Friday, we walked downtown to see if the hardware store had more string for our blinds. They were out, but thought that there might be some on the load later that day.
Saturday, we walked downtown for the 'trade show', and checked to see if the string had come in. No luck on either count. We're not sure what happened to the trade show.
Sunday, we walked along the canal-side road out to a grid road, back to town along the highway, and then through the golf community north of the campground.
Monday, we moved to Pincher Creek. After getting set up we did laundry at the coin laundry.
Tuesday, we did a walk along Pincher Creek, which flows right behind the campground, and along main street. Stopped at visitor info to pick up the Beauvais Lake PP brochure, and some info on hiking. They were out of the summer trails guide for the area, so sent us to the Provincial Building, where we got one.
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| One of many murals downtown |
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St Johns Anglican Church - 1884
The oldest continuously practicing Anglican church in Alberta |
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| Lebel Mansion |
While we were shopping earlier in the day, Joan had been looking at some dates. It got John thinking back to the Medjool date milkshakes at Imperial Date Gardens by Yuma. So we picked up some Medjool dates and French vanilla ice cream. When we got back to the trailer Joan made date milkshakes. They were excellent.
Wednesday, we went to Beauvais Lake PP. We started at Scotts Point, doing a 1km hike along the point. Then we did a 5km, 180m elevation gain hike taking us up to Piney Point Viewpoint where we had fantastic views of the prairie, and a gateway into the mountains.
We returned down to the south west side of the lake, then back along the South Shore Trail.
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| Lily Pads |
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| Beauvais Lake |
We checked out the campground, and there are several power sites from which we should be able to get satellite signal. There are many trails through the hills on the west side of the park. On our way back from the park, we noticed an osprey, with 2 young ones, on a nest.
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| Osprey with young |
On Wednesday evening, we called George to confirm his vacation time, and let him know where we are. He starts his vacation at the end of next week, so we booked the week from July 25 to Aug 1 back here at the Pincher Creek Veterans Memorial Campground.
Thursday, we did the Carbondale Hill Outlook Hike. It was described as a 3.5 km hike with a 460m elevation gain on the access road to a fire lookout. The trail surface was good, but it was a steady uphill slog. We got to the 3.5 km mark around 2 hours, but were still 100m below the 1800m elevation of the lookout. At this point, Joan decided she had gone as far as she needed to go. At that point, there were panaramic views of the Castle River valley, and the mountains to the south. We were past the last set of gates before the lookout, but it was still not in sight. Once again John carried on to see how far it was to the lookout. After about half a kilometer, the lookout could now be seen, well above the road. Shortly after that, a skittish deer was taking a shortcut straight up the slope that the road was crossing.
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After another switchback on the road, getting back under the lookout, at about .8km past where Joan stopped, John noticed that the road continued past the lookout, still about 50m above the road. He decided to return, since it looked like it could still be another .5km to get right up to the lookout, and Joan had been waiting long enough.
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| Carbondale Hill Lookout |
We headed back down the road, stopping at a viewpoint about 2km above the parking lot to have our lunch. While there, we chatted with a young fellow who has been working at Castle Mountain Resort for the last 5 years. We could see the runs on Castle Mountain from the viewpoint.
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| Castle Resort |
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Our hike was 8.3 km in 3.5 hours. The guide book said 1.5 to 2 hours to the outlook, so we weren't a whole lot longer than estimated. On the way back from the hike, we stopped at the Beaver Mines General Store, but they didn't have any slush drinks. Instead, Joan made date shakes again, a nice treat after a long walk.
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