Wonderful People, Wild Flowers, and Quiet Nights

Wonderful People, Wild Flowers, and Quiet Nights

We have met so many wonderful and interesting people while up here.  A few weeks ago, Nikki and Katie, (Tom calls them “our daughters”) came to stay at the campsite.  They are two girls from Wisconson who were traveling around the Rockies.  We got to be quite good friends with them and would often stop and trade camp-cooking secrets or talk about the hikes they had been on that day.  They were wonderful young women and we really enjoyed their time at the campsite. 

Another group that moved into campsite 49, the penthouse suite of the campground, called that because of its perfect location and view, were Jack, Donna, Barry and Beans, the dog.  They were folks about our age who were fun to visit with and compare fishing stories and a glass of wine.  They are from Calgary and will likely be back out at the campground this summer at some point.

There is a woman from Canmore who homeschools her two daughters and she brings them up every once in a while for a camping night.  Again, Tom has adopted these girls as our “grand-daughters” and loves to play tag with them…one of the little girls phoned her dad who was working away from home and apparently all she could talk about was Tom.

This past week another couple about our age stopped in for a few days.  He was a grader driver on the Spray Lakes road for a few years and we remembered him from when we were here last time.  We had a nice visit with them and helped her celebrate her birthday…wine, lakes and mountains…wonderful way to celebrate a birthday!

As well, the people from all over the world who are passing through or camping in the campground are amazing.  We have had people from Germany, Holland, Czech, Slovakia Denmark, Belgium, England, Australia and New Zealand, China, Japan, and India as well as all over Canada and the USA and many other places.  Many of European people are hiking or passing through on the Great Divide Trail, and many people have rented a camper and are touring the Rockies.  One fellow was biking from Banff to Mexico and was from Florida.  He was telling us stories about Florida and how he skin dives and swims with sharks.  He was also nervous about bears…ha!  I’ll take bears over sharks any day! It’s so interesting to talk with our campers and share this area with them.

 

The summer mountain flowers are in full swing now…so many pretty little plants growing all over the meadows and through the forest.  I love searching out new ones and taking pictures of them!  

Tom and I went fishing again yesterday but we had no luck…it was a beautiful day though and we enjoyed the sunshine, the lake and the amazing views around us.  This is how we fish at  Spray Lake! 

Darrin and Liz, friends from my days at the College, are bringing their twin boys up to stay with us for a few weeks.  They boys are 14 years old and avid outdoorsmen so will love the campsite, fishing and hiking in the area.  I hope they have a great time…maybe they’ll have a good story to write when they get back to school and are asked the inevitable question…”what did you do on your summer vacation?” 

I was cleaning a campsite the other day while Tom was off doing something else.  A doe mule deer stepped out of the forest and stood and watched me for a while.  She was so tame that she came up and licked my fingers when I stretched my hand out to her.  This is a wonderful thing and kind of a sad thing too.  I was an awesome experience for me, but it means that people have been feeding her and that is not a good thing.  They don’t tend to offer deer the food that is natural to them and often give them bananas or other things that may not be good for them.  It also means the deer are coming into the campsites and likely picking up things out of the firepits that are unhealthy for them.  Anyway, it was a lovely and touching experience for me.

Oso is getting a haircut today.  The weather has warmed quite nicely now and today is expected to be around 29C/80F so he’s been kind of warm with his shaggy coat.  While I’m in town I’ll do some laundry and get groceries as well…will be a nice day to sit at an outdoor café and have coffee or lunch while I wait for him too.

The lake is almost full now.  We heard that Trans Alta, the electric company here, had to sign a contract with the Province of Alberta stating that they won’t fill Spray Lake to capacity until the end of July due to the possibility of runoff and flooding.  I don't think there’s a danger of that any longer with this lovely weather, but after last year’s floods here, I don’t blame them for taking precautions.

  We have a lot of campers this week escaping the Calgary Stampede crowds in Calgary…I  hope they enjoy the peace and quiet of this beautiful mountain campsite!