Lots of wood, so a warm campfire remains inviting!

It's September!?

Cypress Hills, SK
Meadows Campground, Site #110 - $30 p only (x7), Temp 22C

Holy... SUMMER... Where did you go so quickly?? I can hardly get my head around the fact that the cabin is closed and we are camping. Yikes! It was a bit of a whirlwind week leading up to this point. There was a lake visit with Richard and Janice. A trip back to Medicine Hat for laundry and groceries plus we picked up Kari at the airport. Then it was back to lake for a weekend of partying and wedding festivities in SC. (Gail's son Lucas and Maddy got hitched.) The cabin was closed and packed up with water lines blown and the pier taken out. Back at home we enjoyed one last evening with Kari before she flew home. We retrieved and packed up the RV, then, lo and behold, HERE WE ARE! Camping. At Cypress Hills Provincial Park.

It took a few tries to find a decent site. Who knew it would be this busy? And unfortunately for us, the Online Reservations are still available cutting down the "First Come" choices. 

Anyway, the weather was great and the firewood is free so we enjoyed our first evening. Well, mostly... WASPS... 'Tis the season. Yuck! 

Friday: Mike and Gail will be arriving at the park shortly and Zoe and Ashton will be here for the weekend. Let the good times roll!

and we are home . . .

We talked about where to go next. And you know what? Home started to sound pretty good. We had lunch at the park and then put the old GPS on "Go Home".

And home feels and looks good! The RV will be back in storage tomorrow and we look forward to spending some time on our deck.

Beauvais Lake near Pincher Creek, AB

Beauvais Lake Prov Pk
Site #11, $30 (x3) p only, cell but no wifi

Sunday morning we were packed up and on the road at 10:30 am. Our first stop? Pincher Creek liquor store. That's why we had to leave Cardston -- lol -- not really.. (but maybe?).

Check out at Beauvais isn't until 2 pm but we pulled in to a decent spot in the 'first come first serve' area. Some Prov. Parks mark all their best sites as Reserve and we get left with the worst. Thankfully this is not the case in this campground. By 2 pm the weekenders were vacated and we plus a few more seniors had moved in. A typical Sunday in the campgrounds during May and June. 

from our campsite

We did a quick bike tour of the area and Ron thought he'd found the jackpot along the road. Disappointment. It was wet and rotten.

We did enjoy a nice campfire in the evening and roasted marshmallows. 

Ron is checking out one of the old homesteads, the Lynch Cabin.

There are a lot of Grouse in the area. We hear their frequent drumming. We have really enjoyed all the different birds at the various campgrounds we've visited this year. We are making good use of the Audubon Bird App on Ron's phone. There were Grebes nesting near the shore. I'm not sure what is holding her nest up?? 

The Conservation Officer came by on day 2 and told us a bear had been spotted in the campgrounds and we were told to pack away our barbecue and stove at night.

There are many hiking trails in the area. Ron checked out the Beaver Ponds and the old Smith Homestead. 

It was a great three nights although we experienced more wind than we would have liked. This is certainly a windy part of the province. One of our campfires was cut short because of the wind. That was the main reason we chose not to extend our stay.  Of course last night was perfect!

Our Cardston weekend

We did three nights in Cardston. Our underwear was washed, groceries were purchased, tanks were emptied and re-filled (hooray for full hookups!) and we enjoyed some free internet. We spent a good portion of the time indoors or in truck -- Because cool and windy. There were games of "Sequence" played.

I love being able to google the places we are visiting. So much to learn. Did you know that Cardston has had a ban on alcohol sales for over 100 years. There are no liquor stores and no alcohol is sold in restaurants or at any recreational facility such as the local golf course. The town is 80% Mormon and the Mormon temple, a granite monolith that was built over 100 years ago on 4 hectares of land is visible from almost everywhere in town. I'm thinking the other 20% of the population must be Indigenous with the town located on the edge of the Blood Indian Reserve. 

We always enjoy our driving tours. We happened upon a huge fishing derby at Payne Lake, not far from Waterton Lake.  This photo shows only a small portion of the units gathered around the one side of the lake. There were many more crammed in behind from where I stood. It was a beehive of activity -- all ages with fishing lines in the water.

We checked out a few other camping spots in the area but none really captured our interest.  We drove through "The Great Canadian Barn Dance" facilities which is displaying "For Sale" signs.  We remembered kicking up our heels in the big red barn many many years ago and a quick google search tells me that you can still head on over for their Friday night Dinner and dance party.

A couple of other sightings we found rather interesting. On our countryside drive through small town Hillspring there was a fellow out running his horse. The cowboy was in his truck driving down the wrong side of the highway holding the rope tied to his horse. The horse ran alongside in the ditch. We've seen people exercise their dogs this way, but this had to be a first! And we see very small town Glenwood is home to a large Saputo Plant - a large dairy producer. I had noted this label on my Armstrong Cheese and our Cottage cheese yesterday. Who knew!?

The campground was busier than we expected for the weekend. We were told that people come for the golf. There is a group from Calgary (currently 3 units) who rent for the entire camping season for just this reason. We did check out the course and yes, a very nice 18 holes.  

This evening the wind finally let up and we sat out for a short fire.  Tomorrow we plan to move on to Beauvais Lake south of Pincher Creek.