Yesterday, Sheena and I decided to take a little drive.  We pulled out our SW Alberta backroads mapbook and pointed to a spot on the map and said, ‘let’s go there!’  Our trip would take us out along Hwy 1A, which is the ‘old’ road to Banff and the mountains.  Along the way we decided to check out the ‘Waiparious Creek’ area following highway 40 north.  We were exploring the ‘Forestry Trunk Road’ that eventually leads up to Nordegg, through the backcountry.  We headed up the past two years, but through the Icefields Parkway. Hwy 93 is a trecherous road in the winter, but much more reliable than the forestry trunk road.

Anyway, along our trek north on hwy 40, we met numerous Army trucks — which we assumed were coming from ‘Camp Howard’ — an army cadet camp located near Mockingbird Lookout, which was our spot ‘on the map’ that we were aiming for.  We made it to the area and took a few photos.  We decided to turn around at this point, as the road was becoming more of a truck adventure — becoming a bit more than we wanted to experience in our rented Camry.  (But nothing against the new Camrys, those cars are an excellent and powerful ride.) 

We returned the way we came and continued to head west along Hwy 1A to Banff.  As we went further, we found the Ghost River Resevoir which had been iced over.  This was certainly a treat.  On one side of the resevoir were dirt bike racers, doing laps around an area of the lake.  Quite an exciting sport — as their tires had been outfitted with studs that kept their grip on the ice.  Boys, did they rip around that ice oval track!

Then on the other side of the resevoir, also close to the road, was a group of people out on ice boats.  Much like ittle sailboats, these craft were outfitted with three long blades that cut into the ice — but also allowed for a very speedy ride across the ice.  As well, because of the warm weather, a slight sheen of water from melted ice was on the surface — making for excellent pictures.  (Someday, I’d love to ride one of these things — across Lake Ainslie!)

We took a few pics and continued along the way to Banff area.  We decided to turn around at Seebe,about 15 mins from Canmore.  Hwy 1A is an interesting scenic route to Banff — we had certainly enjoyed our Sunday drive.