Pincher Creek to Waterton

Tuesday-Wednesday, Sept. 7-8 - Todd needed to go into Ft. McCloud this morning, so Jerry, Joe and I rode along with him. We stopped at a couple of fields and he showed Joe the canola plants and mustard plants that grow in this area. There are lots of hay fields around here, mostly the big round bales, and we saw a truck unloading them in the field.

Then Todd took us to Sproule Agro Feedlot, where he worked for 10 years. We had talked the night before about the fact that I used to work for the company that manufactured and sold RALGRO, an implant for cattle, and Todd said he still uses RALGRO. This feedlot also uses RALGRO, and it was fun to talk a little bit about that, since I had worked for that company for 18 years (16 in Indiana, 2 in Phoenix).

Todd gave us a full feedlot tour. This feedlot owner leases most of the Indian reservation ground around here, and is a huge rancher in the area. There was lots going on today. Joe and I had toured Monfort of Colorado Feedlot in Greeley a long, long time ago, and it was all very interesting to us.

We got back to Todd's ranch, and then got ready to head to Waterton National Park.

It was only about an hour's drive, and although it had been sunny at Todd's, the closer we got to Waterton, the cloudier it got, and sure enough, it was sprinkling by the time we set up camp. Just after we drove into the park, we saw our first deer, right beside the road.

We camped at the Townsite Campground, which is right in town. Deer roam freely about this little village - we saw several in yards and even in the campground itself, and we had to watch where we stepped in the campground because there were lots of piles of deer droppings all over the campground. The hook-up for the sewer at the campsites was in the middle of the road of the parking spot, and one-legged Jerry had to crawl under his fifth-wheel to get hooked up. Joe gave him a hard time about that.

There's a huge "Prince of Wales" Hotel, which is a National Historic Site, that greets you from atop a hill as you drive into the little town. Collins, Marilyn, Jerry and Judy went to there for drinks, while Joe and I went for an evening drive, scouting for bears (unsuccessfully).

Joe and I drove back to Cameron Falls, which is very pretty, then we drove out to Cameron Lake. Marilyn's sister had told us we had a good chance of seeing bears at this lake, but there were none around. It was misty rainy, and I think they must all be fair-weather bears. But there was beautiful scenery, and we saw a dozen deer along the way. We had seen a dozen deer in town too, so that made 24 for the day.

The lake was pretty, and the water was crystal-clear.

We got up Wednesday morning and decided to take a cruise on Upper Waterton Lake, even though it was cloudy and chilly. We saw on top on the ride down, but all except Joe wimped out on the return trip and sat inside.

The international boundary has a swath cut through the forest, so it was easy to see when we crossed into Montana.

We had a pretty good narrator on the boat so we learned a lot about the lake. And there was pretty mountain scenery as well.

We came back to the camper and had a quick lunch, then Joe, Jerry and I took off for a drive again. We had not seen any deer when we went to the boat dock, but we did see 6 in town as we drove through this time.

We made our first stop back at Cameron Falls to get some pictures.

We took a slow drive on the Red Rock Canyon Road, and on the way back out we saw a deer walking beside the road. By the time we got up to where we had seen it, it had disappeared, so Joe and I took a little hike and found it lying down in a small grove of trees.

Joe hiked up a little higher because we thought there were two of them, but he never did see a second one.

Then we drove out of the campground to the bison paddock, where we saw a coyote on a little lake, and then found the herd of 8 buffalo.

On our way back to camp we took another side road, Hay Barn Road, and came upon two piles of bear droppings, but still no bears. Todd and his family were driving down for dinner, bringing home-grown steaks with them, so we gave up on our scouting and headed home. We had a great visit with Todd and his family, and had a great dinner.

As we finished eating, the sprinkles started -- first time today -- so we got everything put away and Todd took his family home so they could get the kids ready for school tomorrow. We are leaving Waterton for Glacier National Park tomorrow. Maybe there will be some bears there!

Pincher Creek, Alberta

Sunday/Monday - Sept. 5-6 - On our way back from the rodeo, it started raining again, and continued to rain about all night.  It got pretty cold, 44 I think.  Marilyn's sister and brother-in-law, Linda and Gordie, had driven out from Calgary and were spending the night with them.  Collins grilled steaks for all of us, in the rain, and we had a nice visit with them.

Sunday morning, I got the laundry caught up again, and Marilyn fixed biscuits and gravy for the group, then we headed out to Pincher Creek, in the rain.  It was pretty nasty, cold, and we noticed the raindrops on our windshield were getting a little slushy.  We kept discussing whether or not it was sleeting or snowing, or just raining, but we went up an little bit of a hill, and it was definitely snowing!

We went a little further, and there was ground cover!

 kjh

 But it didn't last too long and we were back down in the rain.  Collins and Marilyn had missed a turn on our Cowboy Trail highway, so they were about 15 minutes behind us.  We arranged to meet at the Walmart in Pincher Creek.  As we came up on hill, we saw a windmill farm behind the town. 

As we turned off Highway 6 into town, there was a nice artistic display of a cowboy herding cattle.  This area is known as "where the prairies meet the mountains," and we could see the Rockies in the distance.

 We met up with the Brundiges, then drove on through town and to the campground where Judy and Jerry (our hosts in May at Kingsgate and Collins' cousin) were waiting for us.  This campground was right on Waterton Dam, but we were the only ones there since the weather had turned so nasty.  Jerry and Judy had arrived on Saturday, and Jerry had gone fishing this morning and caught a real nice Northern Pike.  We "circled the wagons" to keep the wind out, and Jerry had a campfire going already.  Judy's daughter and her family drove out for dinner, which they brought with them, so we had a nice visit with them.

Monday morning was sunny, so we walked down to the lake.  One brave family was launching their boat -- they were the only ones on the lake.  There was a nice pier here, but only the seagulls were enjoying it.

I scared them away, though.

Collins and Jerry took a rest break, so I walked out on the pier.  I really had to watch my step, since the birds had left their impact on it.  The mountains behind me, with last night's snow, were really beautiful.

After breakfast, we headed to Cardston, where the Remington Carriage Museum is located.  Don Remington donated his collection of 48 carriages to the Province of Alberta under the stipulation that the province would build a building to display them.  The Museum has added to the original collection and has about 275 carriages now, most on display here but some at a storage facility in Lethbridge.  The Remington Carriage Museum collection of horse drawn vehicles is the largest in North America, and the second largest in the world.

Cardston is also the home of George Woolf, the jockey who rode Sea Biscuit to victory.  There is a statute outside the Museum of this, and a wall of photos from Sea Biscuit's races.

We took a guided tour, which was extremely interesting, then walked around on our own afterward and watched the movie. 

There was a wide variety of carriages, horse-drawn and horse-less, and several sleighs. 

We got to step inside this next one, and the tour guide rocked it so we could see what the ride would have been like.

There is also a tack room here, and when Don Remington passed away his family donated his bridles and tack to the museum. 

There is also a workshop here, staffed by 2 men in their 70s, and a volunteer in his 50s, who do restoration work, mostly for individuals.  They do some work for the museum, but most of their work is for people who bring in old carriages to be restored for themselves.  Collins would like to volunteer some of his time here.

Two of the carriages we thought would be of interest to Cody are the school buses below.

We finished the tour there and stopped in town for lunch, then headed back to camp to move our rigs to Todd's place.  Todd (Judy's son) and his family had gone camping for the weekend and were not home yet, but we invaded their territory  anyway.  Joe and Jerry are relaxing outside Jerry's 5th wheel.  You can see that Jerry has removed his artificial leg as he relaxes.

I went out to take some pictures just as Todd pulled into their drive-way.

From his ranch, you can see for miles and miles.  His house was built in 1898, and he has cattle, some horses, llama, many dogs, some cats, a goat and one of his kids has a hampster.  There may be other critters we haven't met yet.

We had a cook-out with Todd's family -- one of his boys grilled the burgers and hot dogs -- and we actually were able to sit out on the deck to eat.  But as soon as the sun went down, we all headed indoors, it gets cold fast out here on the prairie!

We are heading out tomorrow for the national parks, so I don't know if we'll have internet or phone service for a few days. 

But we are really looking forward to seeing some bears in these parks!