Spring Trip 2010 – Day 15 – Dinosaur Provincial Park

Thursday, May 6th we once more woke up to…..

Snow!  The first day it was novel…..now it is getting tiresome!  This is the 6th day we have been here at Dinosaur Provincial Park – don’t get me wrong – we like this park….but this trip it hadn’t even been in our plans and we’d yet to get anywhere that had been……

So the decision was made, snow or not, today we would make the run into Brooks (approx. 100 km round trip), do the laundry, stock up on groceries, come back here for one more night….and then the next day, come what may, head north….

one more snowy campsite picture ~  the drive into Brooks was, to put it mildly, interesting…..as soon as we crested the top of the hill out of the park we were greeted by blowing snow and small drifts across the road…..I was all for turning around and going back but I think Ernie had had enough of being held prisoner by the weather….we had snow rated tires, we have a 4 x 4…..time to bite the bullet….

the conditions once we got to the main road leading to the highway….what was interesting was the number of birds on the road….I guess the road was the only clear place…..I even managed to get a picture of…..

Male Ring-neck Pheasant!  For me that almost made it all worth it!  There were also lots of Wilson’s Snipe, either on the road or perched on fence posts….the first Snipe we’d seen on the trip.

Brook’s was reached without incident, a Laundromat was found with ‘Tizzy Lizzie’s’ (our G.P.S.) somewhat misguided help, groceries were purchased, phone calls made to family so they knew we were still alive, bought some non – prescription sun glasses at Wal-Mart (being optimistic the sun would shine again one day and I hate walking, while wearing prescription glasses), had lunch and with chores done, we headed back to the park.  By this time, most of the snow had disappeared.

back to the spot we had originally stayed in…..and surprise!  this night we are not alone.  First a Class B (Camper Van) pulled in….these people had been trapped in Waterton where they verified that the snow, indeed, had been ‘thigh high’.  A little later our ‘twin’ arrived….exact same Citation Camper on a White Dodge 3500….a rental, this couple, from Switzerland were on their way to ‘Drive the Dempster’ – It’s a small world and oh, how I envied them!

an after supper walk up the road and you can see just the tiniest bit of snow remains on the top of the rock formations….

As usual, the evening also brought the Mule Deer to graze on the grass.

Some DSLR Pictures…….

Finally got the memory card from the DSLR down loaded so am just going to go back and post a few pictures to bring us up to date:

First I’m going to take us back to Chin Lake, with a view to the east….

and another to the west (that bridge is the highway)

 

You’ll remember how I said a Coyote had walked over the hill in the morning….well there he (or she) is…

and there is the scene…Coyote on the left….3 White tail Deer on the right…..

Now some of what I consider to be, the better pictures I got at Dinosaur Provincial Park….

taken on that ‘Badlands Trail’

a general overview of some of the terrain…

more terrain…

looking down on the campground (we’re barely visible there in the middle)

one of many sandstone formations…..

That Nuttall’s Cottontail Rabbit….

approaching the river….

the Red River, looking eastwards

same direction but from a different location….

and finally….to bring us up to the present….or at least the present as it was on May 5th, 2010

Spring Trip 2010 – Day 14 – Dinosaur Provincial Park

OK folks, I’m back on the desktop, back using the Live Writer program so please bear with me while I remember how to use it!

Now, back to May 5th….where we woke up to ~ you guessed it ~ SNOW

at least somebody was happy about it!

at this point, I must admit, we found it a bit novel.   It was now day 14 of our trip ~ we’d been on the road for two weeks and hadn’t gotten anywhere we’d planned to go ~ but might as well make the most of it…so we bundled up and set off for a morning walk.  At least the wind had died.

 

 

 

This robin was one of many that didn’t look too thrilled……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and there were lots of White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows sheltering under the picnic table….you can see the snow was continuing as we set out…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our destination was the Badlands Trail ~ I hoped to find some Prairie Crocus in the snow.

 

 

 

 

 

We’re looking back now at the 3 km long circle road that runs through the badlands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Prairie Crocus up here were buried but we did find some of that Owl Clover

Here is Ernie and Shantz up on top ~ we didn’t risk going any further from this point as it involved a steep downhill….a little risky in these conditions….  headed back to the road and continued on as Ernie had seen a lot of Prairie Crocus further up….hadn’t gone too far when I spotted something at the side of the road…..

That’s me…….

and this is what I had spotted ~ a Western Meadowlark….

Worked my way closer…..

and closer….to get some of the best pictures I’m ever likely to get!

Pictures like that made the whole thing worthwhile!  Oh, and far as Prairie Crocus went…..

Well we did find a few, but between the wind and rain of the day before, and then the snow, the poor things were pretty battered and bruised!

 I’ll throw this one in, just because I like it….and we’ll continue on…..

While we’re looking at things in the snow….thought I’d show this one Ernie took while on the walk, of a Cactus in the snow…

Back in the campground, remember a few posts ago I mentioned to keep in mind the level of Sandhill Creek?  well this is why….look at it’s level now!  You’ll notice that the snow is disappearing as the day goes on although it did continue to come down ……the radio station we were listening to had a name for it ‘Snizzle’  half snow/half drizzle!

There was actually a lot of bird activity….here is one of the Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers…..

and a closer look at one of the White-throated Sparrows….

Since it was obvious we were going to be spending another night here, we elected to move sites ~ again! and this time decided to splurge on a powered site ($27 per night as opposed to $21)

So here we are, in the late afternoon, set up in the newest spot ~ we had the campground completely to ourselves as even the campground hosts, who must live close by, had left their rig but vacated the park and the tenters had finally given into the elements as well….this spot was right beside where I’d seen the rabbit.

Shantz was happy in the new spot as she had a good view all round….although I think she missed her beaver….

took a walk down to the river after supper…..the ‘Snizzle’ continued…

I took this picture of a Saskatoon Shrub in full flower….just to prove that it really was spring!

The deer also showed up again in the evening….

here is a closer look at one of the deer…..and so ended day 14.

Bird List:  White-crowned Sparrow – 8; Starlings – 6; Spotted Sandpiper – 1; Killdeer – 2; Tree Swallow – 1; Ring neck Pheasant – 3; White throated Sparrow – 8; Northern Flicker – 6; Western Meadowlark – 5; House Sparrow – 5; Brewer’s Blackbird – 6; Canada Goose – 7; Black cap Chickadee – 1; Hairy Woodpecker – 1; Black billed Magpie – 7; American Kestrel – 1; American white Pelican – 21; Mallard – 2; Northern Pintail – 1; Yellow rump Warbler – 2; Raven – 1; Yellow bellied Sapsucker – 4; Mourning Dove – 2.

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.