We've had our second camping trip of the year; this time we tooled down to Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park. Stuart and I actually used some vacation time, so we got to pack up and head out on Wednesday! That's only a week ago as I type and already the details are getting hazy but let me tell you what I remember.
For some reason, we were busy and didn't get nearly all our packing done on Tuesday (oh right! Sale at Camper's Village) so we got out of town MUCH later than planned on Wednesday. We stopped in High River at the Hitchin' Post for lunch. The food was just as I remembered - the real reason to go is the fresh fruit milkshakes - but their site has changed. It's still the teeny little stall, but it now sits on a small parking lot rather than the huge tree-filled space they had before. I don't drive in High River much, but I really can't see how the traffic circle they put in was necessary. Very disappointing.
We chose to skip the trip through Lethbridge and instead we took Highway 2 to Granum and cut east on the 519. It deadends into the 845 which took us south again to hook up with Highway 4 which got us to Milk River and our final run east on the 501 to the park. It was a great drive: sunny weather, barely any traffic and Ursa stayed awake for more of the trip.
That was due to the other thing I meant to mention: Stuart built her a nifty platform in the back seat. Back when we first got her, I bought a sort of sling for our car. It worked well enough when she was a puppy, but at full growth, the hooks and grommets just weren't up to her weight. Several times now, things have gone sproing and she's ended up sprawled awkwardly in the foot well and we have to stop the car to get her out. Not optimal. Plus, she's too big to stand up back there, but lying down, her head was just a wee bit too low to look comfortably out the window. So Stuart built a two piece platform that we upholstered with some foam that goes over the seat and the foot well. She can't fall in and she can see out! She was a bit hesitant about jumping in with it at first, but now I think she's happier about getting in the car and she spends more time awake and looking out.
It was lovely and sunny for our whole drive, but as we got closer to the park, there was a dark cloud on the horizon. Getting ever closer, we began to realize that in the middle of the bright, sunny plains, this big black cloud was parked directly over our destination. And it stayed there all night. We checked in, found our site, said hello to the Henders, set up camp, had dinner and the whole time it was dark, very windy and occasionally dropped water on us. You could walk to the edge of the campground, get out from under the trees and see that there was sun all around but only cloud over head. Now that's what I call a micro-climate!
We went to bed.
The rest of the trip was perfectly lovely, weather-wise. High 20sC, sunny and a varying breeze to keep you from getting too hot. The Henders family was in the next campsite, test driving their newly purchased tent trailer. I think they were pretty pleased with it's performance, although they did discover that if they put both adults in one bed, the weight changed the shape of the tent enough to allow the door to open on it's own! Oh well, a hook and eye bolt will take care of that. :)
We spent a lot of the trip just relaxing, eating "kid" camp food (hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, salsa, s'mores, etc.), playing with the boys and walking with Ursa. We did the lower part of the Hoodoo Trail on Thursday and Ursa did really well. She's much happier working in the heat when it's someplace new, rather than her regular old dog park. We saw hawks, falcons, antelope, deer and heard an owl all the time at our site, but we never saw or heard a rattler! Very disappointing, since the place is wallpapered in signs warning about them. The end of the trail is at the Battle Scene which gives the park its name - a picture of a battle between several tribes that was carved into the sandstone wall by a First Nations artist. The picture includes guns so it's not pre-historical old, but it's been there long enough that weather has worn it pretty much down. There will only be photos soon.
We didn't play in the river at all, which several people have told me since then is a great activity. Ursa wasn't allowed on the beach and there wasn't any other obvious place to get in and out. The banks in a lot of places were quite steep. We also climbed up into the hoodoos above the camp and clambered about for a bit.
On Friday, the Henders packed up and headed out in good time, since they were headed for Calgary and their usual Friday night potluck party. Since Stuart and I were only going to Medicine Hat, we had a more leisurely morning. We took Ursa for another walk on the Hoodoo Trail, this time taking the upper branch for a better view of the old RCMP camp at the end of Police Coulee. The forecast high that day was 32C and even before noon it was pretty scorching. Ursa was happy to drink a gallon of water and lay about watching us pack up camp afterward.
Next post, I will tell you about the 2011 Elle Family Reunion!
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