2012/07 Western Canada trip - Kootenay Wildlife Zone |
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Tuesday July 17th
We had a sunny morning at last for our long haul across the prairies to the busy city of Red Deer. From there it was a steady climb up the David Thompson highway through the valley of the North Saskatchewan River. It’s a quiet road and it would take us into the northern section of Banff national park. The idea was to camp that evening just outside the park and be well positioned to grab a good campsite the next morning.
After the town of Rocky Mountain House, once the site of a Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading post, there’s only the tiny village of Nordegg
for fuel and a few groceries. We stopped for lunch at the Horburg recreation area on the edge of the river, a nice little spot once we’d found it but not much to do there without a boat.
I’d planned to camp at Crescent Falls, another recreation area a short hop from the Banff national park. As we drove in, the sign said there was a campground and limited parking, a mixed message. Both were true. The parking area is too small for us to turn around. The campground has plenty of turning space, but can only be reached by driving through a creek, which was running high with all the rain. The t
ruck would have no problems but my bed in the trailer would probably get wet, so we didn’t risk it. We took a look at the waterfall and then reversed the trailer so it was hanging down between the trees. Luckily we have the pintle hitch, as it would have likely 
popped off a regular ball hitch. Down below the waterfall, the river has carved this canyon.
We drove on past Abraham Lake, a gorgeous pale blue, but somewhat marred by the bathtub ring below its banks; it’s a reservoir, not yet 
filled by the year’s snowmelt.
We camped at Two o’clock Creek in the Kootenay Wildlife Zone, a series of flowery meadows surrounded by mountains, yet another gorgeous camping spot. Firewood was thrown in so we cooked outside on a warm sunny evening with a brief shower and a rainbow.
Wednesday July 18th 
We were even closer to the park than I’d planned so we had time for some exploring. A short walk, to see where the trail went, turned into a long trek up through an aspen forest and then along the top of a cliff that overlooks the meadows. It was too steep to climb down so we walked even further to where we could get down off the ridge.
On our way into the park we met this black bear, feeding at the roadside, our first since leaving Yellowstone. 