Alberta is Flat

Very Flat - Next Stop Saskatchewan - Also Flat

100 km of long straight road

By the time we departed River Grove Campground in Drumheller, we had completed 2614 km of our trip.  Admittedly, 300 of those was a dash into Calgary on Monday morning to get the roof glass replaced.  Which is now done.  We are again watertight!  The duct tape did its job but also done a job on the roof, which I anticipate will need respraying when we return home, along with the corner of the front right bumper that I scraped reversing the trailer into a tight campsite. 

We knew we were going to miss the BC mountains. As they receded in our rear-view mirror the elevation reduction was not as much as we'd anticipated.  

Drumheller is 640m above sea level.  This part of Alberta is flat oil, gas, cereal and cattle country.  The wide open spaces often talked about.  What we hadn't anticipated was the long straight roads.  

Driving back from Calgary with my new roof glass Hwy 72 became Hwy 9 and it was like the picture above for over 100 km.  It reminded me of very, very, very small sections of the A303 in Wiltshire with wide open fields either side; but these go on forever! 

If this part of Southern Alberta is flat, Drumheller is one of the exceptions.  Set in a long river valley carved by the Red Deer River in the soft sedimentary rocks there were real hills! 

The valley is easily eroded by water and has been a major centre for the discovery of dinosaurs and fossils.  As a result the place is a mecca for paleontologists, fossil hunters, geologists... and Fred!

The landscape is quite unusual and like nothing I have seen before... like stepping back in time.

Multiple layers including coal

The multiple layers erode at different speeds, which create some interesting features like the 'hoodoos'.  Mushroom-like outcrops where the harder caps end up sitting on top of a softer base layer. 

Some of them can be several metres high.  The Royal Tyrrell Museum (it was bestowed the "Royal" acclamation by the Queenin recognition of its significance and contribution to the study of paleontology in 1990) is well worth a visit.  Fred did a tour while I looked after Jack and it is a definite stop if you're driving through Drumheller.  Large dinosaur models as well as a viewing area over the scientific labs where paleontologists and other scientists are working on finds.

We did one of the trails near the museum and were struck by a sign that said don't walk off the path onto the grey surface that covered the steeper banks and which runs off when wet.  A day later walking Jack one morning I discovered why.  When wet it sticks like clay and has to be washed off.  It's pretty yucky stuff.  

We have now stayed in a mix of privately owned campgrounds, national and provincial parks.  The parks have been well laid out, well maintained and clean even if the facilities were not always new.  The exception was Manning Park Skyview Campground which had only recently been completed and very new.

Some of the private parks were more state of the ark, than state of the art, River Grove Campground in Drumheller for example having rather tired facilities and in need of investment.  The only place we would probably not go back to is the Kikomun Creek PP, which was a long way off our journey, had limited facilities and Lake Koocanusa was off limits, yet it was the reason for the stay there; the park itself was quite scenic and very desert-like in 33 deg C. Still, we used it as a base to explore the Kootenays, including Invermere and Lake Windermere, yes you read that right!

Leaving Drumheller we drove East on the Trans-Canada Hwy 1, through Medicine Hat and then South down Hwy 41 to Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park sitting astride the Alberta/Saskatchewan boundary and just 70km north of Montana in the USA.   

Set around Lake Elkwater (we have seen no elk), it has dozens of campgrounds set in both forested woods and fescue grassland.   It's beautiful.  They have lake activities, RV parks, cabins and isolated areas for those doing back-country camping, aka just tents.  Easily lost in the 200 km2 of parkland, dwarfed by the Saskatchewan side which is 400 km2 

On our first full day we hiked a couple of trails that took us up to the top of the surrounding hills and a viewpoint overlooking the Alberta prairies.  Just under 10 km round trip with 1000m of elevation.  Up through the forest and down on a sunny ridge trail.  Hard work but well worth it.

Whilst at the lake edge I met up with another 'birder' who got chatting about what we had seen so far.  Ironically, turned out he and his wife also set off from BC on June 2nd and were going across Canada too.  We've exchanged contact details and will keep in touch as our paths might well cross again.  We enjoyed a few glasses in their company!

Friday it rained most of the day so aside from exercising Jack, we decided to take a recommended 50km drive, up into the hills to check out some viewpoints and around some of the local farmland.  A number of the roads billed as highways were gravel roads with ranches and farmsteads either side (and 80kmh speed limits!).  In the two hours we were out we only passed one vehicle.  We did the blue West Driving Route and part of the red.

Saturday we head into Saskatchewan (SK) and Peanut Hills Campground, Moose Jaw.  Don't you just love the names?  

Given that SK is meant to be flatter than Alberta, we anticipate Peanut Hills to be an accurate description. 

Red Deer River valley sides - see high school below

We liked the way the high school walls had been matched to the geological strata 

Drumheller - Rock Wren

Royal Tyrrell Museum - child's paradise

Feeling artistic!

Viewpoint from the top of our hike up Beaver Creek in Cypress Hills

Downhill on the sunny Horseshoe Canyon ridge 

Red Winged Blackbird - a beautiful song

One of our off-road 'highways'

Broad Winged Hawk - I think!

A pair of Lark Sparrows - protecting their nest on the trail on North Dinosaur Trail, Drumheller

The nodding donkeys probably exceeded the number of wind turbines we saw