Thirty years ago, Travel Alberta ran a campaign encouraging Albertans to see their wonderful province. They sent everyone a passport and if you visited certain sites, you could have it stamped. It was call Stomp Around Alberta. I invited my in-laws to join us for my version of this tour and we saw a rodeo in Stettler, the Badlands around Drumheller and Lethbridge's Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens. So, when my sister-in-law suggested we tour the Cypress Hills together, it brought back memories of how much fun we had travelling with them. Bonus, they organized it so all we had to do was show up.
Geographically, the Cypress Hills are unique as the area never experienced the crushing ice of the last glaciation. It is a high plateau rising above the prairies and boasts the same elevation as Banff, in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. It got its name from a mistake made by Canadian Metis who thought the lodgepole pines were jack pines which in French translates as cypres. There are no cypress trees in the area.
We were to meet Norma and Randy Friday evening at the only hotel in the park, the Elkwater Lake Lodge. It is a three hour drive from Calgary, through Medicine Hat, to Elkwater so we decided to book a tee time for one o'clock at the Cypress Hills Golf Course. It is a nine hole course set in the pines of Cypress Hills. Little did we realize the park is unique in more ways than one.
First, it is the first interprovincial park in Canada (created in 1989) and straddles the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Second, it has three components--the Alberta park called Cypress Hills, Alberta and two Saskatchewan parts. Of these, the one that borders the Alberta park is called Cypress Hills Saskatchewan West Block. The other, south of Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, is Cypress Hills Saskatchewan Centre Block. To add to the confusion, the Fort Walsh National Historic Site is Federal and is in the West Block park.
After Glen had booked our tee time, I hunted down the driving directions. That's when we learned the golf course was not close to the Elkwater townsite. It actually is situated in the Centre Block south of Maple Creek. We quickly added another hour onto our travel time, rose early, and headed out.
Just as we crossed the border, I remembered Saskatchewan never changes its time over the course of the year. Were we an hour early or late? As we passed through the bustling town of Maple Creek, I noticed that an outside clock read the same as my watch. Turns out Saskatchewan is on Central Standard Time but because it's in the Mountain time zone, it is essentially on Daylight Savings time year round.
As we drove south on highway 21 toward Cypress Hills park, the road followed the contours of the rolling prairie. I hunted in vain for pronghorns as it was a landscape reminiscent of Wyoming. Little did I know that Canadian antelope migrate south during the winter and their route back north this year was blocked by flooding due to a record snow pack in the mountains.
The road seemed to stretch forever but then a dark shadow fell across the horizon. The Cypress Hills loomed above us like an eerie shadow. The park gate was not far off the highway and after paying $7.50 for a day pass, we went through the main park area with its swimming pool, lodge, and small grocery store up into the hills where the golf course sat.
During our trip east, it had rained off and on and when we arrived the weather was iffy. We paid our fee ($28 for both of us plus two pull carts--a real bargain) then returned to the car to eat our lunch since we had 30 minutes before our tee time. It began to pour so our spirits sank. It is no fun playing golf in the rain.
But, as we finished eating, the clouds grew lighter and off we went. The course had broad fairways lined with pine trees which lulled us into a false sense of security. There were no water hazards and all the bunkers were grass. Fields of yellow dandelions divided some of the fairways adding colour to the dull day. It was the greens that provided the challenge of this course. Due to all the rain, they had become bumpy. This meant our balls never quite did what we expected of them.
The rain also kept other golfers off the course so we had the place to ourselves. This meant I didn't have to worry about someone creeping up behind us. During our game, we had some good drives and I got a feel for using my 3 wood on the fairway. Glen began using his hybrid clubs and of course, sent several balls sailing down the fairway with his driver.
Unlike the mountain park course we'd played on, we didn't have to watch out for elk or bears but there was a warning that cougars wandered this park. Fortunately, we didn't have to deal with this wild cat.
After our game, we had coffee in the tiny clubhouse and watched the U.S. Open. A couple of young boys came in 20 minutes later. The campground was close by and I'm sure their parents had sent them out to golf. The rain began again as we packed up the car.
We headed back to Alberta and arrived at the Elkwater Lake Lodge in time for dinner. The restaurant did not have an extensive menu but we enjoyed an appetizer of beef, bison, and pork meatballs with homemade garlic toast then Glen had their beef burger and I had their chicken one. The bread was what I would write home about. It was absolutely delicious, ranking up there with the best I've ever eaten.
About eight forty-five, Norma knocked on our door and invited us down to their room which had a couch, easy chairs, and a fireplace. We enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and wonderful conversation before going to bed.
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