Rocky Mountain House AB to Hussar AB

Tipis for rent at the RMHNHS

Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site, what a mouthful for such a relatively small park, is really a lovely spot. They are still fighting for their existence apparently, with hopes of becoming a National Park someday. We'd vote that it's a fine place to camp. We didn't get to their Visitors Center, but heard good things about it. Lots of activities there tomorrow for Canada Day.

In the morning we thought we saw a flock of geese flying over:

Part of the flight

They turned out to be Pelicans, something different to us.

David Thompson was a famed Canadian explorer back in the early 1800's, and is featured a lot in this park. This canoe is a replica of the type he would have used:

Part of the park is a bison compound with a small herd of Plains Bison. We didn't see any here today, but it looks like a place bison would like. Flimsy-looking fence though, for bison:

Here's one of the pretty sloughs (landlocked ponds) that we saw today. In some areas there are lots of these, supporting agriculture and wildlife:

We decided to visit the Drumheller area on our way by today. First we needed a break and some lunch, so parked ourselves at the Drumheller Air Terminal to watch some small planes while we ate:

These yellow planes were working crop-dusters 

This little one was clearly much lighter, a pleasure craft

The sprayers are clear underneath the body

No, they didn't pose for me, at least not intentionally

When the little plane needed to be turned around...

...two manpower was plenty

Winding down into Drumheller:

We decided to just tour the Badlands today, having done the Tyrell Museum on earlier trips. Here's a few pics of the Badland hills and hoodoos:

The famed Horse Thief canyon

Wending our way down to the ferry crossing

A pretty short crossing, but free 

Somebody advertising their status

Later we got a different view of part of the Badlands:

This is the river the ferry crossed, upstream from here

Tonight we're camped in a nice little municipal park in Hussar Alberta. It's getting pretty warm (27C and sunny) but it's been a real nice day. The gathering clouds didn't amount to anything today: