Spring Trip 2010 - Day 13 - Dinosaur Provincial Park

It is probably best to quote from the hand written journal that I kept during the trip "Well, we're still here...the snow hasn't materialized but the rain and sleet sure have and so has the wind! We are still upright ~ thank goodness ~ but it has been a rocky, sleepless night and the wind, if anything, seems to be getting stronger. One thing for sure, we won't be going anywhere today!"
Pictures of course do nothing here as there is no way of showing the force of the wind or the rain that was being driven sideways. We thought that it looked like there was snow on the tops of these hills, but realized it was just the wet clay shining......

My journal notes that at 11:15 am the 'wet' had turned to 'white' ~ but then at 1:00 pm had turned back to rain..... Ernie bundled up in waterproof pants, winter jacket, hat and gloves and he and Shantz braved the weather to go pay for another night.

looking out the back....again these pictures give absolutely no idea of what it was really like...

The tent was still there, although it's occupants had taken shelter in the kitchen shelter and had a nice fire going.....

Come 7:00 pm the wind was still blowing although it had lessened somewhat. It had 'flurried' all afternoon, but with no accumulations. We all ventured out in what now was just rain, because dogs do need to go outside sometimes...walked over and took a look at Sandhill Creek ~ not too bad yet but definitely more water than there had been.....

The forecast for the night was minus 3, at least according to the Calgary radio station we found, so we fired up the generator for a few hours to make sure the batteries were at full capacity in anticipation of the furnace running all night ~ again!

IF the wind dies and IF the roads are clear in the morning ~ and those are big 'IF's' at this point ~ we've decided to head north, running up the east side of the province since we've heard that the whole southern area is a disaster with wind & snow, even heading back into B.C. wasn't an option as there was a "Winter Storm Warning' for the whole area ~ so north seemed the only option available.

Bird list was pitiful as the only ones seen were those blowing sideways past the camper.