During my night at Payne Lake campsite I must have slept very soundly because in the morning I woke to see that a large truck and trailer combo had moved in right beside me and blocked my view of the lake! But, it was an easy fix to just drive to the nearby day use area and enjoy my breakfast there, overlooking the lake, with views of the Rocky Mountains in the distance and with the company of a lone American pelican swimming just off shore.
Shortly after leaving Payne Lake, there was an excellent view of Chief Mountain directly to the south of me (it is located just over the border in Montana).
Returning to Highway 5, I first travelled east and then turned southeast on to 501 and then south onto Range Road 270A to arrive at Police Outpost Provincial Park which is located just barely north of the American border (my cell phone thought that I was in the U.S.) . Lying in a transition zone between grasslands and aspen parkland, this isolated spot was home to a Northwest Mounted Police detachment of four men between 1891 and 1898. Here, they patrolled a wide area on the Canadian side of the border to guard against cattle rustlers and whisky smugglers.
I checked out the campground and then visited the boat ramp area, popular with fishers in small boats and kayaks. A trail led from there around the edge of the lake to a bridge leading out to a small island.
The walk was lovely, green and peaceful, with a few splashes of colour.
I walked over the quite wonderful wooden bridge and then around the island on a looped trail that featured multiple viewing spots complete with benches.
Here is the view of majestic Chief Mountain from the beginning of the bridge!
On my return trip over the bridge, I met a father and son who were getting ready to cast for trout and the dad kindly took my picture.
Next, I headed to the nearby Outpost Wetlands Natural Area, a rich birding site, but the marshland trails there were closed due to nesting season, so I left the provincial park and headed back north on Range Road 270A. At the tiny hamlet of Boundary Creek (which was basically one old school building now acting as a community hall), I turned northeast onto TWP 20 NE. I had this road completely to myself, except for one or two passing pickup trucks, as it curved up, down, and around rolling hills that were dotted with cattle farms and tidy ranch enclaves.
The cattle looked healthy and happy feeding on the dark green spring grass and there were many calves to admire. I also saw several groupings of fine-looking mule deer as well as many hawks flying high over the fields.
Soon, the expanse of green was punctuated by a lovely small white pioneer church, the first of many I would see on my prairie journey. This was St. Stephens of Hungary Church, built in 1901 and rebuilt here in 1907 after a severe storm damaged the original church, “with the walls being separated from the floor, the roof was torn open; the windows and doors were broke.”
I enjoyed walking around the building and its adjacent cemetery where purple iris were growing.
I tried the door and it was not locked, as was the case again and again at other small churches I stopped at. The interior was beautiful and obviously well loved and cared for.
I took time to admire the artfully painted stations of the cross, and this handwritten and illustrated history of the founding of the church and parish.
Continuing on TWP 20 NE, I soon arrived at the junction with Highway 2 and turned north towards Cardston, a rather rough-around-the-edges prairie town where I stopped for fuel, ice, and groceries. I checked out the municipal campground located beside Lee Creek and learned that several sites were available at this very nice campground. It was still early in the day so I continued my drive north on Highway 2, and then East on 505 to see the large lake that is the Saint Mary Reservoir. This drive took me through part of the Blood (Kainai) Nation Reserve, the largest and second most populated reserve in Canada. Here is the sweep of road and adjacent prairie on 505, looking back to the west, just before crossing the dam over the Saint Mary River.
Now, I must mention that my routes and my explorations today were inspired and guided by two chapters of Liz Bryan’s excellent book, “Country Roads of Alberta.” I was headed to the Saint Mary Reservoir because she had written of an important archaeological site that had been excavated at Wally’s Beach on the lake. When lake waters were lowered for spillway repairs on the dam, strong winds blew away the sandy lake bed to reveal an ancient mud floor from the Pleistocene age. Footprints of long extinct camels, mammoths, muskoxen and giant bison were found, as well as the bones of prehistoric horses, extinct in Alberta for at least 10,000 years. Archaeologists determined that the bones were from animals hunted and butchered by indigenous peoples. Flint choppers, scrapers, and spear points were found, and they tested positive for the blood of muskox and horse, providing the first proof that early North American people hunted horses for meat. Carbon dating of the bones gave dates of between 11,000 and 11,300 years ago! The excavations at Wally’s Beach were done quickly as there was limited time available before the construction work on the spillway was finished and lake waters reflooded the site. Today, of course, there is nothing left of this significant archaeological site and I felt a little sad as I stood here, at Wally’s Beach, looking out over the beautiful green water that likely hides even more important and evocative evidence of an ancient past.
After my visit to Wally’s Beach, I explored each of the four campsites associated with Saint Mary’s Reservoir, two of which are located in the river canyon below the spillway and all of which were scenic. But, clouds had rolled in, the wind was beginning to pick up, and rain began to fall so I decided to keep on driving east to Spring Coulee and then southwest on Highway 5 back to Cardston and its Lee Creek campsite. I cooked and ate a quick dinner under the welcome cover of a picnic shelter as the rain began to fall in earnest, and then I read for a while in my Highlander. An hour later, the rain had eased up and I was able to do a last walk of the day on a path that followed the creek upstream for a good distance and which featured interpretive boards about the local flora, fauna, and human history of the town and creek-side area. It was a wonderful way to end a full day of exploration in this beautiful and historic southwestern corner of Alberta.
