Mountain Oasis in Grande Cache AB (Day 15)

We were visited last night by a few cars tearing around the camp area. But, I think they saw our tent and then peeled (litterally) away. Yup, we definitely need to fill out a camping permit, or karma will definitely not be happy with us :)

This morning's weather picked up right where last night left off- gorgeously warm sunshine and a cloudless sky. Everything was pretty frosted and condensation damp, so we had to dry out the tent and sleeping bags on the fencepost before heading out. Sitting in the morning sun with a warm cup of tea in your hands while you look out over a snow-crusted lake is pretty arduous, but we sucked it up for the sake of our gear.

After an unplanned detour (ie., I may have temporarily boggled the navigation to get in the right direction out on the highway...), we were en route down the "Scenic Route to Alaska" towards Grande Cache.

With the clear weather, we were able to make up for some missed mountain photography shots from days previous. The mountains are so spectacular here.

And it only got better. The snowcaps on the mountains got closer as we gained elevation (~1400m) and rounded Grande Cache Lake.

Once we hit Grande Cache, we stopped in at what has so far been, by FAR, the coolest Visitor's Centre yet.

We thought Cypress Hill had a fantastic Interpretive Centre, but Grande Cache has all the same wildlife specimens (owls, hawks, grizzly and black bear, lynx, caribou, deer, cougar, moose), plus a few others AND they have an art gallery, a ranger's museum and a balcony to view the 21, yes, 21 mountains that surround the town.

This town is GORGEOUS! First of all, it's the neighbour town to the Willmore Wilderness Park, full of trails and animals and mountains. Although it's a true oil and gas town (we are in Alberta), the town still has a lot of outdoor culture. We found out (from the super friendly Info staff) that a local doctor has designed a "Passport to the Peaks" program where he's assigned each of the 21 peaks to a passport that you can complete. You work your way through the hikes to the peaks at each the bronze, silver or gold level, stamp your passport with the stamp in the summit box and then once you've completed all the peaks a level, you send it off to the doctor for your level's pin. How cool is that?! On top of this, Grande Cache is also host to the Canadian Death Race, a wicked 125km mountain race through the local peaks. Right up your alley Jodi! Apparently there's also a big concert too and the town swells to double its size!

Both of us are completely taken with this little town. We had a little tour and a scrumptious lunch at the local bistro (that makes all homemade food and they don't offer french fries on the menu!) and then made our way to Sulfur Gates, a little lookout trail that the Info staff suggested.

First off, you can camp here...with your horse. They provide corrals and stall areas for you and your horse (I've gotta try that sometime).

Sulfur (aka Hell's) Gate sits at the foot of Mount Stearn,

and is the confluence of two rivers that meet right at these huge sulfur buttes, Sulfur Gate.

It's absolutely gorgeous. And on a clear day like today, all you can see is the panorama of mountains around. The water and the mountains together are totally breathtaking. And to top it off, we finally saw a moose as we drove away.

Although we had to force ourselves back into the car, we eventually made our way to Grande Prairie AB where we'll spend the night at Saskatoon Lake Provincial Park (if all works out). Here in the city, the sun is still out full bore and there's a whole lot less snow on the ground. We haven't quite made our way to the park yet, since I've managed to "piggy-back" (a polite word for scam) a wireless internet connection from the good people at the Podolan Inn & Spa. It looks like a nice inn, just a little out of our price range.

We're currently hiding behind the hotel and the glare from the sun on my screen is making it almost impossible to see what I'm typing, let alone to sort through the zillions of mountain photos we've taken. So, in the next day or two (when I have a more legitimate connection), I'll get the photos up that go along with all these descripts. Hopefully they live up to how gorgeous all this really is.