Week ending Aug 7, 2014 Vulcan

Thursday evening Karen and Dominique arrived. The first point of business was to set up their tent. We just finished that job and a storm blew in.  We discovered the tent wasn`t in the best location so we moved it behind the trailer, where it was a bit sheltered from the wind.  There was a bit of hail in the rain, but not enough to do any damage to either the trailer or Karen`s new car.

Friday after drying out Karen’s tent we went to visitor information to pick up info for Karen’s vacation, stopped at the liquor store and picked up some clothes pegs.  We also wandered through the trekky museum in Vulcan. The rest of the day was spent visiting with Karen and Dominique and making plans for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday we went for a drive. Our first stop was Brant, a little town we have seen the sign for many times when traveling between High River and Vulcan.  Its only claim to fame now is a water pump in the middle of its main street intersection. Brant was named after the annually migrating Brant Geese. 

Our next stop was Frank Lake Conservation area. We have driven by Frank Lake for years and never seen the conservation area, but this trip we were on a different road that took us past the south end of the lake  where the conservation area is located with its walking trail.  We decided to investigate Azure, a very small town, in fact all that is left is a grain elevator that is on private property.  We then went to hunt for “Old Women Buffalo Jump”, a highlight marked on our Alberta backroads map.  The reason no one knows about most of the many buffalo jumps around Alberta is that they are unrecognizable as Buffalo Jumps and there are no historic signs pointing them out.  After much discussion we decided we found it, but it is not nearly as spectacular as Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump. 

By this time it was time for a snack, what better place than the candy store in Nanton.  After Nanton we checked out Chain Lakes campground for future use. It was the long weekend and surprisingly there were still a couple of sites available. At this point we decided to head for the nearest Walmart to pick up a large tarp for Karen, to protect her tent and hopefully keep her dry. Off to Okotoks. We picked up a tarp and a few other things and then headed back to Vulcan, going through Mossleigh. We had a busy day seeing all sorts of things on roads less traveled in central Alberta.

Sunday we relaxed in the campground, and watched the car race. 

Monday was another exploration day. We headed to Arrowwood, a small town Joan had wanted to visit for some time. Many years ago a lady from Arrowwood had worked with her at a City of Calgary election. She had been told about a great western wear store there. As we left the trailer John said he had to navigate because he wanted to go on some back roads. Off we went. Joan blindly following John’s instructions, to drive along roads beside the Arrowwood Creek valley.   We turned onto a road, that quickly turned into a rutted lane.  After a couple of miles of this, we figured we needed to follow the power line, another two track lane, to head back toward a grid road, which we could see in the distance. Finally we arrived at the road.  It turned out that we had turned a mile early.  The backroads book showed only  an entrance into a field at the previous turn.   Glad we have a big truck that can handle minor off-roading. We eventually got to Arrowwood. We discovered the great western wear store has been closed, apparently for quite a while.  

But we did notice that there was a very small RV park,  with full service and cement parking pads, perfectly level. Rates were amazing, so another place not too far from High River where we can stay when in the area.  We then stopped at the bridge over the Bow River north of town. The bridge was washed out last year by the flood.  There are signs of work on it, but it is still not repaired and looks as it it could still be some time before the repairs are complete. I guess the biggest complaint about this bridge wash out is that the Siksika reserve is on both sides of the river and it must take a long time for the people on the Arrowwood side to get to Gleichen.  We then headed back to Vulcan stopping to take a look at 2 other towns marked on our back country maps, Anastasia, now reduced to a farmyard and Shouldice, a group of homes with no businesses.  We stopped for a picnic lunch next to a field of ripe peas.

A few miles down the road, we were driving through the small community of Queenstown when we noticed a stage coach.   We don't see many of them in our travels.

 Tuesday Joan went to the hospital to get her blood work done in preparation for her CT scan booked for August 15th.  Then we did laundry.

Wednesday morning we headed for Chain Lakes Provincial Park while Karen and Dominique headed to the Crowsnest area. The only service it has is 30 amp power. We discovered that the provincial parks have a deal to 'stay 3 nights pay for 2',  providing all 3 nights are from Sunday to Thursday.   It works out that if you stay for a week, you to stay for 7 days and pay for 6. We have come to the conclusion that the provincial parks must be having trouble filling up, since we haven't seen this offer before.  Shortly after we had paid at the self-server registration kiosk,  the warden came by to find out why we had only paid for 6 days.   Despite the explanation Joan had written on the envelope,  he still needed us to explain that our week included  Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights, which entitles us to get the 3rd night, in this case Tuesday,  free.

Although we had our choice of most of the sites in the A loop (which can not be reserved), most of the sites filled up later in the day.