Aaahhhh..... finally got to the mountains!! I had checked out the Forestry Trunk road last summer, just to see what Dutch Creek and Livingstone Falls campgrounds were like. THIS time, we said (truth be told - I said!) screw the campgrounds, lets go check it out further in the west country. So we took a road that headed straight west, in between those other two campgrounds.
Now THIS is my kind of camping!! No restraints. No close people. Heck, hardly ANY people! Okay, so no picnic table or potty, but hey, my rubbermaid containers worked for "tables" and we dug a latrine. Knew I had brought the shovel for a reason!! FREE camping. FREE firewood - just had to go pick up where the forestry guys had been. And I could breathe!! Fresh air!!
Our camp, from the road
Our camp, close up
We could still hear the radio, but cell phones wouldn't work. Go figure! At one point, the radio announced that it was 30 above back home, and we looked at each other, we were a good 5-7 degrees cooler. YIPPEEEEE!!! Gracie had no leash on her the whole time - she doesn't ever go far from our side. If she got out of sight, I would just whistle for her, and she'd show up. Most of the time she spent checking out the squirrel in the trees.
Nary a bark out of her the whole time, until we had a fella on a quad show up to visit with us. She didn't even bark at the cattle!! Here they are - having a "stare off" with each other. LOL
D was bored - there was nothing to do, he said. EXACTLY!! LOL I brought him our Yahtzee hand held video game; at one point, he points it toward the trees, and tries clicking it, like he would a tv remote. "There's something wrong with this remote!" he says. "I can only get the nature channel!" What AM I to do with this man?????
The 1st day, after we had set up camp, we drove up the road aways, until we got to the OLDMAN FALLS.
I didn't even know there was an Oldman Falls!! So that was pretty cool. It isn't large like Ram Falls, but it's not teeny tiny either.
Of course, later, we got a rainstorm/boomers/lightning/hail blow thru. But it only lasted an hour at most. And we stayed dry, courtesy of my tarps! Then it cleared up!! I even got to see a hawk riding the thermals early that evening, 9ish!! God, it was wonderful!!
Then D shows up in my peripheral vision while I'm watching the hawk, and gets down on both knees in front of me. I seriously thought he was going to grab me around the knees and BEG me to go home!! Instead, when I look down at him, he's holding out a box, with a goofy grin on his face. A box from a jewelery store. He's proposing to me!! OMG!! DID NOT SEE THAT ONE COMING!!
I look back up at the hawk for confirmation (and to buy some time!). The one and only time I ever went to a tarot card reader, she had said to me that anytime I have an important question to answer, and if I were to see a hawk, the answer would be "yes". Guess my spirit guides were there to help me, 'cause the hawk was still soaring. :-)
- A messenger from spirit
- American Indians believe that by following the path of the hawk, you will be led on the right path
And my one books says about Red-tailed Hawk, which I'm "borrowing" for me:
If you are clearly aware of what you were thinking or doing when Red Hawk showed itself to you, look to that as a place to ignite your fire.
I said yes, and joined him down there on both of my knees. Good god, my eyes are leaking!! I'm such a "girl"!! LOL Of course, then Gracie thought this was a wonderful game, "can I play too????" Eased that awkward moment!! LOL
I just want to point out tho - almost the first complete sentence out of my mouth was concern that we didn't have to be married right away!! LOL Gotta do "baby steps" thang here!! Let me get used to the idea of being "engaged", for crying out loud!! Thank goodness for D - he said sure, it can be another 10 yrs from now. WHEW!! LOL
The 2nd day - we actually got to see a bear!! Dave calls me over to the river, and points east to the other side - "There's a bear over there!" I only see a butt in the bush, I thought it was a cow, 'cause they are everywhere. Then it turned it's head, and I could see the profile. Damn, it IS a bear!! The bear was soooooo busy on the other side of the river - in its own little world, busy in the bushes. Eating berries would be my guess. Then it turned and faced us. There was that moment of "deer in the headlights" look from it. CRAP, who put PEOPLE there???!!! Next thing you know, the poor thing high-tails it up the slope of the treed hill, and was GONE!! Well, it would have high-tailed it, if it had a tail!! My guess that it was quite a young one, by the way we startled it, and the VERY quick way it took off up the hill. Interesting enough, about 20 minutes before we saw it, Gracie was scenting. Nose up in the air, facing east. Then scenting west. Nope, faces east again and keeps on "smelling". We didn't see anything, at that time. With her scenting the bear before he ever saw us, my guess is that we were downwind of the critter, and that would explain why he didn't smell us! There was poor Dave - "Can we go home now???!!!" LOL
Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me, for either the hawk and subsequent events; nor the bear! DUH. Oh well, as you can see, I do have some other wonderful shots!
I love Indian Paintbrushes!!
And Fireweed! :-)
3rd Day - We drove out and up to Livingstone Falls. It's not a HUGE fall, by any stretch of the imagination. Couple of fly fishermen working the waters. There was even a group of older kids on a HUGE tire inner tube floating (?) down the river. Which is pretty narrow and fast in places, and where they ended up, who knows!! In Lethbridge perhaps? LOL Lots of HUGE slow moving horseflies... SMACK those biters!! GGRRR!!!
On the way back to our camp, we drove into other "campsites" to check them out. There is some really decent established spots out there, at one we got out and went down to the river. Gracie did her little swim in a little "pool".
There was this really cool rock formation, of sorts. I don't know much about that kind of thing, but it was pretty neat!
We finally stayed up late enough to see the stars that night. Well, it was cloudy the first night, then the other nights, we were pooped from a day in the sun and fresh air, so we toddled off to sleep. But the last night, HAD to stay up to watch the stars come out! And I was rewarded with seeing a brief shooting star!! I haven't seen one of those in years!! Sweet!! :-)
Gracie & I taking a quiet moment. :-)
On the 4th day - it was time to pack up and go home. We found a great place for me to pick Wolf Willow "berries". The bush is called either a Wolf Willow, or Silver Willow tree.
Here is an example of something I had made with the seeds. First you have to scrape, with your fingernails, all the pulp off of the seed. Then the seeds need to be softened, so I boil them in water (old pot highly recommended!) Then I push them onto wire, to create the hole. DO NOT USE STRING!! When they dry, they get stuck!!
We finally got home late Friday afternoon. Smelling to high heaven.
:-) Can I say I had a great time???
YOU BET!!!
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