August 15, 2010 Waterton Day 2

Well day two in Waterton started out early. We haven’t really deviated from our early to bed, early to rise. We were up at around 7 am and headed off again. We lucked out today, the weather was beautiful, nice and sunny. We took the doors off the Jeep and headed up to Cameron Lake.

The first stop was along the Akamina Parkway, where we saw the first commercial oil well in Alberta. The original drill pipe is still in place at the bottom of the monument. A cairn in the shape of an oil derrick commemorates the discovery. It was estimated that the first oil well in Alberta produced 300 barrels a day. The natives and animals knew for thousands of years that the 'black gold' that seeped from the ground and into Cameron Creek. It was used for medicinal purposes, to smear on open wounds and for use as insect repellent. Shortly after this success, prospectors and other opportunists drilled wells throughout the park. Waterton Lakes National Park was commissioned in 1895, the fourth national park in Canada. However, due to the lack environmental laws and the fact that Alberta was not designated a province yet, drilling was permitted within the park borders.

The next stop was Cameron Lake. This was a beautiful location. The Akamina mountain range back up the lake and we got some fantastic pictures with the mountains reflecting in the water. We were going to hike around the mountain but there were grizzly bear warnings on the trail and decided that Lindy was too tempting an appetizer, so instead we looked with the spotting scopes to see if we could see any bears on the mountain side, but no luck.

As we headed back down the parkway back towards town we came upon a herd of mountain sheep running along the road. On our way back to the campsite we stopped at Cameron Falls. This is one of the most photographed places in Waterton. It was funny when I had woken up that morning, I took Lindy out for her morning business and all I could hear was this crashing noise. I know now that it was the waterfall. After taking pictures of the waterfall we headed back to the motor home for lunch. A quick snack and we were back on the road again, this time we headed up to the buffalo paddock.

This area is a fenced in area that has buffalo roaming free in. You can take your vehicle into the area and drive around a loop looking for the buffalo. It was a nice drive but all the buffalo were hanging around the lake, pretty much ignoring everyone. There was about seven of them. A couple bulls, some females and a bunch of young ones.

We then headed back into town to take some pictures of the Prince of Wales Hotel and the Lake in the sunshine. While we were up there I checked my GPS and saw that there was a new geocache not far from the hotel. I double checked the listing and it looked like no one had found it yet. So back into the Jeep and we motored back down to parking lot of the visitor centre. The description said that it was a short hike up the hill. When we checked the trail information we discovered that this was the Bear Hump Hike. Up we started, we got to the cache, about half way up, found it, but decided to continue up to the top of the trail and do the cache on the way back down. So onward and upward we continued. It was a lot longer than we thought. Everyone that was coming back down the trail kept telling us what a great view it was from the top, so we kept going. Well we finally made it to the top and everyone was right it was a fantastic view. There were lots of people at the top a whole bunch of cheeky chipmunks. They were really cute. We got some fantastic pictures from up there. After we had enjoyed the view, we headed back down the trail. It was a little harder on my knees going down than up, but as long as I used Lenny’s shoulder for balance I was fine. We picked up the cache on our way back. I was a little worried that with so many people on the trail someone else might have gotten it while we were at the top but I worried for nothing. We were the FTF and got a Tim Horton’s gift card. Well it turned out to be a great hike and we had worked up an appetite. So back to the campsite for a pot roast that we had put into the croak pot earlier in the day. After supper we went for a walk around the lake and took some pictures of the Bears Hump that we had hiked up earlier in the afternoon.

August 14, 2010 Waterton Park

Well after a great night’s sleep, we got up early and were on the road again. Highway 2, then turned down to Pincher Creek, we made it through town and headed down the highway towards Waterton. Len was a little tense; he still isn’t used to driving with the Jeep attached. The motor home pulls quite a bit and he really has to concentrate. Also with the Jeep attached it makes us much longer and harder to get around in tight spaces. I think that he is doing an excellent job. He keeps asking me when I want to learn to drive, but I figure he is stressed when he is driving, there is no way he would be able to relax with me driving. So we stopped just outside the park boundaries at a rest stop that gave some information about a park conservatory between the government and local ranchers. The W. Garfield Weston Foundation and local ranchers have preserved more than 100 square kilometers (27,000 acres) of Waterton park front into the largest private conservation initiative in Canadian history. Of course I had to check to see if there was a geocache there and of course there was. Quickly found it and then we were on our way into the park.

We had reservation for the town site campground which is right in the middle of the town of Waterton. Of course since we left the Crowsnest by seven in the morning, we arrived at the campground way before check in time. When I booked the reservation they didn’t have any sites for a motor home 28 ft or longer, so I fibbed a bit and said that we were 27 feet. So when we got there we double checked our site to make sure that we would fit, no problem, we even had enough room to park the Jeep in front. Since we couldn’t check into our site we decided to unhook the Jeep and take a quick tour of the town and go to the information booth to find out if anything was going on this weekend. We went up to the Prince of Wales Hotel, it is really quite magnificent and the view of the lake and the town is fantastic. We stopped in at the tourist information booth and made sure that it was okay to take Lindy on the trails with us, as long as we had her on a leash we were good. There were a couple of talks at night and we looked into the boat ride across the lake over to Goat Mountain on the Montana side of the border. We then went back to the campground to check in. After setting up camp we headed up to Red Rock Canyon and a geocache in the area.

We found a cache called the In the Footsteps of the First European Explorer, it was a mystery cache that took us to a history plaque about Lt. Thomas Blakiston. Originally a member of the Palliser Expedition, Blakiston, after several disagreements, continued on his own. Travelling south, Blakiston was particularly interested in finding a railway pass through the mountains. Reaching the area of the Crowsnest Pass, he asked his native guide what lay down the valley. His guide replied, 'many days of poor travel' (possibly relating to the large amount of windfall the aboriginal people, travelling on foot, preferred to avoid). Consequently, Blakiston missed the lowest and best pass in the Canadian Rockies for a railway. Had he discovered it, this may have changed the history of the west and national parks! When we found the cache it had directions to go to the Heritage Centre of the Waterton Natural History Association. There we gave them the info they needed; they gave us a book detailing Thomas Blakiston’s journeys and adventures. The book was written by the fellow who did the cache and his junior high school class. Very cool cache.

We then headed to Red Rock Canyon but unfortunately the parking lot was closed and the only way that you can get there was by bus, and unfortunately they did not allow dogs on the bus and it was over a mile each way to walk, so we found a rest area that had a real cool red river. The rock that is found in this area is called argillite which is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of clay and mud that has solidified into shale. Argillite is mainly found in the Queen Charlotte Islands, where they use black argillite to make carvings and sculptures. The rock in Waterton is bright red, hopefully the pictures can display this.

On our way back to the campsite we saw this brown object go running across the road. As we came up to the spot we looked up the bank and there was this little brown bear sitting back on his haunches tearing berries from the bushes and stuffing his face. We then finished off our day by having a great dinner and a nice walk along the lake and through the park.

August 13, Our Holidays Begin

Well today is the first day of our holidays, we left Creston after Len got off work at noon, we cleaned out the fridge, put the groceries in the motor home, and headed towards the Crowsnest Pass. We weren’t sure where we were going to stay, Our official destination was Waterton Park, we had reservation in the town site for Saturday.

We made it to Frank and decided to try out the town campground next to the little church. They had one pull through so we didn’t even have to unhook the jeep. It was actually a nice little spot and the best part was it was only $10 to stay there. No hook ups but they had water available and washrooms. We had a very good sleep, though it was a little chilly, we had to get out the extra quilt. It was that way our whole vacation. It was hot during the day and then it cooled off every night.

August 10, 2010 Emma

Today was a very sad day in our home. We lost Emma, she was hit by a car just outside North Star Motors. She and Len had gone down to take the motor home in for a checkup and after she made her rounds throughout the dealership visiting everyone in the offices and somehow she managed to get outside. She must have seen something up by the highway and took off towards the road where she was hit. No one stopped so they probably didn’t even know that she was hit. Poor Len had to pick her up and bring her home. We took her out to Lil Mutt to be cremated and I picked out a real nice box that we can put pictures on the outside to keep her in, that way we will be able to look at her sweet face and remember her whenever we want. Lindy seems to be doing okay, she stays a lot closer to us now and she does seem a little lonelier but we are trying to play with her more and keep her closer to us. We still miss Emma a lot and some days little things remind me of her but we try and remember the happy memories. As one of the fellows I work with said that she is the brightest star in Puppy Heaven.

Great Copper Rush August 1, 2010

So after an exciting time the day before, we decided to take an easy day and take the back road to Hedley. We did the Old Wagon Road cache and the Ancient Trails along the way. The Pictographs were really pretty neat. The Ancient Trail multi cache was worth the whole trip.

We started our Hedley Caches with BajaBetty's earth cache, did a little shopping in the local farmers and flea market and then headed for the hills. We found some very neat caches up the mountains behind Hedley. A house that had a river running through it, a Freaky Tipi and a great mine at the end of one of the caches. There were a number of people who explored quite deeply into the depths. We however were much too focused on getting on to the next cache. We also had to get back to town in order to pick up our takeout Chinese food for the potluck. We also had to get changed for the Turtle Wedding.

We headed back towards town, did another cache on the other side of Bromley Rock and found a very cool travel bug tag. There were coordinates for a mystery cache located somewhere in Princeton. After you found the cache you had to locate the travel bug in another local cache for someone else to find. We got back to the fairgrounds and turned in our weekend cache totals. Then BajaBetty and I raced to pick up the Chinese food and to get the mystery cache. We were in such a hurry that we even drove down the quad trail with the FJ Cruiser. We made it back in time for the Wedding, which was lovely. We also picked up a few prizes, as I mentioned previously BajaBetty won the Terrain Challenge and she got a handmade walking stick made by Pappy90. I won third place in the local cache challenge. I think that finding the mystery cache put me over the top. I won a really cool geocoin.

After the wedding we headed back to Mach 2003 and Pappy90 and Dyelo’s camp to have a few drinks and share some stories. After numerous fruity coolers and beers, someone had the great idea that we should do the night cache, so being the responsible people that we are BajaBetty and I jumped into TycoonAuto’s truck and headed off the cache. Getting in and out of TycoonAuto’s truck was difficult as it was a four wheel drive and had no running boards. Every time I got out, I got a wedgie. Luckily some people brought flashlights, because it is difficult to do a night cache without a flashlight. We managed to find the cache and make it back to the camp with no casualties. We ended the night on a high note and managed to crawl into bed for another good night sleep.

The next day I packed up all my gear and headed off to home to see my Lenny and have a nice hot shower and sleep in my own bed.

Great Copper Rush July 31, 2010

July 31. 2010

Well today we decided to do the caches around Princeton because most of the cachers we were with yesterday were going Quading on the Old Kettle Valley Railway Trail. We took Henry to do some town caches because I had promised my dear husband that I would not take the HHR on any off road caches. One of the first caches of the day was the downtown Princeton at the fountain. BajaBetty's mom found it right away, but she didn’t know it, I kept telling her the clue to look under the rock and she kept saying I did, holding a rock in her hand, she said this is all I found. I just kept repeating look under the rock and finally she turned the rock in her hand over and there it was. Great camo on this cache

We continued on from there, checking out caches around town and in the surrounding area. We did find a few on some back country logging roads, but nothing that Henry hadn’t seen before and Lenny we did not do any four wheeling. BajaBetty decided to try a bit of horseback riding. After finishing up the day around Princeton we headed back to fairgrounds to see what was happening.

We stopped to check in with Chris of the Tulemeen Turtles to see if anything exciting was happening. She let us in on a secret, nobody had found a number of new caches up on the way to Springer Lake. Chris asked what we were driving and if we knew how to drive in Four Wheel Low. BajaBetty said she had her FJ cruiser and that she was born in Four Wheel Low. So BajaBetty, her mom and I started off at 6:00 pm to do the first cache, Halfway to Stringer. We took the turn and headed straight up the side of the mountain. We were going along fine in two wheel drive and then suddenly we came to the giant moguls in the middle of the road, we started to slip and slide, luckily we managed to only slide into the side of the mountain and not down the side of the cliff. We got over the humongous bumps and stopped, looked at each other and said “ Holy Crap, Why are we doing this?” After we caught our breath and stopped laughing from extreme fear, we decided that we didn’t want to go back down the way we just came up and supposedly there was an easier way down, so up we headed again. We were concentrating on the road so much we almost missed the beep of the GPS to tell us the cache was near. We stopped pulled off to the side, putting the parking brake on, got out, kissed the ground and went forth to find the cache. One down, more to come. Onward and upward we headed

This is Baja Betty’s version of events “ What a road! Off we went to get some FTFs out here, and experience a crazy adventure. WeedwackerLenny's husband thought we'd behave, since my Mom was with us, but we just stuck her in the back where she can't see out, and off we went. I think I'm going to enter Tiajuana in the Molgouls contest in the next winter olympics. She handles them well, even when I have my eyes close. And I think the prase I used was a lot more graphic that the one WWL said in her log! Lol

The next cache on the list was Please don’t let Mrs. Turtle drive. It was going to be a first to find.We started up the mountain again, this time in 4 wheel low and we came up to some more giant moguls. This time Betty stopped and we got out and surveyed the terrain before she took the FJ any further. We figured out the best route, hopped back in the FJ and up the mountain we went right to the cache. BajaBetty jumped out and rushed to be the first to find. I in the mean time stopped to take pictures of the fantastic view. All of a sudden there was a small scream when BajaBetty realizes that someone had already written in the log book. This was supposed to be a first too find, were we out of luck. Then she read the date, and the name, and she starts breathing again. It was Goaliegirls log from the original near death trip up with Mrs. Turtle. So she signed the log, I took a picture and we were off again.

The next cache was Stringer Lake itself, a very nice little lake with a forestry campground. BajaBetty’s mom was quite surprised that this being a long weekend that there was not some hearty sole up here to take advantage of the fishing. Took a picture of our own version of the Lady of the Lake and we were off again.

The next stop on our excellent adventure was called the Easy Way to Stringer. I don't know if there is such a thing as an easy way to stringer, cause we sure didn't find it, now if we followed all the directions we might have found it but then what kind of adventure would that be. BajaBetty had to fight off killer spiders in order to get at this cache. It was another FTF for our crazy little group. So we jumped back into the FJ and we continued further up the power line when we decided to try a few more caches before it gets too dark. We knew that we couldn’t make it all the way to Butler Lake, but we could at least get another FTF at Shrek’s home. So now it is onward and way downward to the swamp. This is a beautiful location. BajaBetty was on a roll, this was here fourth first to find in one night.

We were headed out the power line when we looked at the GPS and discovered that we were close to a new Earth Cache, Olephant Rock. The rock was very cool, but the mozzies were ridiculous, this is why the picture I took is a little blurry but I will post it anyways, BajaBetty and Mom look quite cute. So now we had to figure out how to get back down the main road. We were traveling down the power line when we looked the left and there was this great logging road. After what we had been driving on it looked like a four lane highway. So we continued on, conveniently ignoring the sign that said the road was closed ahead, so about 3 miles down the road there was some huge boulders blocking our way. We got out of the FJ and looked, someone had moved two of the boulders out of the way, leaving a big enough path for the cruiser. So we continued downwards, we could hear the traffic from the main highway, we were almost there. We get to the bottom and what do we find but a gate across the logging road. Who puts a gate across a road that is supposed to be blocked? Now what, it was getting dark and we really didn’t want to go back up the road and we couldn’t go forward. We looked around and there was a house in the next lot, so we sent BajaBetty’s Mom to see if there was anyone home and if they might have a key. Oh no, there was no one home but a very large barking dog. BajaBetty and I walked up to the property and could see that there was an ATV trail around the house and then went into the driveway and out to the highway. It looked like that it was big enough for the FJ. We decided that it was worth trying, rather than hitch hiking back to town. So BajaBetty and I jumped into the FJ and went down the ATV trail. All was well until we got to the end and saw that we had missed the huge rock on the side of the gate. We couldn’t stop, but somehow we managed not to get hung up on it and we got out to the driveway, picked up BajaBetty’s mom and took off down the road. It was then back to town to sign our names to the FTF logs and claim our victory. This little trip earned BajaBetty the Terrain challenge with a score of seven. A cache Terrain of 5 and a difficulty of 2.