Beachs and Boundaries

January 4, 2013

I was in Cardston, Alberta for a few days, I had been busy inside for the morning but by noon I wanted to get outside, for a ski or a walk, before the day ended. I have visited the St. Mary’s Reservoir during the spring and summer But I had not visited it in the winter. Wally's Beach on the St. Mary's Reservoir is less than an hour drive from Cardston so it was a good place to drive to for an afternoon outing.

By about 1 PM I had arrived at the gate to Wally’s Beach. The gate is closed during the off season so I parked there and walked the road to the beach. There were latent tracks in the last bit of snow where a Cross-country skier had gone but the snow was now rapidly melting away and skiing was not possible.  As I walked south on the beach I realized the reservoir is frozen and I could likely walk out to a nearby island and do some exploring there. At a narrow place between the beach and the island, I set out across the ice and I soon arrived at the shore of the island. The water levels in the reservoir fluctuate seasonally which causes the banks to be constantly eroded.

These photographs are of an entire Cottonwood tree which has eroded from the bank, root and all, and has now drifted onto the beach.                            The entire walk around the island was 3.2 km. and I did it in about 1 hour.

I then walked back across the ice to the beach and back to my vehicle the same way I came.

The total distance I walked was 8 km., in about 2 hr. and 50 minutes.

January 5, 2013,

 It was January 14, 2012 when I first visited Police Outpost Park in the winter (refer to my Blog, Setting Boundaries). 

The park is close to vehicles so I parked at the locked gate and started my walk into the park at about 3:30 PM on this Saturday afternoon. It is only about 600 M to get to the trail which goes to the International Border. I was undecided as to which way I should walk, but I decided I would like some photos of the sunset at the Canada-US border marker so I walked the trail to the Canada-US boundary. I found things have changed a little since I was there about a year ago.

Last year a person could squeeze through a stile in the fence and walk over to the boundary marker. Now there is a
barbed wire fence right through the stile. I assumed the fence was to discourage visitors from going any further. Upon seeing this I muttered a few things about the absurdity of the 49th parallel and climbed the fence anyway. I snapped a couple of photos and then hopped back over the fence to my own country. Next, for some reason I decided not to walk the path back but instead I walked west along the boundary fence toward the Outpost Wetland. In about 200 M the boundary fence jogs south several metres and the fence clearly shows less maintenance. Then, as I continued on to the wetland, the fence eventually is just laying on the ground. As I am walking I have more thoughts about how absurd a boundary is which does not at least follow the natural geographical features.
I arrived at the frozen wetland and once I determined the the ice was be safe to walk on I started back toward where my vehicle was. I had not walked far on the ice when I heard something but I could not determine what. Think it might be a bird or an animal call I stopped and looked around but saw nothing so I kept going. Then I heard someone shout and I turned and saw a person and a dog. I think I faintly heard the person shout that he wanted to talk to me and motioned to me to hold up so I thought, "I could be in trouble". I started walking toward the guy so he soon caught up with me and as he approached me I could see he was in some sort of uniform. Sure enough he was US border patrol. He asked where I came from and which way I was heading. I was more puzzled by where he came from because I had not seen a vehicle or a fresh track at all. Once he established that I was a Canadian on my way back to my vehicle and I was just out for a walk he seemed satisfied with that information. Then we chatted a bit. The border guy said because there is a road nearby in Montana which is close to the road in Alberta they have caught people smuggling guns across the border at this place. Sheeze! It seemed to me I was out in quiet solitude with no one else around and now  I might to bump into gun runners!
I chatted with be border patrol guy about my other hikes in the area and about seeing a helicopter on patrol when I hiked that way in 2005. He was pretty courteous and listened to my stories. Then we parted ways and I hoofed it back to my van. On the way back I watched the sunset and I took photos of the wetland in the winter with Chief Mountain in the background.
When I got to back my van and as I was making notes about my hike there was a black 4X4 pickup truck with tinted windows which drove by a little slower than what I thought was normal. Then it drove by again and then seemed to be lurking around all while I made my notes about the hike. The suspicious movements of this vehicle cast an air of mystery upon the whole situation and of course, after talking to the border patrol,  every vehicle I see here is carrying a gunrunner.

Out With The Old

December 31, 2012,

What better way is there to finish off the year 2012 than to get out and do something active. The morning of December 31, 2012, I was in Tofield so it was natural for me to choose to ski in the Cooking Lake Recreational Area. I started at around 9:00 AM from the Islet Lake staging area, skied the Lost Lake Trail to the west end of Elk Push Lake then I returned on the Push Lake trail back to the Lost Lake trail and back to the parking lot. I finished my ski at around 10:30 AM.

When I first visited Islet Lake I my thoughts were, "this is place must be a well kept secret" because it seemed to have all of the serenity and beauty of Elk Island National Park without the people. As time has past I believe I notice more people are using the area. Currently there are no user fees for using this area so I am not surprised if, in fact, there is an increase in visitors.

As I arrived at the Staging Area there were a few cars in the parking lot, all skiers I think, but, on my ski I was only over taken by one pair of skiers, so, even though there were other people on the trails I was still favored with ample solitude during my ski. As I negotiated the undulating terrain through the poplar woods, interspersed with birch groves and white spruce, I was in familiar territory but still feeling the thrill and adventure of the days activity.

During my ski back, on the Lost lake Trail, I particularly enjoyed the view of Islet Lake cloaked in a blanket of snow. Winter has its way of subduing the landscape which deepens the solitude one will find there.

 During this outing I skied about 6.5 km. in about 1 hr. 27 minutes.