Havre to Cypress Hills PP

The overnight rain had ceased by the time I woke at 5:30 but the temperature had definitely changed.  It was much colder, in the mid-40s.  I had my coffee and made final preparations for entering Canada.  I stopped to fill up as fuel is more expensive in Canada and I was on the road by 7:30 AM.  The Wild Horse customs crossing doesn’t open until 8:00 AM so there was no hurry.  The drive was through more of the same prairie lands as I had traversed for the past several days.  The road was a narrow two lanes with sharp edges but there was little in the way of traffic.  As I hurried on my way I did observe a couple of Swanson’s Hawks, lots of unidentified sparrows and a Black-billed Magpie here and there.  I arrived at the customs office at precisely 8:00 and I was greeted by a pleasant young female agent.  After the usual questions—where are you going, how long will you be in Canada, do you have more than $10,000 Canadian in you possession and do you have firearms—I responded that I had a rifle and the requisite paper work.  She then asked if I had any pistols to which I responded no.  Soon a young male officer appeared and they asked to see the weapon.  While the young male officer checked the serial number and examined the piece she took me inside to complete the paperwork.  She had observed Dulce and said there was no necessary paperwork for her except her rabies papers which I produced to her satisfaction.  So by 8:30 I was hurdling down Highway 41 on my way to Elkwater, AB and Cypress Hills PP. 

Once at the park I stopped by the Visitors Center where a young woman gave me information about the park and how and where to get a camping spot.  She noted it was Victoria Day, a Canadian Holiday Weekend, and the camp would be nearly full.  So I headed to the registration office where another very pleasant young woman processed my request for a campsite.  I paid for one un-serviced (in Canada this means they don’t have hookups) at a rate of $23 a day (about $17.50 US), received my assigned space and headed up steep Ferguson Hill to the campground near the top.  Without incident I backed into to the campsite and finished the setup rather quickly.  While in the visitors center I inquired about Medicine Hat, the nearest town on any size as I wanted to get some Canadian currency and find a Tim Hortons.  I was told I would have no problem finding a Tim Hortons and it was about 45 minute drive there.  So I headed out and noted many duck along the drive in small ponds adjacent to the highway—Bufflehead, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Gadwall, Northern Shouvler—and some others birds of note—Black-billed Magpie, Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Canada Goose, lots of American Robins, Tree Swallows, Morning Dove, Killdeer, American Crow, more Swainson’s Hawks—and on my way up Ferguson Hill I had a Sharp-shinned Hawk fly ahead of my vehicle.

Once in Medicine Hat I quickly found a bank to get cash and a Tim Hortons to have lunch.  At Tim Hortons the lunch meal included a sandwich, bowl of soup, coffee and a donut, that’s the best part a donut.  Tim Hortons began as a donut shop owned by a famous Canadian hockey player.  It has since been bought by an American company, I think Dunkin Donut.  At any rate I accomplished my mission, stopped at a Kroger’s for a few items, filled up with fuel and returned to camp.  By the time I arrived the campground was starting to fill up.

I am camped in grove of Lodgepole Pines which dominate most of the area.  Cypress Hill has a hill that is the highest point from here back to the east coast of Canada.  The hills are a phenomena of the last ice age.  At that time this small area was not covered by the glaciers and when they receded these hills remained while the surrounding area became the flat plains characteristic of both eastern Alberta and western Saskatchewan.  In 1998 I spend 5 days at the Cypress Hills PP in Saskatchewan doing birding surveys for the park.  I have always want to return.  The other trees found in this highland ecotone are aspen and other poplar varieties and White Spruce along with various shrub understories.