July 10 - 12 , 2012
We spent July 10th to 12th camping in Cypress Hills. Cypress Hills, for those who do not know, is described as the highest point between the Rockies and Labrador. That makes it quite literally an island of hills in the middle of a sea of flat Prairie fields. And because of that it is a perfect holiday and camping spot in this area and weather. The Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park straddles the borders of both Alberta and Saskatchewan. We chose to camp in the Alberta part of the park in a little campground nestled between the hills and Elkwater lake.
As we began setting up our camp we noticed that the sites around us were all occupied by families with children. There were at least four family with children ranging from age 6 to10 and Zaid quickly ran out to some of them and started chatting with them. Most of the kids had brought their bikes with them and were zooming around the site, and Zaid was very interested in all the bikes. The children were all very kind and most of them would stop as soon as they saw Zaid and would allow him to touch their bikes, inspecting every parts of them. One little girl told me that after spending a few minutes examining her bike Zaid firmly said "good bike" and finally allowed her to continue her ride around the grounds. Another little girl took it upon herself to make sure that whenever Zaid wondered too far away from our site, she would hold his hand and lead him all the way back to his mommy and daddy. The older boys walked with him as he went to explore the little creek across from our site, and all of the kids just made sure that he was safe and having a fun. For Zaid this was by far our best camp.
On our first day we drove to the beach and had a swim in Elkwater lake. The lake was not as warm or clean as Newell Lake from our previous site, but was still very pleasant to be in especially in 30 degree weather. The following day was our relaxing day. In the morning we visit Fort Walsh, a fort built in the 1800s to help expand the sovereignty of Canada to the western regions. The tour guide was an excellent historian who was dressed the part and who was full of interesting and educational historical information about the fort, the era and the region. Unfortunately standing and listening to a history lesson about the fort was not too interesting to Zaid and Owen, and so we quickly broke away from the group and explored the rest of the fort according to our own schedule and route. Following a quick lunch at the site's information centre we drove back to our camp for a relaxing afternoon in the shade of the trees surrounding our tent.
In the evening we enjoyed a simple dinner of franks and beans, followed by a walk to the town's corner store for some ice-cream and a walk back to prepare the boys for bed time.
It is fair to say that apart from the little accident we had with Own, as talked about in Ben's previous post, the stay at Cypress Hills was great. We enjoyed some shade and coolness after being in the heat of the Prairies for a few days and it was nice to be back in a climate and eco-zone similar to that of the West Coast. The area is also full of wild life although we only managed to spot birds and deer, in addition to the not so wild cows grazing every here and there in the hills. The hills are home to the scary Cougar but luckily for us we did not spot any.
Cypress Hills were recommended to us by several people back in Vancouver and we are very happy to have listened. If you are ever in this part of the country it is definitely not to be missed. A great community, with everything to make a summer holiday fun, relaxing and adventurous.
Next is off to Regina and a couple of days break from camping. As always we are all looking forward to a comfortable bed and a hot shower, and of course a chance to do some laundry. Ah the life of road travellers!
Haifa
We spent July 10th to 12th camping in Cypress Hills. Cypress Hills, for those who do not know, is described as the highest point between the Rockies and Labrador. That makes it quite literally an island of hills in the middle of a sea of flat Prairie fields. And because of that it is a perfect holiday and camping spot in this area and weather. The Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park straddles the borders of both Alberta and Saskatchewan. We chose to camp in the Alberta part of the park in a little campground nestled between the hills and Elkwater lake.
As we began setting up our camp we noticed that the sites around us were all occupied by families with children. There were at least four family with children ranging from age 6 to10 and Zaid quickly ran out to some of them and started chatting with them. Most of the kids had brought their bikes with them and were zooming around the site, and Zaid was very interested in all the bikes. The children were all very kind and most of them would stop as soon as they saw Zaid and would allow him to touch their bikes, inspecting every parts of them. One little girl told me that after spending a few minutes examining her bike Zaid firmly said "good bike" and finally allowed her to continue her ride around the grounds. Another little girl took it upon herself to make sure that whenever Zaid wondered too far away from our site, she would hold his hand and lead him all the way back to his mommy and daddy. The older boys walked with him as he went to explore the little creek across from our site, and all of the kids just made sure that he was safe and having a fun. For Zaid this was by far our best camp.
On our first day we drove to the beach and had a swim in Elkwater lake. The lake was not as warm or clean as Newell Lake from our previous site, but was still very pleasant to be in especially in 30 degree weather. The following day was our relaxing day. In the morning we visit Fort Walsh, a fort built in the 1800s to help expand the sovereignty of Canada to the western regions. The tour guide was an excellent historian who was dressed the part and who was full of interesting and educational historical information about the fort, the era and the region. Unfortunately standing and listening to a history lesson about the fort was not too interesting to Zaid and Owen, and so we quickly broke away from the group and explored the rest of the fort according to our own schedule and route. Following a quick lunch at the site's information centre we drove back to our camp for a relaxing afternoon in the shade of the trees surrounding our tent.
In the evening we enjoyed a simple dinner of franks and beans, followed by a walk to the town's corner store for some ice-cream and a walk back to prepare the boys for bed time.
It is fair to say that apart from the little accident we had with Own, as talked about in Ben's previous post, the stay at Cypress Hills was great. We enjoyed some shade and coolness after being in the heat of the Prairies for a few days and it was nice to be back in a climate and eco-zone similar to that of the West Coast. The area is also full of wild life although we only managed to spot birds and deer, in addition to the not so wild cows grazing every here and there in the hills. The hills are home to the scary Cougar but luckily for us we did not spot any.
Cypress Hills were recommended to us by several people back in Vancouver and we are very happy to have listened. If you are ever in this part of the country it is definitely not to be missed. A great community, with everything to make a summer holiday fun, relaxing and adventurous.
Next is off to Regina and a couple of days break from camping. As always we are all looking forward to a comfortable bed and a hot shower, and of course a chance to do some laundry. Ah the life of road travellers!
Haifa
No comments:
Post a Comment