…in Alberta – Two Wild Tides

It’s the year of the staycation– this is nothing new to us at twowildtides. We love being tourists in our own province, and now that I am living in a new province, I have lots more to explore.

Drumheller is a fascinating place. It’s a town in the Canadian badlands, located in east-central Alberta, only about an hour outside Calgary. As you drive across what seems like neverending prairies along Highway 56 South, the land suddenly gives way and you find yourself with high cliffs on either side of you. The change in terrain happens so quickly, it’s almost disorienting. It’s like you’re on Mars.

We decided to camp out for the weekend and visited two different campsites with our small, 2-person tent. The first night, we stayed at Hoodoos RV Park and Campground. While the grounds were tidy and the stay went smoothly, it offers zero privacy and not much to look at. It’d be a great campsite for many tourists as it is affordable and close to many landmarks, but it just wasn’t our style. On the second night, we stayed at River Grove Campground, right in the middle of town. This site was much nicer, offered more privacy, had excellent washrooms, and had a prime location, but you’ll pay a slightly higher price. I recommend River Grove over Hoodoos.

We arrived late Friday night, so we were up bright and early Saturday morning anticipating a jam-packed day. We started off with coffee and a satisfyingly greasy breakfast at WHIFS Flapjack House. Then we headed to Horseshoe Canyon just outside of town.

Horseshoe Canyon was so fun to hike as there are no barricades and visitors are free to roam off the trails. We were fascinated by the desert landscape and spent almost two hours in the blistering sun climbing over boulders and hills, admiring the wildflowers, and spotting rock stacks created by past hikers.

The coolest part about Horseshoe Canyon? Cacti! It’s a pretty stark difference from the evergreen forests we’re used to in Canada.

After we left Horseshoe Canyon, we stopped by our campsite to rehydrate and eat a packed lunch, then we headed about 15-minutes outside of town to Hoodoos Provincial Park. What’s a hoodoo, you ask? It’s a natural rock formation, but I’ll let the pictures explain the rest.

Saturday night, we strolled from our campground to Valley Brewing and enjoyed some flights of beers then grabbed a pizza at a small joint in Drumheller’s cute downtown area. I definitely suggest you pop in some of the little shops and boutiques downtown, there are lots of sweet finds! It’s also worth your time to do the most mega-touristy experience the town has to offer– climb into the mouth of the World’s Tallest Dinosaur. (You can catch me doing this in our Alberta Video Diary from four years ago! I also visited the Royal Tyrell Museum in this video, an experience we couldn’t enjoy during our recent trip due to the Covid-19 pandemic).

Although these days the main industry is likely tourism, Drumheller was a coal-mining boomtown. So before we hit the highway on Sunday, we visited the Atlas Coal Mine– the last mine of it’s kind in the world.

The coal mine was a fascinating experience especially for a history buff. For true crime/disaster story fanatics (what’s up Murderinos?) there are really interesting story boards to read. In normal times (i.e. pre-Covid) you can even climb the tipple and venture inside the mine.

Have you been to Drumheller? What did you do there? Comment below!

A few weeks ago, my partner and I headed out to Jasper National Park for an impromptu weekend in the mountains. I had been to the Rockies once before (Banff, 4 years ago), but Mack had never been. We stayed at an Airbnb in Hinton, about 45 minutes east of the town of Jasper, because it is much more affordable. Hinton is actually a really nice community, so I would recommend staying there if you’re okay with the drive into Jasper.

We didn’t do much planning for this trip, mostly because we just wanted to soak in the sights at this legendary place, rather than be exhausted from a jam-packed schedule.

In the age of Covid-19, there are restrictions and closures to be aware of. As of July 1st 2020, the Miette hot springs were closed. We wanted to hike the Sulphur Skyline Trail, however, the trailhead is 16 km up the same road as the hot springs and the whole road is closed to prevent tourists from getting near the pools. So, this hike is inaccessible unless you want to walk 16 km for an 8 km hike.

We did some strolling around on easy walking/hiking trails; mainly just staring in awe at the jutting and breathtaking skyline. One underrated area for viewpoints/photo-ops, right off the main highway, is called Jasper House. It’s a short walk from the road to the banks of the Athabasca River. This would make a good picnic spot. Punchbowl Falls, right at the base of the road to the Miette hot springs, is another good picnic/lookout spot that we found.

On Saturday evening, we had a delicious meal and some refreshing beers at the Jasper Brewing Company, right on main street Jasper. I tried elk meatloaf– I’m drooling just thinking about it. We spent the rest of the evening popping in and out of some touristy gift shops and eating ice cream cones.

Sunday morning, we ‘stumbled’ on the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge (we knew it existed but had no idea where we were when we first pulled up). The lake at the Lodge is STUNNING. It is one of your classic, electric blue, picture-perfect Rocky Mountain lakes. I was bubbling with excitement from being there. We decided last-minute (as we did with everything that weekend) to pop inside for brunch. I had one of the best caesars of my life and the fish tacos were so tasty. I will be going back there, without a doubt.

Our impromptu weekend in Jasper couldn’t have been better and I can’t wait to explore there some more so I can write about it here on the blog for you folks.