July 21 - Summer Camping

The weeks and months of summer camping are way too short for my liking so Lyle and I tend to push the seasonal boundaries at both ends. Although these days we tend to camp in our motor home, on occasion we still enjoy the tenting experience. In the past, we have set up our tent as early as the long weekend in May and as late as October 15. Both dates stand out in memory because of the cold night and the frost on the ground the following morning. I think that winter campers must be very hardy souls indeed.

This past week when we took our motor home to Cardston to attend the summer theatre, we also took a day trip into Waterton National Park. What a beautiful spot. I like it because of the proximity of the mountains. They are close enough for me to see, and in my mind I think that I can almost feel their close presence. The water in the lake is clear and cold. The view from the Prince of Wales Hotel is awesome and the hotel lobby has all the signs of past grandeur.

This time we did the Waterton drive with friends. We walked along the lakeshore and ate our picnic lunch together at one of the tables by the water. We saw a few deer and two of our group spotted a young bear near the Prince of Wales Hotel. I must admit that that is one of my fears – not that I would see a bear, but rather that I wouldn’t see one until it was too close for safety!

In the picture below I am standing by the lake with the view of the mountain in the background. The picture is a little fuzzy because of the smoke blown in to Waterton from various forest fires around the province. 

Sue at Waterton National Park