Another Week.......

Another week…

(Sorry,  no pictures this week...my downloading device isn't working...off to walmart for a new one!!!)

Another week has gone by and Tom and I are now settled in our final camping spot at the lake.  Because there was so much snow and ice in our original site, we had to move the fifth wheel to a site just up from this one until the snow melted.  Tom wasn’t content to let Mother Nature take care of things herself so he helped her out breaking chunks of ice away and hauling them off to melt.  We had a large propane tank delivered, thanks to our boss, and so now we don’t have to take the tanks back and forth for filling.  With that done, we moved the fifth wheel back in its proper place and settled in.  We picked up a huge tarp at a garage sale in the states a while back (not shown in this picture).  It was originally some sort of sign for a jewelry store.  It says “Cartier” on it in large enough print to read from the other side of the lake so maybe someone will come looking to buy a watch or something from us.

The Pikas are still living in the dam.  I wasn’t sure if they’d survive but not only have they survived, they have multiplied.  They are a small animal somewhat like a chinchilla that live in the high rocky areas of the mountains…to have them here at our site is pretty special.  They are very cute and like to pose for pictures.  Oso finds them very interesting though he’s not allowed to get too close.  They are so quick, I don’t think he could catch one if he tried.

Again the animals are out…a moose walked through a camper’s site and the camper was so scared he said he almost went and jumped in the dumpster…that would have been pretty funny to see.  For the most part, the animals are afraid of people and don’t pay them much mind.  We did have a fellow from Alberta Parks come and talk to us about a grizzly bear who’d decided this area would make good place for a home.  Normally the bears travel through but this one has decided to stay.  He’s a six year old male…I expect before the season is out we’ll have experience him in the campsite.

We had a meeting with the Dog Sled people and the person who coordinates the use of the park for dog sledding.  Both groups, Snowy Owl and Howling Dog, came up and finished cleaning the sites they used this past winter.  You can still see remnants of sled trails out on the ice on the lake.

The lake is slowly filling up and the ice is melting now.  It has left little ponds here and there that were lake water before the snow came.  There must be fish in one of them because we watched a beautiful big golden eagle on the ground walking along the edge of the pond looking at something in the water.  He flew up into the air a couple times for a better look, but never did end up with a fish.  We see lots of osprey and bald eagles up here.  We thought this might be a young bald eagle, but it was so big it was certainly a golden…so beautiful!

We had an interesting Saturday night this past weekend.  Sites 2, 3, and 4 were taken by kids up from Canmore to party.  Though everything seemed ok, the night did not turn out that way.  As we drove by on our last run of the night we saw them lighting off fireworks…very illegal in a provincial park. And when we arrived back at our campsite, there was a dog who showed up, scared out of its wits.  We had no choice but to call the Conservation Officer who had to come and deal with them.  She didn’t arrive till almost 1:00 a.m. and the kids were pretty well all drunk by then.  I’d brought the dog back to their site and found that another dog was still missing…I dove around until I found it and brought it back as well.  The CO made the kids clean up the site and then returned the next morning and gave them all warnings about having dogs off leash.  Lucky for them they only got a warning because a ticket for that offence is $179.  It’s far too dangerous for them with bears and cougars around…as well, some dogs have disappeared only to have their remains found with their collar still hooked on a branch…how sad is that!  She also handed out two tickets for lighting fireworks…that will be a much larger fine.  I’m sure word is out now amongst the party kids in Canmore that the lake is not a place where you can disrespect the rules without consequences…hopefully we won’t have too many more incidents like that one.

Tom and I have heard there is a new Walmart in Cochrane and we’re going to go get supplies tomorrow.  There is a Safeway and a Save-on in Canmore, but groceries are so incredibly expensive there that we buy only what is necessary and go to Walmart for the rest.  Have to get our Walmart “fix”!

This picture is of the path up to Old Goat Glacier.  I took the picture last year (there’s still snow on the path right now).  It’s such a pretty hike…about 45 minutes till you get into an open area where the tip of the glacier sits.  

The geese enjoying the water as the lake fills up…we enjoy watching them too!

Living the Dream!

Living the Dream!

It’s week two at Spray Lake and we’re pretty organized and comfortable now.   We’ve got water hauled to our location, our woodshed is full and we’ve had a number of campers over the past long weekend.  The weather wasn’t the greatest, but some hearty souls stuck it out the whole weekend.  

We had a group of kids up from Calgary who always come out on the May 24^th weekend…they seemed like good kids though their campsite grew a bit past the maximum allowed over the weekend…it’s not like we were busy  and they were having a good time so we let it be.  We had a German fellow in a camper stop in one evening.  He had just returned from two years travelling in Africa and was now on his way to Alaska where his wife was meeting up with him.  Once there they were going to board a float plane and fly to an isolated community on the Bering Sea and then kayak 1400 kilometers along the shore.    Needless to say he sounds like quite the adventurer.  Another couple was from Switzerland and they had just arrived in Calgary, rented a camper and were starting their journey to Alaska.  They had a five week trip planned.  Their English was not very good but they were certainly interested in everything, especially the animals, and we had a nice time chatting with them.  Aside from that we had a variety of people camping and having fun.

The other night I woke with a horrible headache…my head gets cold and turns to headache so I got up in the middle of the night to take some Ibuprophen.  It was pitch black and I didn’t want to wake Tom who was snoring nicely so I got up and felt around in the area where the pills were.  I found the bottle I wanted and took two of them.  The next morning I checked the bottle and found I’d taken two “Centrum Silver, Multivitamins for Men”……hmmm…no wonder I felt so virile that day!  

Oso sniffed out a beautiful big jack rabbit the other day.  The rabbit was a lovely soft grey colour with a big fluffy tail…big, big rabbit too.  He’s also got us up a couple times at night barking at moose travelling through the campsite…not sure if he smells them or hears them but he sure does know when they are close.

We had the dog sled people up at the campground this weekend.  They came up to tidy the area where they tie up the dogs for their dog sled tours.  The company’s name is Snowy Owl Tours and we talked with the fellow who owns it.  He said he did over 1500 tours at Spray Lake this past winter.  Not only do you get to ride the sleds, you are taught how to handle the dogs and “mush” your own sled.  I found it really interesting…guess people come from all over the world for that experience.  He said he owns over 120 dogs…imagine feeding that brood!  Oso thinks he could be a sled dog, but now that he’s got a sore knee maybe he’ll have to seek out a different career!

We’ve also been watching this fellow on the lake who comes up and para-skis on it.  When I first saw him I thought he was nuts, but now realize that he’s out on thick enough ice with very little water below since the lake is pretty well drained at the area he’s skiing on.  He is about my age and has been up almost every day this past week…wish I had that much energy!  Anyway, he gets out on the ice and puts on these skis that are about two feet long.  They are very slick and when his parachute catches the wind just right, he zooms back and forth across the lake.  It’s fun just watching him but I don’t like the ice that much to actually try it, especially after seeing him fall flat while going so fast.

There are mountain bluebirds all over the place up here.  I think they must be mating and trying to nest in the bushes down near the lake.  I haven’t been able to get a good picture of them yet, but will keep trying…they are so pretty.  They remind me of Mom’s friend Elaine, who says the bluebird is her emblem.  We’ve seen osprey, lots of ravens, robins and plenty of little tweety birds that I can’t identify.  I’ll have to get myself a good bird book!

The scenery is spectacular here…I can’t get over how beautiful is it sometimes and can spend hours just wandering and enjoying it.  I hope you enjoy the pictures too!

Mt Engadine...moose country!

Naked and Afraid: Spray Lake

Naked and Afraid : Spray Lake

Has anyone ever seen the TV reality show “Naked and Afraid”?  It’s where they drop two people, naked, into a survival situation.  Always in a warm climate but with many survival challenges such as finding food, water and shelter.  When we first arrived at Spray Lake, I flashed on to that show…here we are in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, in an isolated campground still covered with a couple feet of snow.  On the way up here a rock must have hit the drain for the water tank under the fifth wheel and we lost a substantial amount of our water so had to conserve pretty drastically the first few days till we could haul some water in.  Our propane is going fast due to the cool (cold at night) weather and boy have we got our work cut out for us in the campground.  The good news…we are, thankfully for us and for anyone who comes to the campground, not naked!!!

 

Location

My best friend these days, courtesy of Mary Walters!

 Thanks to Wilma's Mom, Mary, for knitting toques for Tom and I...they've come in handy this spring.

 The scenery is absolutely spectacular.  We are at the very north end of Spray Lake in Kananaskis Country just south of Canmore, Alberta.  There is a dam at the top of the lake which we cross to get to the campsite and when I look out the window I see the dam backed by one of the Three Sisters mountain group.  If any of you have talked with me about being at Spray or read the blog before, you’ll remember my telling you about the climbers on the mountain and how we can watch them get right to the top and see them stand along the saddle in the mountain like tiny colourful bugs…it’s pretty cool!

We’ve seen lots of animals already.  We’ve had a moose come right through the campground, seen deer, moose, elk, big horned sheep and red fox on the road so far….and I did see a grizzly bear.  He was just a little guy and was down at the Boulton Creek campsite where we go for supplies.  He was gorgeous, healthy looking and his coat shone beautifully in the sunshine…and I didn’t have my camera…that will not happen again…I’ll be ready with it for sure next time.

Camp Dog

The lake water level is low, still covered in ice for the most part and the power company is working on the dam.  They’ve got a huge crane and are lowering a man-cage with a diver in it to inspect the dam walls (that’s got to be a cold job, don’t you think!!).  After last year’s flooding, in which the campground managers had to be air-lifted to town due to slides on the roads which isolated them further, I expect the dam took a bit of a beating.  I hope they get it done soon and let the lake waters rise so we can go fishing…the lake trout are calling to us!

We open today (Thursday, May 15) though it’s still cold and snowy in the sites and we’ve got a bit of work to do if we expect people to camp this weekend.  The bobcat was up and plowed snow to make space for parking and camping in most of the sites, a boom truck came with a huge load of firewood for us to sell and a couple of hearty young men who work at Boulton came up and shoveled out the fire pits and set the picnic tables in place in the campsites.  We opened up the registration booths and got supplies yesterday so all we have to do now is put paper in the bathrooms and sweep the squirrels out of them (they like to nest in there where it’s dry).

Moose tracks

Oso likes being a camp-dog especially when he gets to sit in his favourite chair with his blanket over him…it does get a bit chilly if you aren’t moving around.  He sniffed out the moose that went through the campground alerting us to its presence…he’s got a good nose for that kind of thing.  Those specially trained bear dogs the conservations officers bring in sometimes have nothing on him!

We have a campfire every night and cook our food on it or on the bbq…Tom brought his smoker so hopefully we can smoke some fish this summer.  Though it’s been a cold start to the year, it’s going to be a fabulous one at Spray Lake.  We’ll meet some amazing people, see some incredible scenery, and experience this beautiful wild country first hand…I can’t believe we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to do this again…and so the adventure begins!