On the Road South
We headed out early this morning. Not too early, but soon enough to beat the traffic. It was a good 8 hour drive from my house to the campground. And my parents had an extra half hour on top of that. It's a little surreal, as when I think back to the Europe trip where I hit 3 countries in a day. And all we did in a day was drive through about half of the province. Crazy times. Although, Dad was impressed we used less diesel than he expected.
It wasn't all just driving and watching the flat farmland turn to mountains. We made a detour through Okotoks to see the Okotok Erratic. What a random tourist attraction. It's really just a big chunk of rock in the middle of a field. But it was nice to get out of the truck to stretch our legs. And get us started on the tourist things. They do have really big hopes on the potential. The have a very impressive handicap ramp to let people down the small hill to see it. I can't say that I would put this on the top of any one's Alberta bucket list but it was an amusing distraction. And we did compare other rocks for the rest of the tour to this one.
We're staying in a campground only 3 km from the entrance to Waterton National Park. Which is spectacular as we passed many of the other places we thought about, and they were all at least half an hour away. The campground is actually owned by a conservation group so it's very untouched and picturesque. The conservation group actually has land about half the size of Waterton park placed in the Waterton Park front where they work with the ranchers and locals to use the land responsibly. The campground is impressively quiet. We've counted over 80 tents and trailers set up yet it's just really quiet. And really private as we had to walk around a lot to even find those other tents hidden in the bushes. And the one spot right next to us never had anyone there so we had a lot of space and privacy. Also, we had a delightful view of the mountains in the background while we were hanging around the campsite!
The conservation group has a little path to explain the diversity, and on the other side of the barbed wire fence (there is a lot of barbed wire down here) is the park itself. We're really close. But don't worry, we drove in and paid our way rather than hiking in from the outskirts! And look, I found another rock.
The evening amusement was to see all the mole hills around our campsite. Dad is a big mole hunter but we had to leave them alone. It was amusing and terrifying to see how much digging the moles were doing. The last few nights they were even digging around the legs of the neighbours tent trailer. Seemed like there was some potential to throw the tent trailer off balance a little. But we weren't there for it if it happened.
It wasn't all just driving and watching the flat farmland turn to mountains. We made a detour through Okotoks to see the Okotok Erratic. What a random tourist attraction. It's really just a big chunk of rock in the middle of a field. But it was nice to get out of the truck to stretch our legs. And get us started on the tourist things. They do have really big hopes on the potential. The have a very impressive handicap ramp to let people down the small hill to see it. I can't say that I would put this on the top of any one's Alberta bucket list but it was an amusing distraction. And we did compare other rocks for the rest of the tour to this one.
We're staying in a campground only 3 km from the entrance to Waterton National Park. Which is spectacular as we passed many of the other places we thought about, and they were all at least half an hour away. The campground is actually owned by a conservation group so it's very untouched and picturesque. The conservation group actually has land about half the size of Waterton park placed in the Waterton Park front where they work with the ranchers and locals to use the land responsibly. The campground is impressively quiet. We've counted over 80 tents and trailers set up yet it's just really quiet. And really private as we had to walk around a lot to even find those other tents hidden in the bushes. And the one spot right next to us never had anyone there so we had a lot of space and privacy. Also, we had a delightful view of the mountains in the background while we were hanging around the campsite!
The conservation group has a little path to explain the diversity, and on the other side of the barbed wire fence (there is a lot of barbed wire down here) is the park itself. We're really close. But don't worry, we drove in and paid our way rather than hiking in from the outskirts! And look, I found another rock.
The evening amusement was to see all the mole hills around our campsite. Dad is a big mole hunter but we had to leave them alone. It was amusing and terrifying to see how much digging the moles were doing. The last few nights they were even digging around the legs of the neighbours tent trailer. Seemed like there was some potential to throw the tent trailer off balance a little. But we weren't there for it if it happened.
I am jealous of your stopping at the Okotoks Erratic! We drive past it almost every time we go to Turner Valley, and I always want to stop but Joe says no. I guess when you have been driving for 3 1/2 hours it doesn't sound appealing to stop 20 minutes from your destination.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah! Did you know that Big Rock Brewery is named after the erratic?
Amanda