Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Aug 31_DaGirls First Swaray Alberta

We departed Dawson Creek Saturday morning around 8ish, and headed east to Grand Prairie Alberta. GP was our refueling stop, before heading south to Jasper National Park.
What was the first thing we saw as we crossed into Alberta?
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_1_Entering into Alberta
DaGirls first stop was going to be William A. Switzer Provincial Park. W.A. Switzer park is about 16 miles west of Hinton on Hwy 40. Planned, what planned, “We Don’t Need No Stinking Plan” this is DaGirls Rv and we travel when and where we want.
We arrived after a long drive up and down the hills and then battling a head/side wind the last of the 50 miles. After signing in, checking out the sites we pulled into site F24. Long and spacious, that and 30 amps power we were all setup for the next 2 nights.
Next morning off we went in search of strange and unusual sites in the area:
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_4
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_6
Including these 2 on one of the back roads we traveled:
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_10
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_12
Our next stop was at the Nordic Center Road to the observation area Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_Observation 2
Once up, the final 3/4 of a kilometer (steep climb) the view was worth it.
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_16
Susan was deep in thought. What was she thinking? trips, grandkids, family, friends, what are DaGirls doing for 2016, Della, Tilly ?
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_14
Not really, she was reading about the Railroad tracks down below. But her thoughts produce some amazing results:
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_18
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_21
Once off the mountain, we headed into the town of Hinton around 6:30 ish, why you might ask? To see the Beaver Boardwalk. You see, there is a colony of beavers that have lived inside town for over 20 years. The town built a boardwalk thru the marsh area so people could come and go and see the beavers. Yep, for over 20 years this colony has lived and been part of the town.
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_22
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_23
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_24
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_25
Aug 30_Heading to_SwitzerPk_26
Susan and I were very fortunate that we arrived in time.
Now for the sad news, while we were driving we came upon a gathering of cars on the side of the road. It seems someone had hit a Mountain Lion and then someone was putting it in the back of his truck. We came just in time to snap photos and then we reported what we saw, and in the process, we found that when this happens it is to be reported and may not be possible to take the body for your own.
IMG_0056
IMG_0057
So we asked to be kept informed as to the outcome of what happens.
On our travel day (31st) we decided to park DaGirls in town, and then take the DaGirls jeep up to the high country. We talked to the ranger at the Bathtub Visitor Centre, she explained about the trophy rams up in the Whitehorse area. They are in a protected zone. She explained to take Hwy 40 to the town of Cadomin, and then just continue on the dirt road up past the tree line in the mountains. We should have asked how far the road was and was it a traveled road. We must have driven over 19 Klicks up the dirt road past Cadomin, and we still must have had over 30 klicks to go. We decided to turn around at the Mountain Park Cemetery:
DSCN1249
DSCN1250
and head back to DaGirls as we knew with the wind coming up had Jasper a busy place, well you understand.
Once back into Cadomin and heading home and telling ourselves about the lost chance of seeing Trophy Rams look what we can across:
Trophy Ram



Group
We had learned from our work at Custer State Park, that the Goats and Sheep's love to lick the roads. It seems they are able to get certain chemicals such as salt from the road.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Marfa Texas

Marfa is a city in the high desert of the Trans-Pecos in far West Texas, United States, between the Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Pa...