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Lethbridge, Alberta
Canada
185 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2004 : 5:27 PM
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Does anybody know if Writing on Stone in Milk River is still open? I get out of class next friday and I'd like to take a friend and head out that direction.
Canadian |
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 Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
13048 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2004 : 8:38 PM
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Check out http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6668
I can't answer your question,but the area looks like a great place for winter activity.Maybe The Hiker can help you on this question,as it was his home turf growing up....I really enjoyed this park,and so did my family |
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 camera hauling, deli packing, stove exploder who bushwhacks ridges to false summits
South West corner of, BC
Canada
1557 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2004 : 9:27 PM
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I didn't see any gates to close it when I was there in summer nor recall any closing times or dates.
Seeing the hoodoos in snow would be different tho. |
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Calgary, Alberta
228 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2004 : 08:36 AM
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I don't think it could close. Maybe the gate but that wouldn't stop walk-in access. It's actually quite spectacular in winter. An added bonus is if the Milk River is frozen you can walk along the river and get a real good close up view of a lot of the petrogyphs both in and outside the park.
Before you get to the Park there's a turn in for a small rodeo (fair) grounds along the river. That's another access point. When we're staying at Writing-on-Stone we drive to the the rodeo grounds, put in our air matresses and float a couple kms along the river back to the campground. The water's always warm. It's neat floating along and spotting the petrogyphs. I would think this would also be a good spot to hike along the frozen river in winter.
That area is often without snow in winter. If you're outside the park you can collect indian points and choppers in 'scuffed out areas' in the grasslands above the canyon walls and if you're a bit past the park (to the east), there's lots of dino fragment scattered about. Just a note: in Alberta you can collect native artifacts and fossil biofacts but can't sell them outside the province.
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After hiking for 35 years I still haven't reached the end of the trail. |
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Calgary, alberta
Canada
670 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2004 : 10:48 AM
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quote:
The water's always warm. It's neat floating along and spotting the petrogyphs
The water is warm from all the cow pee flowing into it, did you really think it was milk? he he, I have done the same floating for years. At least in the Winter you don't have to worry about the rattlers, my son and his girlfriend hiked there this past august and she almost stepped on a snake.
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"If you can't be handsome you might as well be handy"
Red-Green |
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Calgary, Alberta
228 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2004 : 12:00 PM
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Ha! Ha! I hope it's just the cows doing the peeing
The snake issue is exaggerated. I've hiked the badlands for years and have come across zillions of rattlers. I've never been bitten even though I've stepped on them and even put my hand on one once (we spend a lot of time on our stomachs, nose to the ground looking for small fossils, etc,)
Having said this, W-O-S is the only place I know of a rattler bite. Back in the 80's I had a friend doing bat research in the park. He and another fellow took two female park rangers out on a day hike to show then some bat roosts. Along the way they came across rattlers and my friend picked one up (hey, guys show off when there's girls around). All was well. What he didn't tell them was that when he realeased it, the snake bit him. He was too embarassed to mention it. They hiked back to their quarters and the fellow felt wierd and told his friend what happened. They rushed him to Lethbridge. He ended up fine and, even if he hadn't got treatment, prairie rattler bites usually have no long lasting effects. At least he has a great story to tell buddies (leaving out the stupid parts).
Once my wife and I were at Picacho Peak state park in Arizona. It was just after sun up and I stepped on something that felt 'squishy'. I looked back (thinking it was a cow pie) and it was actually a coiled up diamond back rattler. He had come up to warm up in the sun. I don't think they can strike when cool. What's funny though is my wife took a photo of him (pre-digital). She's not the sqeamish sort but was still a good 8 feet away. He uncoiled and slowly slithered away. When we got the photo back we had a good laugh. In the photo, the 4 foot rattler looked the size of a worm. We had the photo blown up and it sits on our wall.
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"If you can't be handsome you might as well be handy"
Red-Green
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After hiking for 35 years I still haven't reached the end of the trail. |
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Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
13048 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2004 : 1:27 PM
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| Hey Bern,I know what you mean!When we were there my daughter was asking me "What's that sound,Dad?" "Just keep going,and let's hope it's the wind,buddy" |
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Calgary, Alberta
228 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2004 : 3:03 PM
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There's something about the rattle of a rattlesnake that shakes the very soul. It's a very visceral 'stop you in your tracks' sound that is potent. I've always thought if someone from Africa who had never heard or seen a rattler was walking in the badlands and heard a rattler it would still freeze them immediately. It gives me momentary cardiac arrest every time even though I'm not afraid of the critters. Ten minutes after seeing one rattler, if I hear another one it's still instant, primordial reaction. The only time I get the 'creepies' after the initial reaction is when they rattle and I don't see them.... and I walk away VERY carefully.
An aside: rattlesnakes are numderous just beyond rhe east end of Dinosaur Provincial Park. Look at the map for a town called Iddesleigh and along that stretch of the Red Deer there's miles of hiking in the hoodoos and coulees. The rattlers are very common on the sandstone ledges facing south. It's also the one of the few places in Canada you'll see kangaroo rats.
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After hiking for 35 years I still haven't reached the end of the trail. |
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Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
13048 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2004 : 3:59 PM
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| The first time I heard it I was sitting in an outhouse in the Salmon River valley in Idaho.Froze me immediately.Should I open the door,or not,I remember thinking?When I did,I saw the last few inches disappear under some sage...The year before, we had stopped at a roadside about 80km from the same spot.While opening a coke,I looked across the same river at an older man and his wife rummaging around their garden.A minute later,we heard a loud bang,and the next time I saw him he was holding up five feet of dead rattler for his wife and all to see.I wish I had a photo of that,but I wasn't going to take the chance that he was camera shy,seeing as he wasn't gun shy |
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Lethbridge, Alberta
Canada
185 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2004 : 8:10 PM
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Now now Grizzled,
We all know there aren't any rats in Alberta. Unless Kangaroo rats are something totally wierd.
Thomas |
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Salmon Arm, BC
Canada
894 Posts |
Posted - 12/07/2004 : 08:51 AM
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Grizzled--an interesting story. We were hiking around the badlands of Dinosaur Park two years ago, and a rattler shook its tail at my wife as she was crossing a small natural bridge--most definitely a chilly sound, and it gets the same reaction as when you hear a buzzing of hornets!!
Anyways, that evening we attended a naturalist talk at the park's field centre, and it was about rattlers in the park. I recall that the naturalist said nobody had ever been bitten in Alberta, so I leaned over to my wife and whispered, "you could have been famous!"
I guess your friend is the famous one!! |
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Calgary, Alberta
228 Posts |
Posted - 12/07/2004 : 09:08 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Canadian
Now now Grizzled,
We all know there aren't any rats in Alberta. Unless Kangaroo rats are something totally wierd.
Thomas
The word 'rat' is a general term. What we don't have are non-native Norwegian and Brazilian rats, Black rats etc (genus 'ratus'). These are the fellows scurrying around cities, etc. rooting through the garbage.
We have species called 'rat' the common name. These include Kangaroo Rats and Wood rats. Alberta is the genus 'ratus' free, not 'rat' free.
A good book to use as a field guide is the Lone Pine Field Guide 'Mammals of Alberta'.
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After hiking for 35 years I still haven't reached the end of the trail. |
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Calgary, Alberta
228 Posts |
Posted - 12/07/2004 : 09:19 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by pmjwright
Anyways, that evening we attended a naturalist talk at the park's field centre, and it was about rattlers in the park. I recall that the naturalist said nobody had ever been bitten in Alberta, so I leaned over to my wife and whispered, "you could have been famous!"
?? There have been several bites in Alberta over the years ...the naturalist was either wrong or what he said there were no 'deaths' from rattlesnake bites in Alberta. The Prairie rattler hasn't been known to cause any deaths. The fear of the bad effects from a bite are greatly exaggerated.
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After hiking for 35 years I still haven't reached the end of the trail. |
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Lethbridge, Alberta
Canada
185 Posts |
Posted - 02/12/2005 : 6:43 PM
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I just got back from Writing On Stone. I went with the aforementioned buddy and due to the nice weather we got all the way from the park enterance to the rodeo grounds.
Excellent weather. No snow, little mud and the river was melting.
Note for future, less water, more jerky. And make buddy carry his own gear.
Thomas |
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Writing on Stone
