1994 Canadian Prairie Vacation: The Cypress Hills

      The next day we packed up camp at Dinosaur Provincial Park to head out.  As we took down the camp we were dismayed to find that both the tent and our car were  covered with bird droppings and sticky spots from sap that had fallen from the trees.  We drove along the Red Deer River, outside the park, and since the day before had made us experienced paleontologists, we thought we could do our own fossil hunting, but we really couldn’t find any spots along the river that looked suitable.

    We made a stop at Medicine Hat in southeast Alberta, and it too was very hot.  We had another meal at a McDonald’s, then did some grocery shopping.  We were looking for some ground turkey, but finding none, we settled for ground chicken.  At Medicine Hat we were also able to wash our car and get the sticky sap spots off of it, making it look 100% better.

    Our destination for the day was the Cypress Hills, which is an “Interprovincial” Park, spanning both sections of eastern Alberta and western Saskatchewan.  It is a unique ecological and topographical area in the surrounding prairies because its elevation rises 2000 feet above the flat plains.  In fact, Cypress Hills is the highest point in Canada between the Rockies and Labrador.

    Its elevation creates an environment that includes cooler temperatures and more rainfall, suitable for flora and fauna that cannot be found in the rest of the prairies.  It is forested with Aspen, Lodgepole Pine, and Spruce. 

            Its unique ecosystems made it very important to the First Nations People, and actually led to the establishment of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) after “wolfers” (wolf hunters from the US) came up and massacred an encampment of Assiniboine Indians.  The brutal massacre made the Canadian Government establish the RCMP to keep yahoos from the US under control.

    There is a big lake in the park, and after finding and setting up our tent, we went for a refreshing swim.  After supper, walking along the shore of the lake, we saw a beaver in the water and a “Pterodactyl” hovering in the sky.  It turned out to be a kite.  

    The next morning we took down our tent and packed our supplies into the car in the fog that was engulfing Cypress Hills, and headed toward Saskatchewan.

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