Sheep River

Peter and I rented a car for the weekend and we wanted to find some places that we had not been before. After much searching and discussion we decided that we would go to Sheep River Falls. Sheep River Falls are located south of Calgary not far from Turner Valley. We got a late start and arrived in Turner Valley just in time to eat lunch at a little restaurant that we had enjoyed once before during a previous visit call The Chuck Wagon. They serve breakfast all day and also serve Alberta Beef that the owners raise. The picture of the the window boxes full of flowers was taken at The Chuck Wagon. The hamburgers and homemade fries we enjoyed there were what we needed before our quest to find Sheep River Falls.

As we entered Sheep River Provincial Park we crossed a Texas gate (cattle guard) and noticed a sign that indicated there was free roaming wild stock. The were not kidding. We saw dozens of cattle on out way to the falls. They could have been less interested in us but as you can tell by the picture, we found them interesting!

Those of you that know me, know that I am not terribly adventurous. Peter will try just about anything once and he is always up for exploring and pushing himself to try new things. When we got to the park, it was very clear that there was major flood damage and that most of the park had been washed away including the trails to the falls. Did that stop us? Oh you better believe that it did not! I was about 10 feet from the falls and will probably never be closer to falls again. Yes, I see that they are not huge falls but they were still formidable! Hopefully this park will be returned to a usable condition before long. It was very nice and since it is one of the lesser know parks, there were very few people there which we also enjoyed. The contrast between the river, the falls, the gorge, and the meadow was nice to see and somewhat unique. The meadow is where big horn sheep come to graze, especially in the spring however during this visit we did not see any big horn sheep. We were warned about a bear and her cub feeding close but thank goodness we did not see them either.