Spring Trip 2010 – Day 21 – Crane Lake

May 12th we packed up and headed into the town of Lac la Biche….with one mission in mind – find water!  Ernie went to the visitor’s center, which was actually open….and they told him there was a gas station where you could purchase water – so headed there and for a nominal fee, were able to fill up the water tank again.

I’m really not sure why we drove such a short distance that day.  We followed #55 which heads south for a bit before turning east, heading to Cold Lake.  We knew that the provincial campground at Cold Lake didn’t open until the long weekend, but there were a few recreation sites in the area, so checked them out. 

First visited Crane Lake West which was a nice enough little campground, right on the lake, but surrounded by lodges, and private RV parks….if you like that kind of thing it would be nice – but we don’t – so we headed to Crane Lake East, past a subdivision of I guess mixed permanent homes and summer homes, where we found a nice recreational campground, again, right on the lake – we’d only been on the road a couple of hours if that…but decided to stay.

 

Here is a view of Crane Lake, looking eastwards from the boat launch which was in the campground.  This lake is in typical ‘boreal forest’ type habitat…

from the same spot, but looking westward…

We had picked this spot right by the lake and the boat launch – this would NOT be a nice place to be when the place was busy…but since we were the only ones there, it was fine…

Most of the campground was up in this treed area….

There weren’t a lot of birds around…

this female Hairy Woodpecker was seen quite often….obviously thinking about nesting…

The weather was warm and sunny….warm enough for shorts….after lunch we set off for a bit of a walk…

and were amazed to spot these – Prairie Crocus!  It was about the last place I would have expected to find them!

There weren’t many and they were well scattered…

But there they were ~ and in reality it is amazing that there were any to see….because this was obviously ‘ATV’ country and I was so disgusted by the devastation to the habitat …

 

ATV habitat damage….

and more – why governments don’t ban these destructive machines for recreational use is beyond me!

even right along the lake shore…. all this despite the sign….

Unfortunately, it seems that the people that delight in this form of recreation have no more respect for rules and regulations than they do for the environment!  Sorry!  but these things are a pet peeve of mine…it just makes my blood boil!!!

here is another view of the lake from along the ATV track…

Ernie actually took this picture….it shows the typical ground cover (where it still exists undisturbed)…lichen, moss and Cranberries

Back at the campground…

This was one of several Ring-bill Gull who paid a visit….

We’d seen a few Red Squirrels like this guy….

and of course the usual Robins…

and Yellow-rump Warblers…

as we were eating supper an amphibious ATV pulled up to the boat launch, from the lake, and proceeded through the campground – remember the NO ATV sign? 

at least the day closed with a nice sunset…

and another look

this one with Ernie’s camera…  so ended one of my least favorite days of the trip.

Bird List: Belted Kingfisher – 2; Common Loon – 3; Common Merganser – 4; Crow – 1; Mallard – 2; Yellow Rump Warbler – 5; Junco – 2; Hairy Woodpecker – 1; Black Cap Chickadee – 1; Ring-bill Gull – 6; Swainson’s Thrush – 2; Red Breasted Nuthatch – 1; Robin – 1; Magpie – 1.

Trip to Southern Alberta 2008 – Writing on Stone 2

September 2nd we finally woke to sunshine…which gave us a chance to enjoy this park in all it’s glory….

First thing we did was go up to the wonderful visitor’s center that sits up on the grasslands, above the campground.  The green trees in this picture are the campground…you can just make out one of the roads, and the beach area….and those hills in the distance are the Sweet Grass Hills in northern Montana….and you can see that the cold, wet weather system that had brought all that rain, had delivered snow to the Sweet Grass Hills….remember it was only the 2nd day of September! 

back down to the campground, this is the beach that you could see from up above.  There were a few Sunflowers still in flower…

 

Here is a closer look at these Prairie Sunflowers…

time now to repeat the walk we took yesterday, but this time in brilliant sunshine…. looking westward along the Milk River….

and now south east…

from up top looking southward…

one of the ‘rock gardens’ although not much left in flower at this time of the year.  Temperatures along this rock face, in summer time are often in the high 30’s and 40’s….so vegetation has to be tough…

the various holes in the sandstone are used by lots of creatures….in this case…a pretty good sized Wasp nest.  Raptors build their nests in these holes as well…

Here is another spectacular view…this time with that tough prairie wildflower – Liatris in the foreground.

Speaking of Liatris and how tough it is…..

 

Here is another view from high up in the hoodoos, looking along the river.

back down at river level, you can see we are in grass and sage type vegetation…..

another, slightly different look – the landscape is so breath taking….

I think this is my favourite picture….taken along the trail

well these hoodoos are found on the trails that lead from the campground, up to the visitors center…

I should mention that although I haven’t posted any bird pictures, it wasn’t because there weren’t birds…there were lots of choke cherry trees and other berried trees that were absolutely alive with Robins and Cedar Waxwings….we also found a fairly young Gray Catbird living just back of one of the sets of garbage containers…and of course the deer were everywhere.

Trip to Southern Alberta 2008 – to Chain Lakes

After our brush with winter (in August), the next day, which was August 27th, dawned nice and sunny so we decided to drive back along the main highway, so we could stop at all the spots we had passed on our way in, such as Kananaski’s center.

I know I took pictures….but where they are I do not know….so these ones will have to suffice…

This was somewhere along the highway….there was a rest stop in the area, I do remember that.

I think this might have been the view the rest stop was there for….the whole drive is absolutely spectacular but the town center was not dog friendly and since the sun was shining we couldn’t leave them in the vehicle for long, so didn’t really explore that area at all.

This was another spot where there was a trail that lead to Grizzly Creek….

and this is the creek itself, not all that remarkable, but a nice walk into it.  I think you could hike further if you wished, but by this time it was getting late in the day and we were thinking supper.   I do remember there were a number of Ruffed Grouse in the parking area when we returned to the truck….

The next morning, we once more woke to this…

that isn’t a black and white picture folks! it just looks that way….which is why we decided it was time to move on, so hooked up the trailer, said our goodbyes to our friends who were busy getting their campsite ready to close and proceeded south and then east on highway 40 which took us higher and higher, above tree line…very spectacular scenery but I think I was too worried about the ability of our truck to be towing in this high elevation, than I was about taking pictures.  Then suddenly we were dropping down into the foothills.  Highway 40 became #541 and then joined highway 22 at Longview.  We were now back into pretty flat country and proceeded the short distance to Chain Lakes Provincial Park.

this is a lovely park, nestled in ‘cattle country’.  When we were there part of the campsite was closed as they were upgrading the sites to have power – this is one of the things we love about Alberta parks, the fact that you have your choice of powered or non-powered sites.  We elected for non-powered this time as we only planned to spend the night.  The Labour Day long weekend was fast approaching and we watched a steady stream of vehicles come in a ‘save’ sites – something you can’t do in B.C. (well you can reserve them – for a fee)

a walk revealed this lake which I assume was one of a ‘chain’.  There was a large picnic area, playground and even a concession in this location.

Here is another look at part of the large campground.

This was a very ‘birdie’ area!  We made a mental note to try to return here early one spring – I imagine sometime in May would be ideal!  As it was, we watched the numerous White Crowned Sparrows…

that were lining up to take turn bathing where water was dripping from a tap….

there were large numbers of juveniles, like this fellow, attesting to a successful breeding season, although given the time of year, they could have all been migrating through as well.

I also recall there being quite a few Warblers, Black billed Magpies, a Downy Woodpecker

and this young Yellow shafted Northern Flicker…the list went on and on….