I took Highway 22 home from Cranbrook last weekend. This is a view of the landscape from in my car. I was following a transport. If not for him, I would have felt alone and little overwhelmed. This is the area in Alberta where they film a lot of Hollywood Westerns including Brad Pitt's Jessie James movie a few years ago, as well as Brokeback Mountain. This area gives you a good feel for the kinds of wild open spaces that Alberta and west are known for, compared with the more urban areas I live in, along Highway 2., the major north-south corridor.
Here is a hardy herd of ranchland cattle taken carefully as I flew by in my car. I am very sorry that I didn't get a photo of a group of elk. I thought of turning around, but was trying to beat home a winter snow advisory and drive as much as possible in the light. I would not want to break down along here! Very few cars and such an imposing landscape. Also, home to Grizzly Bears and Cougars. Enough to make this 'northern Ontario' girl feel humbled.
The ranchland along this route, also called The Cowboy Trail, is just east of the mountains. These are huge properties with the occasional fence marking the end of one ranch and beginning of the next. The famous, historic Bar U Ranch is along this highway. I also passed through a little town with all historic-fronted buildings, and a bar that is apparently owned by Ian Tyson, Canada's famous country singer. I turned onto this highway after going through the Crowsnest Pass, and turned off at Black Diamond, driving from there through Okotoks to Calgary. 
Here is a link to the Bar U Ranch on the Cowboy Trail Web site - for more information on this beautiful highway - http://www.thecowboytrail.com/baru.html These photos were taken around 6 PM on a very threatening winter afternoon on Sunday, March 22.
No comments:
Post a Comment