Day 14

Day 14, June 7 Maple Creek- visit to Fort Walsh, km 1571-1685, 114 km today

Just as we were ready to have a nice dry ride to Fort Walsh, it started to rain. So we waited until the shower went through and then left. The road to Fort Walsh rolls a lot, and is quite rough where they have added tar and gravel. We thought from the brochures that the vertical would be only 200 m but it felt like more so I checked on the internet after getting back. The net vertical is 700m from Maple Creek plus all of those ups and downs, and drop into Fort Walsh at the end. On the way out we saw lots of cattle, including a herd of bulls that look like they are set to sell as breeders. We also saw herds of steers and heifers. Most of the cattle were black angus, which makes sense because they command a premium now. We also saw a shot out of the movies- a herd of cows with calves was being moved for branding, shots, tags and castration (we learned later) by three cowboys; in the background were two antelope. We also saw 9 deer today. There were lots of birds including great little blue bird; beside the road we saw many prairie dogs. At Fort Walsh, we had our lunch and then lucked out with our visit to the Fort. It was meti day, so there was a series of special activities including dancing, NWMP drill show, canon shot, singing, Louis Riel speech and Red River cart drive by. Other than the shower in the morning, the day was dry with a mixture of sun and overcast with temperatures in the high teens.