Cypress Hills and Saskatchewan

The weekend of Aug 8-10, we went camping at Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, aka Elkwater or the campgrounds of my youth. While there, we finally got to go swimming, and it was nice, sunny, super hot weather. Elkwater is 45 minutes or so away from Medicine Hat, so some friends met us out there and we stopped in the Hat for a quick visit with my grandparents too.

On Saturday, we decided to hike up Old Baldy, a small but steep hill overlooking the campground. From there, we went on a much longer than planned 9k hike through the trees and also through some (shadeless) meadows.

Here's the view from the top of Old Baldy:



I probably should have taken a photo of the lake, which was on the other side of the hill. Oops.

Here's the start of the Horseshoe Canyon Trail:



Farther in, desperate for shade in 34 degree weather:



And our reward for the trek: Horseshoe Canyon. This is the natural border between the Cypress Hills, which are quite forested and sit at the highest elevation east of the Rockies, and the endless rolling prairies.



Along the way, there was an unmanned outdoor Forestry Museum, which was kinda neat. This is some kind of antiquated forest clearing equipment:



And some of the flowers along the way:




After we came back from camping, I headed to Regina and Saskatoon for work. Didn't get much picture taking done, but here is a shot of the approach into Regina:


I regret not taking more photos, especially on the drive between Regina and Saskatoon - it really is the Land of the Living Skies. And I thought Medicine Hat was flat.

Anyway, after all that, we've just been chilling out this weekend. It was really hot yesterday and today, and then a severe thunderstorm warning was issued late this afternoon. A storm did roll in pretty intensely for about 15 minutes, then blew off.

Here's one last shot of the kitties enjoying the patio, shortly before the cloudburst: