Groovy Wanderlust: Alberta, Canada: from a Chinook to the Calgary Stampede

After departing Montana, we traveled back into Canada, entering the province of Alberta. Driving through Waterton Lakes National Park, we soon realized it’s an area less traveled – few cars and we had to stop for cows to cross the road - pure natural wilderness.

This was taken right after passing through Customs, into Canada.

We're smiling now, but wait until we camp tonight...

The township of Crow’s Nest Pass includes the mining town of Frank and here is where we experienced an eerie feeling. Unbeknownst to us, in 1903, there was a major limestone landslide that completely demolished the town. The remnants of the landslide are evident as you drive through town.

Over 600 people died from the landslide - the town was destroyed.

We needed to camp for the night since we were heading to Calgary the next day, so we decided to stay in Crow’s Nest Pass. Big mistake. Little did we know that this particular area experiences Canadian Chinooks, which is a weather phenomenon caused by warm Pacific winds hitting against the Rocky Mountains and then dropping and swirling, causing severe high speed, warm winds over the prairies, including our campground. We happen to be camping on a night when a Chinook hit. No fun. At all. Needless to say, we were eager to get on the road and head towards Calgary.

Calgary is a sizable city with 1 million+ - very cosmopolitan, but a cowboy town, as well. We stumbled upon one of the biggest events for Canada, the Calgary Stampede. It’s been an annual event for over 100 years. It runs ten days and consists of a the highest purse rodeo in the West, championship chuck-wagon races, high-end Western entertainment and music and a huge carnival-esque atmosphere with food vendors, side-shows and stands for all of your cowboy/cowgirl paraphernalia.