Northwest Alberta Part 2

From Hines Creek, we planned on going to Dunvegan to spend a couple of days at the local campground which is located in the river valley, next to the river.

Unfortunately, due to Covid the campground was closed, therefore we had to continue on till we arrived at Rycroft where the local campground had space available for us.

Next morning, the weather was not the greatest in Rycroft so we decided to keep going. Our final destination this day would be Grand Prairie but not before we stopped in at Beaverlodge to see the World’s largest Beaver. On the way to Beaverlodge we would pass through Hythe, this would be the most westerly point of our travels on this trip.

From Beaverlodge we drove directly to Grand Prairie, the weather forecast was looking quite good. We decided we would spend a couple of days here in one of the local campgrounds. There are a couple of craft breweries in Grand Prairie, one was walking distance (3km/2 miles) from the campground. We decided to pay a visit, this would allow is to sample a couple of their beers and we would also get some exercise.
After our time here it was time to start heading back east towards Edmonton. We would stop along the way just on the southside of Whitecourt to visit our friends Jamie & Alice for a couple of days.

While here we took a stroll in Hard Luck Canyon. This canyon provided us with some interesting historical and geological information.

After the couple of fun days with Jamie & Alice it was time to continue on, our next stop would be Mayerthorpe along the way to Wabamun.

The reason for stopping at Mayerthorpe was to see the memorial for the Fallen Four. In this day of ‘Defund the Police’ it is appropriate that we pay homage to the those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in protection of the public. 
The Mayerthorpe tragedy occurred on March 3, 2005, on the farm of James Roszko, approximately 11 km (6.8 mi) north of Rochfort Bridge near the town of Mayerthorpe in the Canadian province of Alberta.
Roszko shot and killed four Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) constables: Anthony Gordon, Lionide “Leo” Johnston, Brock Myrol and Peter Schiemann. He then committed suicide. The attack occurred as the officers were executing a search warrant for stolen property and a marijuana-growing operation on the farm. Two individuals who were not present at the shooting, Shawn Hennessey and Dennis Cheeseman, pled guilty to manslaughter for assisting Roszko to return to his farm.
The incident was the worst one-day loss of life for the RCMP since five officers drowned on June 7, 1958, and the worst multiple-officer killing in contemporary Canadian history. (Wikipedia)

Now it was on to Wabamun, this is where we would see the World’s largest Dragonfly.

Someone had turned a motorboat into a planter.

After this quick visit it was off to Wabamun Provincial Park campground, we had planned on staying a couple of nights but alas we could only stay one night, after that all sites where booked for the weekend. While here a group off people set up to play Bunnock but were a person short, Catherine offered to play to make the teams equal.  You may recall we visited Macklin Saskatchewan earlier this summer, where we saw the worlds largest Bunnock and talked of the annual competition.

Bunnock (Also known as the Game of Bones, or just simply Bones) is a throwing game that is thought to have Russian origin. The aim of Bunnock is to throw bones at an oppositions rows of bones, trying to do so in the fewest throws possible. The team that knocks down all of the opposition’s bones first, wins. Bunnock is played in teams of four, which must contain at least one person of the opposite sex. Persons of any age are allowed to participate. Bunnock can be played with actual bones, however most modern sets use a resin replica version. (Wikipedia)

From here we travelled into St. Albert, where we would spend a couple of days visiting friends.

On our way out of town we would visit the World’s largest Badminton Racket.

As we passed through Edmonton, we visited a World’s large Western Boot.

Close-by the was also a monument to the local professional hockey team, The Edmonton Oilers.

This is the last post of this trip; the following is a list of statistics from the trip:
Distance Travelled: 14,124km/8776 miles
Most Northerly Point: Hines Creek, Alberta
Most Southern Point: Sarnia, Ontario
Most Eastern Point: Huntsville, Ontario
Most Western Point: Hythe, Alberta

We are not sure at this point in time when or where our next post will be, we have some thoughts on what is next but time will tell.

Thanks for reading,

Stew & Cat.