7/9/19
It has been a few days since we last had any opportunity, or wifi to post so it is time to catch up a bit. Warning, long post due ahead!
After our night in the hotel, Steve and I spent the majority of the day on Saturday exploring downtown Calgary with beautiful sun and warm temps.
Of course we also got rained on at the restaurant...
The showers did pass and we ended up having the first campfire of the trip - on day 12...
Live bear trap in Fernie - the sign says Danger, do not climb inside...
Steve and I woke to mainly dry conditions but cold weather on Monday as we headed out of Fernie (with heated gear on), towards Cypress Hills. Our route took us from British Columbia, across Alberta and into Saskatchewan. It was a cool day overall but at least we had no rain. Cypress Hills is like the Canadian version of the Black Hiils, a hilly forested area surrounded by badlands.
It has been a few days since we last had any opportunity, or wifi to post so it is time to catch up a bit. Warning, long post due ahead!
After our night in the hotel, Steve and I spent the majority of the day on Saturday exploring downtown Calgary with beautiful sun and warm temps.
Of course, we couldn't get through the day without some more weather excitement. Our campsite for the evening was in High River, just south of Calgary and we no more than got set up when a supercell dumped several inches of rain and hail on us. Steve and I thought we would either float away or end up with flooded tents. Thank goodness we made it through without either catastrophe.
Yes, the white areas in the middle of this picture are piles of hail...
On Sunday we rode to Fernie and resumed our planned itinerary. The campground was fantastic and the park manager suggested we ride past the park down a 5 mile dirt road to check out the Island Lake Lodge. We found beautiful views and an excellent farm to table restaurant. The lodge was about as remote as you could get and is the dropoff point for cat skiing in the winter. As our server was taking orders from the table next to us, she said "oh sorry, I was distracted by that moose over there". That may top the list of interesting things I have heard from a waitress taking a dinner order. Of course it also rained on us while we were there...
The showers did pass and we ended up having the first campfire of the trip - on day 12...
Live bear trap in Fernie - the sign says Danger, do not climb inside...
Steve and I woke to mainly dry conditions but cold weather on Monday as we headed out of Fernie (with heated gear on), towards Cypress Hills. Our route took us from British Columbia, across Alberta and into Saskatchewan. It was a cool day overall but at least we had no rain. Cypress Hills is like the Canadian version of the Black Hiils, a hilly forested area surrounded by badlands.
As we were getting ready for bed, after a second night with a campfire at Cypress Hills, we had a visitor to our campsite. A bull moose decided he liked the berries and hung around only feet from our tents for about a half hour - sorry no pictures. After another dry night, we woke to cool temps and significant cloud cover. As the ride progressed today, the temperatures did not, staying in the upper 50's to around 60 the whole time. Added to that were strong cross winds and of course, rain...
We pulled into Weyburn, Saskatchewan around 1pm and after looking at the radar decided that we would opt for a hotel for the second time on this trip. It had rained nearly 2 inches in the area before we arrived and we decided that we have been wet enough on this trip. Surprisingly, this rural town had some nice accommodations. The Microtel was less than $100 US and had free chili for dinner, hot tub and sauna and free breakfast...
Hoping for dry weather for the remainder of the trip. Tomorrow we head to St. Malo in Manitoba for our last night in Canada.
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