Friday 16 May 2008

Sheep River Falls

 Sheep River Falls

This weekend is unofficially the first weekend of the Canadian summer madness. With winter dragging on for nearly 8 months, the sun came out yesterday and we are in for +25 days until Tuesday. Tomorrow's meant to be 31! It's also the first weekend that many of the winter gates open giving access to the myriad of camping sites in the mountains.
Two provincial parks that I've been interested in exploring for the last few months are Sheep River and The Elbow Valley. Parks Canada keep them closed in winter so that the animals have somewhere in the lower valleys to feed without being harassed.

Kerri and I went out exploring today and went right into both parks. Above is Sheep River Falls. It isn't the most spectacular water fall that I've ever seen, but the setting is nice. The front ranges of the Rockies are fantastic at the moment after all the spring snow in the last few weeks.

Elbow Valley

The second park we explored today was the Elbow Valley.
At the very end of the sealed road is Forgetmenot Ponds. I was quite surprised to see how much they were still iced up, but I'm guessing it won't be long before they're defrosted. The water under the ice was the most incredible emerald colour and very clear.
Both Valleys are still looking a bit brown but all the deciduous trees are now budding and I would think that by next weekend, they will all be nice and green again.