May 29 and 30, Day 23 and 24: Playing tag with the prairie winds, rain, and sun

May 29: 86km from Shaunavaun to Ponteix, Saskatchew

Today dawned clear and sunny and we saw the standard prairie summer
weather - patchy clouds materialized in the morning, the heat came on
about lunchtime, and in the late afternoon a few rainstorms appeared
and rampaged around (thankfully missing us, and we were in camp by
then). We went north for 10km and turned east on Hwy 13 and went due
east for the rest of the day, passing through Scotsguard, Admiral, the
ghost town of Crichton, lunch in the tiny crossroads town of Cadillac,
and then finishing off in the francophone town of Ponteix - complete
with a dual-towered monstrous francophone Catholic church visible for
about 8km away. The road was very low traffic and passed through
beautiful countryside all day long, rolling terrain moving away from
the Cypress Hills, and we saw tons of wildlife - before lunchtime, I
saw 10 antelope, a big hare, a nice bull snake, a great horned owl,
some deer, various hawks, lots of interesting birds, a swarm of
swallows... I think that's it.
Mark

The tiny town of Ponteix has a small campground. A boil water order
was in effect, so no drinking from the taps. Unfortunately, the
showers only had cold water! Lucky it was a very hot afternoon. The
campground was full of birds -- red-winged black birds swallows, a
lovely bird with a dull-yellow belly (grossbeak?) I have been trying
to get the perfect picture of a red-wing, and I came close when out of
a stroll before sunset.

Prairie sunsets are wonderful things, the hour before the actual sun set is full of golden light, and the sunset itself lights up the sky. At night the prairie sky is full of stars -- not a lot of light down here from big cities.

ttfn
Mary

May 30, Playing tag with rainstorms on the Prairies
Ponteix to Assininboia on Highway 13

118 kms

average speed approx 20 km/hr

What a great day -- finally, a western wind! We were blown almost all the way from Ponteix to Assiniboia. Lots to see when you are spinning along, but today's new sighting was of a badger trundling through the fields. We also had a fine pronghorn antelope bound across the highway in front of us. Amazing how much there is to see on the Prairies -- and certainly you can see the weather!

After a lunch stop at Lafleche we spent the afternoon playing dodgeball with great rain cells. Mike and I took shelter at an old grain elevator and Mark, who was ahead, was able to dodge the raindrops by way of quick riding.

Tomorrow, if the winds are good, we'll try a "century" (ride of 100 miles) -- here to Wayburn. We'll see how it goes!

ttfn

Mary

May 28 (Day 22?) - 38km to Shaunavon

Today we spent the morning in Eastend - slept in, then visited the T. Rex Discovery Centre, which is very good, except that I was kind of hoping there would be a full-sized t-rex skeleton to see, which there isn't. But a great tour and very nice centre on the hillside overlooking Eastend. After lunch at Jack's we headed out of town - I saw a fox crossing the road very close to us just outside of Eastend - we were out on the empty prairie again for a few hours to bring us into Shaunavon, so we'll camp here (as the next camping is 50km down the road). Good news - the winds have shifted to the south, and tomorrow will be north-westerlies!

Mark

Eastend was a wonderful town, very small and extremely friendly. Everyone in town knew we were visitors, and most recognized us as "the bikers coming down the hill south of town", even when they didn't see us with our bikes. If you do get to Eastend, take advantage of both the T.Rex Discovery Centre and the town museum. The museum is run by some of the most helpful and friendly staff around, and it is simply stuffed with interesting artifacts, photos, and historic structures.

A closing word about spring on the praries (as we are experiencing it): expect the unexpected! Last night it got so cold that that ice formed on the inside of the tent fly. When I got up at 5:00 am and opened the tent, ice tinkled down into my boots. We have spent the last few days bundled up. But, tomorrow we expect to rocket up to 22 degrees. I'll believe it when I feel it!
ttfn
Mary

May 26, 27: Cypress Hills and South to the Red Coat Trail

May 26: Eagle Valley Campground to Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park (Centre Block)
52 km
4:22 on the bike

Don't let the 52 km fool you, today was hard, hard, hard. The wind continued to be our problem, although Mark notes that climbing into the Cypress Hills (about 300+ metres) was also a big part of it. The wind blew from the east - north east, and we had to ride due east for a few kms at the start of the day. Then it was mostly south/south east.

The country side, however, didn't disappoint. The Cypress Hills are quite high, and we were in the highest part (1300 metres). Our camp was in the midst of lodgepole pines, and at 1300 metres this was our highest camp.

We did a little hike at the Cypress Hills park. Lodgepole pines, white spruce, and wildflowers just starting to show. A few views completed the walk. It was nice to get off the bike and work different muscles.

We had a very quit campsite -- no one else was in the place.

ttfn
Mary

May 27: Cypress Hills (Centre Block) to Eastend
96 km
7 hrs on the bike

Another physically and mentally difficulty day. The wind was against us for almost 86 of the 96 kms. For 40 km it was a full-on head wind. We suspect it was around 20 to 30 km/hr. Also, there was no place to stop for the entire day, save the side of the road. However, the views were wonderful. This part of south western Saskatchewan is full of buttes and hills. This is a land of ranching and farming -- the farm land has no fences, the ranch land has fences, cattle, and horses.

We have now become blaise about Pronghorn antelopes. We have seen dozens of them now, with their huge white butts heading off across the plains. Lots of great birds, and coyotes too.

Cycling across the prairies really gives you a feeling of space and moving across the land - in BC it is all about the trees and water, whereas in the prairies the vast sky and land visible for kilometres in every direction - you can pick a point on the horizon and then spend the next few hours tracking your progress as you move past it. Whereas in BC our eastward progress was often quite difficult to detect, here we really feel like we are (ever so slowly) actually picking our way across this vast vast country. All of the country we were in today is quite empty - with the exception of one near-ghost town (Robsart) all we saw were farms, mostly very far off, all day, to Eastend.

Mary + Mark

May 25, Day 19 - We are in Saskatchewan! 2 down and 8 to go.

Medicine Hat to Eagle Valley, west of Maple Creek Sask.
98 km
5:48 in the saddle

We woke up in Medicine Hat to a cloudy day that promised rain and sun -- but, we had NO WIND as we left town after a bit of an exploration. Medicine Hat is on the South Saskatchewan River and has some lovely old residential areas. The city is full of trees and greenery -- probably helps a lot in the hot summers that are common here.

We left Medicine Hat, bound for Walsh and the Saskatchewan border, but we arrived at Walsh with plenty of time to spare so decided to push on to Eagle Park, about 40 km into Saskatchewan. Those 40 k took a lot of time and effort as the wind had now moved to full-on north east (and our direction was east).

At Walsh we were treated to a fitting end to our Alberta tour -- a HUGE rainstorm complete with hail. We missed it by staying in the Alberta Visitor's Centre, but Mark was riding ahead. He caught only a corner.

The day had lots and lots of amazing views. We saw antelope (Mark got a great shot), we saw coyotes, and even one stalking an antelope. This area of Sask, just at the western border on the Transcanada is a bit hilly, but after the huge rains of late is green and lush. We are still amazed at the bird life -- wish we knew our birds better!

Today it is off to Cypress Hills.

More later.
ttfn
Mary

Day 17 & 18, May 23 & 24: The Taber Pancake Breakfast is Saved, and other stories

Day 17 - Taber to Bow Island
61 km
4:57 on the bike
12.4 km / hr
After promising ourselves we'd stay in Taber, we woke to clearing skies in the east and a reduced wind, so we headed out of town eastwards - so we won't be visiting the pancake breakfast Saturday morning in Taber after all: lucky for them. The clearer skies held almost until Grassy Lake, which we arrived at almost at noon and headed in to the Dew Drop In cafe, staffed by Mennonites - the menu is English/Spanish because many of the local Mennonites, including our server, come originally from Mexico, from a group that went down there 50 years ago from Manitoba. We were planning on camping at Grassy Lake due to the inclement weather, but Mike and Mary explored the town for a while and we hung around the cafe drinking tea until 3:30, when the wind had died and the rain somewhat dropped and we headed east again into the wind. Asides from a real downpour just a few kilometres before Bow Island - with the town in sight, no less - we arrived at Bow Island relatively un-rained-on and camped in the municipal campground. After dinner we went across the highway to downtown Bow Island (such as it exists) and checked out the local bar. One fellow there was from Victoria and knew Heather Graham at UVic, and one other lady had passed us on the road during the rain and thought we were nuts. We had great fun chatting with the folks there - they gave Mike a T-shirt and all of us candy - and they wished us well on our trip.


Day 18 - Bow Island to Medicine Hat
67km
Up at 6ish as usual to cloudy skies threatening rain and the stiff easterly winds that have accompanied us all across Alberta as we trudge along through this weather system. It was clear enough to convince us to pack up and leave, though we visited the bakery in town - staffed by Mennonites - for another tea/coffee and a dozen doughnuts for the road, which should last us a few days if we're lucky. We got to Seven Persons, 34 km down the road, for lunch with the rain mostly holding off all morning and the wind gradually increasing in strength - we later found out it was up to 24km/h gusting to 34, mostly right towards us. At Seven Persons Highway 3 turns northeast, still pretty much straight into the wind for us. Mike and Mary got some homemade sausages at the sausage factory at Seven Persons and we headed for Medicine Hat, which we got to around 3. A fairly tough day, going into the wind all day, so the early finish is appreciated. We camped at the Gas City Campground - Medicine Hat is known for natural gas.; we did laundry at the very well-equipped campground and I went into town to Safeway for groceries. This weather system is forcasted to give us easterly winds for the next several days; tomorrow we plan another shortish day to Walsh, 50km away at the provincial border, and at Maple Creek after that we plan on turning south to cross the Cypress Hills.

Mark

PS - no pictures for this post as we are working off a satellite link and it is slowwwwww.
Mary

Day 16, May 22: Who has Seen the Wind... and rain, and cold?

Trip stats:
Raymond to Taber, Alberta
73 km
6 hrs on the bike.

W.O. Mitchell has a classic book about prarie life called "Who has Seen the Wind". I always thought this title was a bit of prarie mysticism, but today I did indeed see the wind and I can descibe him: He is a crotchety, contrary, old geezer who delights in making everyone dance to his tune. For example, today's melody included turning from a strong west-south west wind to an easterly one. Of course, we were hoping to go east -- silly us! Instead we ended up going north along the 36 from Wrentham to Taber instead of keeping east on the 61 from Raymond to Foremost.

Oh, did I mention the rain and the cold? It seems that southern Alberta is sitting under a stalled low pressure system coming up from Montana. We dodged the rain, for the most part, in Alberta up until now, but today was a real soaker -- wind driven rain from morning until night. Indeed, it rained so much that we decided to take a motel room in Taber to dry out our selves and all our gear. The room is festooned with wet socks, cycling shorts, jackes, gloves, toques, jackets, and pack -- the humidity in the room is just shy of tropical.

Unfortunately, we are not going to be able to follow through with our Cypress Hill cycle plans. Initially, we hoped to stay east on the 61 to Manyberries, and then travel on dirt roads to the western edge of the Cypress Hills park. From here we wanted to ride the Trans Canada Trail through the park to Fort Walsh. But, the dirt roads and trails are now a sea of mud and the weather system promises 30 km/h eastern winds tomorrow, with lots of rain and cold temperatures. So, we are probably going to take a rest day in Taber tomorrow. But. on Saturday, just before we leave Taber, the town is having a pancake breakfast. We are going to set Mike loose on the buffet -- I hope Taber has LOTS of pancake batter and sausages!

But, our hopes for Cypress Hills and Grasslands are not totally dead. Although we are back again on the #3 (Crowsnest), we can drop down to the East Block of Cypress Hills in a few days if the weather allows.

But, as I often say, the worst day on a bike is better than the finest day in the office, and this one, although wet, cold, and annoying, was no different. We had an interesting stop at Stirling, a Mormon village laid out on the "Plat of Zion" plan. We stopped at heritage creamery and had a late breakfast. As well, there is nothing like a bit of rain to bring out the colour in the countryside.

More later
ttfn
Mary

Day 15, May 20 - Foothills to Prairie

Today we went from true Alberta foothills to true prairie. We left camp after 8 and spent two slow hours going south on Highway 800 straight towards Chief Mountain - slow because of the WSW winds, but tolerable because of the mountain views. After hitting highway 5, which we were on for most of the rest of the day, we turned East and passed through Mountain View and into Cardston, where we had a look at the giant Mormon temple, which appears to be built in a variant of Stalinist style. After lunch we continued with our backs to the wind NE through Magrath and turned east onto highway 52 to Raymond, which appears to be a bedroom community for Lethbridge, where we found the Perret Park campground at the edge of town backing onto prairie and featuring lots of mud (though thankfully avoidable). Today was our highest mileage so far, at 123km, even though the first 25km were very slow due to the winds. I believe we had our last view of the mountains at some point in the afternoon, though it may just be because they are clouded in - we had clouds and a few spots of drizzle throughout the day. Hello prairie! now the roads have almost totally flattened out, except for the occasional dip for a river or creek crossing, and from now on we will be heading due east to the Cypress Hills!

We are all now getting used to the constant questions and comments from people - once they see our loaded up bikes, lots of random strangers want to chat us up and wish us well. It is interesting to talk to other distance cyclists, if even briefly - a guy in the grocery store in Cardston mentioned his bike trip from Vancouver to San Jose, and said that, like us, he had the wind behind him most of the time!

Mark