GREGOIRE LAKE PROVINCIAL PARK
August 7-10
Shortly after our return from the East Coast Glamping Trip, we went up to Fort McMurray to spend some time with our family there. We decided to try camping at Gregoire Lake which is about 30 km out of Ft. Mac. It's a lovely campground which was relatively untouched by the big forest fire from a few years ago. Our granddaughter, Nora, had a wonderful time at the beach, even though it wasn't super hot. Dave enjoyed the fishing off the dock, even though he'd brought the wrong fishing gear - or so he thought. He found that the ultra-light gear worked just fine and it was like fishing out of a barrel.
The added adventure was locking ourselves out of the trailer! Yes, that can happen. Thankfully Gregoire Lake is only 30 km from a town with a locksmith who could rescue us. Lesson learned.
PIERRE GREY'S LAKES PROVINCIAL PARK
August 18 - 24
A few weeks later we joined our fly-fishing friends, Dale and Nicole, at Pierre Grey's Provincial Park which is about 30 kms from Grande Cache. They had been fishing in cool rainy weather, but when we arrived the weather improved! This was Dave's first real fly-fishing experience and it was quite the learning curve. Lesson 1: Never try to walk forwards with fins (flippers) on your feet when trying to come ashore with the pontoon! You will go for an unexpected dunk in the lake!
There are three adjacent lakes in the park so it was fun for him to try his luck fishing at each one. Unfortunately, the only fish we saw all week was the one that Dale had caught the day we arrived and graciously offered to us for our first dinner!
While the three of them fished, I enjoyed hiking and biking around the campground and lakes, as well as trying my hand at some painting. Later in the week, Dave's sister joined us and the three of us went for a hike to the beautiful Muskeg Falls.
From there we went up to Grand Prairie for one night. What a noisy road-side campground in contrast to Pierre Grey's where there quiet, dark and had virtually cell phone coverage.
CYPRESS HILLS INTER-PROVINCIAL PARK
September 10 - 14
It was getting into September when we called our friends, Dennis and Irene, in southern Alberta and asked them if they'd want to go camping one last time for the summer. Sure! Why not? We decided to go to Elkwater in the Cypress Hills south of Medicine Hat.
It was a long rainy drive to the park. This did not bode well.
What an abrupt change in landscape when you come upon the park. To the right is bald prairie and to the left is hills and evergreen forest. It's some of the highest elevations on the prairies east of the Rockies.
Wednesday was much nicer (no rain) and Dave enjoyed some fishing at Elkwater Lake. He even brought one pike home for dinner! The rest of us went on a lovely bike ride along the boardwalk following the lake's edge. I miscalculated the width of a bridge crossing and my handle bars hit the rail and I went down in a heap. The resulting bumps and bruises limited my activity for the rest of the trip. But it's nice to sit and relax sometimes.
Thursday was even nicer as we went for a driving tour of the park and then stopped at Reesor Lake where both Dave and Dennis tried out their fly-fishing gear. It was a beautiful sunny warm calm day but they had no luck with catching anything.
The following morning the weather turned into the usual southern Alberta weather: windy. We left the park, stopped to visit a few people, and got as far as Lethbridge for the night. We were tired of fighting the wind. Saturday, on our way home, we stopped in Nanton for a bit to check out some of the interesting antique shops. Dave came home with a classic fishing rod.
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| (Thanks Irene for the photo.) |
FISH LAKE PROVINCIAL PARK
September 23 - 25
We thought the previous trip was the last one for the summer, but our friends, Dale and Nicole talked us into joining them one more time. Because of other commitments we only went for two nights. Fish Lake is west of Nordegg on the way to the national parks. What an absolutely beautiful drive both to and from the park. The autumn leaves were at their best and it was a photo-worthy scene around each bend in the road.
Our daughter's father-in-law, John, came out to the lake with his little boat and he and Dave had a wonderful afternoon of fishing. Dale was in his pontoon. "If you're dressed for the fall weather, it's not so bad", they said. Besides, catching a few trout made it all worthwhile. Meanwhile Nicole and I stayed warm by going for some walks along the lakeshore and visiting in the trailer.
We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves so it was very quiet at night. And very dark. The stars were amazing. It'd been a while since I'd seen so many stars so clearly.
The next day we went to Crescent Falls for a little walk. Dale told stories of fishing along these falls early in the summer when the water level was much higher. They were beautiful even now in fall.
