Pickle Power: Alaska

June 13^th, 2018

Cypress Hills Park came as a surprise on that straight road we were driving in Alberta as it ran through kilometers and kilometers of open grassy pastureland. We saw cows along the way, but very few houses. Then suddenly, up over a hill and off to our left, was a long stretch of cypress forest-covered hills with a blue lake between the road and the hills. We turned onto the road leading through the lake’s shallow lands and slowed to let two Canada geese with their six babies waddle across the road. This was Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. Interprovincial because the park land extends on either side of the Alberta/Saskatchewan border. The main campground is on the Alberta side, where we were.

With some exploring, we found six camping loops, with sites ranging in price from $21 to $50 (Canadian) depending on provided services and proximity to the lakeside. There was no one in the camp office or Visitor’s Center to help us because it was after five, and, I think, because the summer season hadn’t yet gotten underway in Alberta. There were lots of sites to choose from and no one to tell us otherwise. We chose the no-service (except for the clean vault toilet,) “last” (and cheapest) camping loop at the top of the hill, away from the lake, set under the cypress trees.

We couldn’t figure out how to pay since no credit cards were taken at the self-registration box, or US checks, and we hadn’t exchanged any US dollars for Canadian yet. (Don’t tell anyone, but we left Cypress Hills the next morning without paying.)

Magpies entertained us in the campground. They were prevalent like jays are in more southern locales, hanging around to pick up any left-behind crumbs or scraps.

The next day we drove to Dinosaur Provincial Park, 30 miles east of Calgary, a must-see stop we’d heard about from Canadian travelers in Texas last winter. Badlands topography in the Red Deer River valley is the setting for the park and is the area where the greatest variety of dinosaur bones have been found for its size (sq. kilometers, I guess) in the world. Fifty-eight dinosaur species have been discovered at the park. Most of the collections of bones are in the Royal Museum in Drumhill, 1 ½ hours north of the park or in other museums worldwide. Stegoceras, Centrosaurus, Struthiomimus – a few of the species displayed in the Provincial Park Visitor’s Center and at fascinating exhibits along the drive on the public loop through the Park.