Little Fish Lake Provincial Park

I had a little road trip in me yearning to come out!  Today I wanted to be anywhere other than in a mountainous area or where views were of the city scape kind.  Desert type landscape is easy access for me and that's the direction I headed even on a day forecasted to be +30C.  What was I thinking? Well, I was thinking wisely!  I googled directions to Little Fish Lake Provincial Park and just short of two hours later I arrived at this lovely little Campground and Park.  It sits about a 30 minute drive east of Drumheller.  

This post is more of a resource for me to look back and remember this place and this day.  It was a most beautiful, quiet, peaceful experience here and I am thankful for that. This is one of the Provincial Parks that will be permanently closed at the end of this summer due to cutbacks.  If this needs to happen, I can understand why this Park was picked.  It is out of the way (25kms down a dirt road), small (only 10 campsites for tents or trailers), protected water (no swimming and not good for consumption).  I am glad I got to see it.

On this day three of the ten campsites were occupied at $20.00 a night, no services other than a water  pump which would only be good for putting out your campfire.  There is a small structure with vault toilets. The campground section looked so nice each with a picnic table and fire pit and shade from the trees which is a must in this desert heat. There was also a swing set to the side and a small group campsite down a short path.  The sites all have a front row seat to Little Fish Lake.  

There is a maintained walking trail through the hills above the Lake.  It offers views of green grassy layers of rolling hills, a view of the Lake from the top of the hills, a view towards the campsites and the wildflowers were in abundance on the sides of the trail.  The wildlife visible today were one deer and one coyote.  Sunrises and sunsets would be awesome here! 

The campground section had animal proof garbage bins.  The bins were obviously full as two garbage bags were neatly packed and placed beside the bins.  I am not sure how often the garbage here would be collected but I could see this being an issue if it sat there overnight or for any length of time.  

This is a first come first serve campground with payment of your $20.00 by the honour system.  There is a secure box at the entrance to place your payment.  Being off the beaten path (25kms down a dirt road), I would not want to arrive here with intentions of setting up camp for the night, only to see it full.  Today the dirt road was in great condition, speed limit 80 and it was fine going at that speed.  It was a pretty drive even if it was along a dirt road.

Even though my visit here was two days ago, I still think about it and I wonder what it would be like to spend a night here!

walk way down to the Lake

view towards the rolling hills from the beach

looking back at the little beach

swing set

along the walking trail

view of Little Fish Lake from the walking trail

along the trail

looking back and down to the beach and campground which is in the trees on far left in photo

on a hill with Little Fish Lake behind me

along the trail

wildflowers

wildflowers

walking back to the beach

campsites are in the trees to the left

view along the dirt road drive

August 6, 2020 visit to Little Fish Lake Provincial Park

finding joy in sketching

The cross-stitching has fallen by the wayside as has rock painting, all in favour of investing time in learning what I can about colour pencil sketching.  I have watched tutorials and practiced on scratch paper how to sketch feathers and fur, how to sketch something that is white, how to blend colours, how to do eyes, and the latest was how to do a glass of wine.  The glass of wine needs much more work and it's an important lesson I want to conquer.  After each tutorial and hours of practice, it's then time to finally lay the lesson onto real sketch paper.  These are my creations from the past while.  

Here & There

Magnificent mornings are what I have to show for my time this past week!  With life's happenings my preference had been to stick closer to home.  The following collages tell the stories of what I was afforded while "out & about" sharing time with friends & family or on my own.  How fortunate are we here in Canada, in Alberta, in Calgary to have so much beauty right out our front doors!    

Bow Vally Parkway July 24, 2020 Lake Louise Camping

I woke to hearing sprinkles landing on my tent so I was in no rush to make an exit.  It was a chilly morning and I was so comfy and cozy in my Talus.  Eventually the showers stopped and I peaked my head out and then made the exit to get going with the day. We each had a plan in our minds of what we wanted our day to be like.  We attacked our plans.  I opted to stick around awhile and enjoy a little more time at my campsite.  After two coffees instead of one a bit of breakfast, I got a move on with taking down my site and load it all back into my car.  

I aimed for the Bow Valley Parkway to have a nice big breakfast at an official open picnic site.  While setting up I heard a rustle and spotted a grizzly bear.  What are the chances? I wondered was it the same one we saw on Wednesday in the campground.  For this photo I zoomed in so it was not as close as it looks but it did mean packing everything back into my car and moving on down the road.  

I picked another spot much further along the Parkway.  I captured a few photos of the wildflowers which were incredible along the whole road.  I decided to make it an early lunch by now but enjoy it   inside my vehicle instead of at a table.  I did not want to have experience another What are the chances? of the negative kind!

In our world today I am working at living a life, finding enjoyment, being open to change, accepting what needs to be and that played a big part again in my day today.  While I believe life has always been this way, it seems more prevalent these days.  I am trying to be thankful for what I have and where I can go and by doing this I am finding joy where I never saw it before!  What are the chances?

Skoki Aborted so Lake Louse & Bow River July 23, 2020 Lake Louise Camping

Today's plan was to complete some kind of a big hike up in the Skoki Region.  It was a later start due to waking to rain and working around and between the showers to get ready for the day.  We were ready and made the very short drive to the trail head only to arrive in a down poor.  We waited, we texted, we waited, we left, completed an errand, came back and got going.  We had a short period where the weather was beautiful as you can see in the first two photos.  We continued on to the forest section and then the sky opened, it poured, it thundered, we took shelter, we geared up more, we moved on, we took shelter, we moved on, we took shelter, it thundered.  We discussed what to do, I knew this was not for me, we aborted the plan for today and did a turn about and hiked back to our vehicles.  I wanted to do something so after a snack and a quick chat, we went in different directions to each find a way to save our day.   

I went to Lake Louise.  I wanted to see it even though I have seen it a hundred times.  I was thankful for the blue sky and the heat.  I strolled the shoreline for a bit and then came back and found a bench which I settled on and owned for an hour.  It was nice to just sit, snack, and take it all in.  Eventually it was time to move on and enjoy some campsite time. A beer, chips, hammock time, dinner and after that the evening was still young.

I scooted over to my friend's campsite to see if she was keen to walk the Bow River Loop before calling it a day.  She was onboard and immediately said I am taking my bear spray.  Cameras and bear spray in hand we walk the loop on a most beautiful evening.  We commented on high the Bow River was running and admired it's colour.

Before calling it a night, I hung out in my hammock and read for awhile.  It was a nice night and I did not want it to end but tomorrow was another day, filled with taking down camp, hitting a hiking trail and then having the drive home.  In our world today I am working at living a life, finding enjoyment, being open to change, accepting what needs to be and that played a big part again in my day today.

Iceline Trail & Yoho Lake July 22, 2020 Lake Louise Camping

What are the chances?

What are the chances that a grizzly bear would get inside the electrified fence that protects the tent-only camping section of the Lake Louise Campground?  That's what faced us this morning about 6:45 am or so while we are in the midst of having breakfast.  We hear "bear" and look and there it comes along the path between my campsite and my friend's campsite.  That's it in the middle of the photo, the head on the left of the tree, the rump on the right with the hump behind the tree. It looked at my friend and then carried on, it looked at me and then carried on.  We jumped in our vehicles and waited a bit. While waiting I shared the transpiring event with my friends on social media.  Figuring it was gone and safe now, we went about our business.  In about 20 minutes we hear a very loud voice yelling "IF YOU HEAR MY VOICE GET INTO YOUR VEHICLES IMMEDIATELY!" which we did and in a second I saw two Park Wardens pass in front of my car carrying large tranquilizer guns and the grizzly bear jumping through the bushes on the other side of them.  Once again we waited a bit and then got out and finished the unfinished business.  

We had a later start than planned for our Iceline Trail adventure 30 minutes west in Yoho National Park.  We parked, geared up,  and hit the trail. This is the view of Takakkaw Falls as we were getting ready.

looking back as we worked out way to where we would begin the climb

You can see in the middle of the photo what creates the waterfalls.  

This is a land of glaciers!

As we reached higher elevation levels the views opened up where we could see Daly Glacier.

feeling like I am at eye level with the mountain peaks and glaciers

There is still snow in spots up here.  I have been along the Iceline Trail a few times but there has never been so much water running as there was today.  We had lots of water crossings and even in spots where there are not normally water crossings.  Along this route I feel like I am so far out there or I should say so far back there, in the days of stone age and ice age!

incredible colours in this tarn

just being one with the rocks here while enjoying another lunch break

We picked a turn around spot and then decided to carry on with a loop around Yoho Lake.  

We had this view for a good long stretch.

eventually we would enter the forest at the far end of this traverse

We entered the forest then after hiking  a couple of kilometers we came out to Yoho Lake.  Oh the colours!  It was quiet here and a good place for another short lunch before the misquotes took control which they eventually did.  We chatted with two people who were working in the area that day.  They are with the division of Parks Canada that is responsible for clearing the trails of fallen trees.  Thank You for what you do!  They just came from the direction we were now headed and had just cleared the fallen trees from that trail.  What are the chances?

On the way in we noticed the trail sign listed a short hike into Hidden Lake.  Curious as to what it might look like, we veered off and came upon it quite quickly.  How does a lake get to be this green in colour, it was so pretty!  It is not a lake with access to enjoy a close up experience so we admired it and then continued on with the descent back to the trail head.

This day turned out being not quite what we had planned, we received a little more in some aspects and a little less in others.  In our world today I am working at living a life, finding enjoyment, being open to change, accepting what needs to be and that played a big part in my day today.

Larch Valley July 21, 2020 Lake Louise Camping

What are the chances?  

What are the chances that there would be two campsites available side by side at the Lake Louise Tent-Only Campground.  When a friend and I decided we would like to camp and hike for a few days, we went onto the Parks Canada Website and there were two spots available, side by side, for the three nights we wanted.  In a matter of seconds they were ours!  

What are the chances that we would arrive at a full Moraine Lake Parking Lot only to be greeted by the two parking lot attendees who directed us to park in made up non official spots.  In a matter of minutes we were ready to hit the trail up to Larch Valley.  

What are the chances it would be so very quiet along the trail mid morning.  

It was WOW when we recached the opening!

The trail was clear and dry yet with more than enough snow in the meadow to build a snowman.   

The best boulder on the edge of Minnestimma Lake was available so we snatched it up.  We settled in for some lunch,  a rest, lots of admiring and of course me taking care of business.  We watched hikers heading up to and descending from Sentinel Pass.  Watching those that choose to slide from the top of the snow to the bottom was our entertainment.

perfect reflection

We began the hike back with the intention to check out a trail that leads off to the right.  

Before that though, there was still lots to admire.

When a group of hikers came along and spotted the marmot they yelled out "look at the beaver"! 

a tarn with the Valley of Ten Peaks as the backdrop

reflecting peaks

We found a well beaten defined path off to the right and we went for it.  The trail meandered through a meadow, down a hill, off to a most beautiful area where there was no one.  It was very quiet and we made sure to let the wildlife know we came for a visit.  This is the first time I ever saw a marmot standing for the longest time.  This is zoomed in from a good distance away.  It was one of the largest marmots I have seen and because it was standing, we thought it was a bear cub until I took the zoom shot and looked closer.

We found our way down to the creek and followed along for a little while.

This section was so beautiful!  

It's the clearest mountain creek I ever did see!

We finished our hike and drove to the campground to check in and set up our sites. This is my site and my friend's site is on the other side of the trees on the right of the photo.

dinner time

hang out time

Today played out in our favour.  It was good to be able to set up camp then have dinner then relax without having to deal with non-user-friendly weather.  In our world today I am working at living a life, finding enjoyment, being open to change, accepting what needs to be.  It's nice when "what are the chances" are positive bonuses!  But are they always???