June 22, 2014 (62nd Day)

It was a very pleasant morning when we woke up. It was 55˚ and the day was just perfect for our outing.  We had quick breakfast then checked out of the campground at 8:35 a.m. Got back on Alta-22 South to Bar U Ranch, so Edith can go visit the historic ranch.

After we arrived at the Bar U Ranch Erwin changed his mind and decided to go in with Edith. The lady in the gift shop, whom we talked with the day before, was happy to see us that she came and gave Edith a good hug.  Nice of her! The admission for seniors was $6.55 Canadian dollars

Brief History on Bar U Ranch: It is a preserved ranch, nestled in the southern Alberta foothills. It was founded by Fred Stimson.  It was used to raise cattles.  In 1902 George Lane bought the ranch and decided to raise Percherons, also.  After 1950 much of the ranch property was sold and the Parks Canada bought it in 1991, renovated some. It became an attraction in 1995. At some locations there are interpretive areas that demonstrate skills, such as cattle handling, roping, blacksmithing, cooking.  They would share true stories of how in the old days things were.

Walked down to the ranch, explored buildings, went to the cook house, got homemade molasses cookies. The lady riding a horse stopped and chatted with Erwin, asking where we were from, what places we plan to visit.  She gave us tips on what to see while In Banff, AB. Blacksmith showed us how horseshoes were made, they don't put them on horses anymore. Then came a large group of tourists from tour bus.  Instead of walking back to the front building we hopped on a wagon pulled by two huge black Percherons. 

Right: Bronze statue of George Lane
Based on a true story: George was called back to work after celebrating the birth of his
first born son.  On way to the ranch he came to an area where wolves were
feasting on the caracass of a cow and they then attacked him and his horse, George killed most of the pack and the rest fled. 

I have big hands but they are dwarfed by the Percheron horseshoe

L: White Percherons

The lady served homemade molasses cookies and they were good!

Look at Edith's ears!!!

We thought the admission fee was worth every penny because it took us over 3 hours to explore the ranch.

We fixed lunch while still on the ranch property, then left for Longview around noon..

Our camper van reached 11,000 miles while on Highway 22. So far, so good.

Arrived Longview, AB and needed to get gas before we continued trekking to Canmore, AB. Gas was $1.289 per litre. After gassing up we got on 541 from Highway 22, entered Kananaskis Country.  There were lots of motorcyclists on the road. 

Gorgeous mountain view all around

At Lineham Creek the bridge was washed out from heavy rain. There was a detour to go around the bridge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1IGKg6h4EY&list=UUc1sN0j1aIwLmqT67a9kMUQ

Awesome signs of the POWER of water! All the concrete pieces were washed way far downstream!

Stopped at Rocky Glacier Trail, saw one pika. Another group of young Rocky Mountain sheep on the road blocking traffic, We didn't mind as it gave us a chance to watch them up close (6) 

Pika

Went to Grizzly Creek overlook awesome view of the range

While driving Edith saw something black on the mountain side, she thought to herself it could it be a bear or something else. Then when this thing moved she yelled to Erwin  'It is a bear..it is a bear'. Erwin quickly pulled the van over to the shoulder and Edith rolled down the window, rested the zoom lens on the edge of the window and took pictures. In no time there were lots of tourist behind us looking too.  

See it? 

We turned left to go visit Kananaskis Village, strolled around, went to one of viewpoints to look at mountains.  

There were warning signs posted everywhere in the village alerting hikers that three grizzly bears had been seen in the village since June 19th.. 

Graffitti

We went back to Bighorn Highway (40)

Now connected to Trans-Canada Highway 1 West for Canmore and Banff

A: Waterton, AB
B: Longview, AB
C: Canmore, AB
The routes we took today

We were starting ro get tired around 4:30 pm, so we decided to look for campgrounds in Canmore, AB, found one at Bow Valley River campground that has self-registration. We chose site #1 for $21 a night (seniors' rate)

Edith prepared cheese tortellini with Alfredo sauce, made a mess in the microwave by leaving a jar of the sauce cooking too long. It was a struggle to clean it up afterwards.

We went biking around the campground and outside of it for a while.