The Southern Alberta Tour

Ann McRae · August 13, 2008

I spent a long weekend in and around Medicine Hat, Alberta last weekend. There are 550 kilometers between Edmonton and Medicine Hat, if you go the direct route. We avoided that! The reason that we made the trip was because our youngest son was on the Edmonton soccer team competing in Alberta Summer Games, and so our schedule was dictated by the soccer schedule.
We dropped the boy off at the team bus and headed out of the city by 7:45 a.m. It felt too early, and as it turns out I wasn't really well organized or properly packed, but there was hope for some nice morning light photos.
We drove along secondary Highway 2A rather than 2, hoping to find the perfect prairie farm scene. We didn't. We made Drumheller by lunch, stopped in town for take out panini and salads and had a picnic at the HooDoos. I grabbed my 1D and we headed out in the noon sun (well intermittent cloud). First try and the 1D wouldn't power up, so I decided to go grab the other battery. As I am heading toward the car, a man asks me "Do you make your living with that?" I never really know how to answer such a question, so I said "no". And he grudginly said "so you just have the gear?". I asked if he made his living from photography, and in fact he does. So I responded that I used the 1D for sports photography, but that I couldn't pay all my bills from it. He seemed to accept that as a reasonable response. He told me that he didn't bring his camera out because it was too overcast...I'm thinking that the clouds added to the photos! (Edited with LR2 on my Mac Cinema Display - look too dark here at work)

We headed south east from Drumheller, and came across this abandonded farm house on the edge of a coulee.

From there we headed further east and further south to Dinosaur Provincial Park. This amazing place holds the record for the greatest number of fossil species recorded in one place.

I was amazed at how green things were, despite being desert and August.
We took a short hike from the visitor center up to the top of the plateau.

When we were up top, we caught sight of a mule deer enjoying an early dinner. I had the 300mm on the 1D, and was crouching on the edge of the rocks to shoot into the valley. The strongest wind started howling and my dh was worrying about how he was going to rescue me if I fell over the side!

Sherpa:

Desert Blooms:

Next, the drive from Medicine Hat into the Cypress Hills.

Links to the places visited HERE

Ann McRae · August 13, 2008

Our accomodation for Thursday and Friday was at The Elkwater Lake Lodge, and I highly recommend this facility. We headed south on Highway 41 into the Cypress Hills around 6 p.m. The Cypress Hills are the highest point in Canada between Labrador and the Rockies, and in fact the elevation here is higher than Banff townsite. They are really unique: they were missed by the last glacial event and so have many unique flora. They are named for the forest of Lodgepole pine, misnamed Cypress by the first explorers.
As we headed south on Highway 41, a thunderstorm loomed on the eastern horizon. Rounding a corner, we found this pretty scene:

Looks like a nice spot for a motorcycle ride:

We had a great dinner at Bugler's, the restaurant at the lodge, and made it out in time for sunset around the lake. It was then that I realized I didn't bring the plate for my tripod! This is only one of many little aggrevations of the trip, but I still managed some sweet shots.

The lake sunset shots are waiting for me to get home and edit, as are all the soccer shots and the rest of the scenic byways!

ann

Full Gallery (to date)

Grainbelt · August 13, 2008

Nice shots, Ann, particularly the sunset.

I need to make my way that direction - I've passed by to the east, and to the north, but never thru Drumheller or the Cypress Hills.

Ann McRae · August 15, 2008

Grainbelt wrote:

Nice shots, Ann, particularly the sunset.

I need to make my way that direction - I've passed by to the east, and to the north, but never thru Drumheller or the Cypress Hills.

I've only been to Cypress Hills once before, but I have spent a lot of time in Yorkton and Medicine Hat sure reminds me of Yorkton! I felt really at home - warm breeze, blue skies, almost heaven! The Cypress Hills are really pretty too.

ann

Ann McRae · August 15, 2008

So, to finish the first day, here are a couple more sunsets. One additional frustration of our trip, only realized now, was that my lenses and sensors all needed cleaning and my supplies all stayed home. Multiple dust bunny removal on these, and so editing is pretty slow going!

and, one of me by my dh (with a small and not good enough amount of input on settings from me) of me! I think I will send the original to Nikolai for help!

It could take me a couple days to finish the rest of the photos - and the soccer photos too!

ann

Ann McRae · August 16, 2008

My plan included shooting sunrises too, and didn't change even though I knew I didn't have the tripod plate with me. I set the alarm for 5:50 a.m., got out of bed and out the door by 6. We had a plan to go to Horseshoe canyon for sunrise, but had some trouble figuring out our way there. The sun was rising and we were still at the lake, and so I made due with this:

The Cypress Hills Masacre was the historical event responsible for the creation of the NWMP (or Mounties, now called RCMP), and if you are interested in the story then The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe may interest you.

Since we were essentially still in town, we went back to catch some more zzzzs. Unfortunately the baby in the room next to us was awake and unhappy, so we only tried sleeping for about half an hour and then decided to hit the trail for a round about drive in to Medicine Hat for a noon soccer game. Upon putting my contact lenses in, I discovered a small nick on the edge of my right lens. And guess what? I hadn't brought spares!

The plan was to drive across Cypress Hills park to Ft. Walsh. Reeser Road goes through the park, so off we went. We found this scenic lookout shortly after turning onto Reeser Road:

Not far past this spot, the road turns to gravel. It is very narrow, very winding and no pull outs! There was a flock of large white birds at the first lake that we passed but no opportunity to find out if they were peli's or swans. The 50 km drive took over an hour. It was scenic, the road was frequently inhabited by cattle, but there really weren't safe places from which to take photos.:cry
We arrived at Fort Walsh at 9 a.m. The interpretive center opens at 9:30! So
photos of the surrounding landscapes:

From here we zigzagged across the country roads, much gravel, until we met up with Highway 1 and headed west back to Medicine Hat for the first game of the tournament.
The game kicked off at noon, and by then the temperature was well over 30C. Great weather to watch a soccer game in, not so great to play!
Edmonton (green) won their first game, but lost the second game that day (7 p.m.) to Calgary.

My youngest

Between games, we had a late lunch. Then we found an Iris optometry store that was able to contact my local store, get my perscription and replace my torn lens with a trial lens, saving my weekend! (and my eye!). We still had a couple of hours to kill, and had a choice of:
1. more shooting
2. watching my niece play baseball in the summer games tourney
or
3. drinking beer in an AC lounge.........

I'll let you figure out what we chose

spechtal · August 17, 2008

Great Photos Ann. I haven't been to the Cypress Hills for a number of years now and was thinking it might be time for a trip...your photos make make think I should do a trip sooner rather than later. The last time I was there I had the good fortune to drive Reeser Road during a spring snow squall

.

The soccer looks fun.

Ann McRae · August 20, 2008

spechtal wrote:

Great Photos Ann. I haven't been to the Cypress Hills for a number of years now and was thinking it might be time for a trip...your photos make make think I should do a trip sooner rather than later. The last time I was there I had the good fortune to drive Reeser Road during a spring snow squall .

The soccer looks fun.

Thanks Angela. I cannot imagine that road anything but dry.......

ann

Ann McRae · August 20, 2008

On Saturday the boys only played one game, at 2 p.m. Again, I set the alarm for sunrise (earlier this day). I got up and looked outside to find that the sky was completely cloud covered. So I went back to bed! We got up about 7:30, got ready and had a nice breakfast at Bugler's (not equal to the dinner from Thursday, but good). Then to the visitors center to plan a route south and west from the park, to Manyberries, and then to Medicine Hat. The guide gave us great directions from Horseshoe canyon and out of the park via backroads. Here are my impressions of the grassland and rolling hills surrounding Cypress Hills park:
Lots of interesting flora at Horseshoe canyon:

I love black eyed susans, and of course the ever present wild oats:

Flora brings insects:

I love the structure of this seed head:

Canyon as backdrop:

Ranchlands-former homestead:

Cemetary:

Extreme Grade Hillside:

What is that huge bird on the fence......turkey vulture BBIF

Ranchland, not suitable for cultivation:

Looking back

The rest of the route in to Medicine Hat saw a 'ghost' town, almost, and the unique rock formations of Red Rock Coulee.

ann

Phyxius · August 20, 2008

Ann McRae wrote:

Ann, great shots!! I'm sorry for the trials and tribulations. I love the two photos I qouted above, the richness of the sky in the first one is great.

Did you take any touristy pictures of the dinosaur statues in Drumheller?:D

Ann McRae · August 20, 2008

Phyxius wrote:

Ann, great shots!! I'm sorry for the trials and tribulations. I love the two photos I qouted above, the richness of the sky in the first one is great.

Did you take any touristy pictures of the dinosaur statues in Drumheller?:D

Thanks, Christina!
No tourist shots - the dh was in a hurry to get to the places he hasn't been before, so no real doddling for the first part of the drive. I had to point out that it is the journey that matters!

In theory, Drumheller is close by and we can get those shots on a day trip.

Getting excited about the shootout yet? I will have an answer Sunday.

ann

Ann McRae · August 20, 2008

So Orion was written up in a tour book as a ghost town, but in fact there are two homes occupied as well as some sort of official government type building that is maintained.

We continued northish toward Medicine Hat along 'The Redcoat Trail', to hit Red Rock Coulee at noon. Red Rock Coulee is a weird, weird place. Prairie coulee with many, many, huge, red limestone boulders scattered about. I have some shots waiting stitching that may show this.

Lichen

or mineral deposit on the rocks

After Saturdays game, there were gorgeous thunderheads in the sky. We had a hotel room in Medicine Hat Saturday night, since the boys might have an 8 a.m. Sunday game. The thunderheads, from the sports fields:

and Medicine Hat is home to 'The World's Tallest TeePee':

Sunday a.m. started with an 8 o'clock game, followed by some girls baseball and then a long detour home via our favorite highway!

Ann McRae · August 30, 2008

We left Medicine Hat about noon on Sunday, knowing we had to be back in Edmonton to meet the team bus at 8 or 8:30 pm. We decided to head west, rather than north west. From Medicine Hat, highway 1 heads west to Lethbridge, Pincher Creek and beyond. The view near Pincher Creek is of prairie, foothill and distant mountain:

From just west of Pincher Creek, Highway 22 (The Cowboy Trail) heads north toward Calgary along the foothills. This is one of the most scenic drives in the country and that was our route home. Sadly we weren't the only ones with that idea and the route was so busy I resorted to shooting out the window rather than find places to pull aside.

The drive is well worth the 300km detour and at the northish end of highway 22 is Longview, a quaint little town that is home to the best beef jerkey available! In the early days of cell phones and cheap long distance, Telus had a tv commercial that had the line "where's Longview". That commercial has stayed in my memory for years, because this is the view from Longview:

It's just one of those views that stick with you.

After an ice cream in Longview we returned to Highway 2 for the rest of the drive, and more shooting through the window:

We beat the bus home by about 15 minutes!

Thanks for coming along on this ride. I hope I've provided reason for y'all to visit.

ann

The Southern Alberta Tour

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