Chain Lakes, Alberta, July 25

Chain Lakes July 25

I decided to leave Banff this morning, too many mosquitoes in this part of the campground – swarms, clouds of them. According to a lady camped across from me she says the mosquitoes are not so bad in Trailer’s Village because it has fewer trees, but from the road it looks like a parking lot. And there is a huge lineup each morning of people trying to get in to any available space.  I checked out a couple of trailheads and the hikers I talked to said they found the mosquitoes pretty bad as well. The access to the #1 recommended hike up by Sunshine ski hill has been washed out so all in all, it’s a good time to leave.

I spent some time mulling over what route to head south on. I wanted to go down the #40 highway close to the mountains but thought there may be flood related closures and #22 is the busy main route from Calgary so I chose #22 as it’s between the other two. And that turned out to be a beautiful drive through green rolling hills, with lots of range land and grazing cows.  I checked into Chain Lakes Provincial Campground in the afternoon because of the beautiful range land surrounding the campsite.

After dinner I heard a lot of cows mooing and rode down the road on my bike to see what was up. There were two cowboys on horses with dogs moving a herd of cattle down the field and across the park road to another field. Some of the cows hid in the trees and there was a lot of action as the cowboys shouted and weaved in and out of the cows, the dogs barked, and it sounded as though every one of the cows was complaining as well. While watching I chatted with a couple from Holland and another one from Calgary and we had lots of fun watching the show, it was just like the movies.

Customs tomorrow so I will have to find a place to stash my firewood, it can’t be taken across the border. And eat all my fruit...