Chain Lakes Provincial Park

The Missus and I decided we would like to try hitting a different lake with the paddle boards as Chestermere Lake was starting to feel a bit old to us. That’s how we wound up at a provincial park on the Monday morning of a holiday Monday.

Chain Lakes Provincial Park is more interesting to look at than Chestermere, but is also sort of plain. The day use area is pretty spartan with just a few picnic tables scattered along the edge of the water. That didn’t stop the place from getting crazy around noon.

We encountered a lot of cobra chickens (Canada Geese) along the way, but they weren’t too bothered by us. You could drift fairly close and not get much more than mild stinkeye from the parents. They might get up and walk off, but there was no posturing or hissing like we’re used to with the ones here in Strathmore.

We crossed the lake and snugged along the shore as the lake was deeper than we are used to and figured if you’re going to get in trouble, it’s best to do so within a stone’s throw of the shore, so that’s where we stayed. We saw some paddle boards ahead of us disappear around some grass and that looked interesting, so we followed them. There was a canal that went off the SE corner of the lake that we had fun exploring.

We only made it about two thirds of the way through as a beaver dam was blocking the way. The water was also getting so shallow then that my fin was catching bottom occasionally, so I don’t think we would have gotten much past that point anyhow dam or no.

It was at about that time that the POS nasty @#$% kayak seat I bought my wife decided to malfunction again, so we limped back to shore and called it a morning. We probably could have gotten another hour in if not for the wretched seat sabotaging us. My wife is getting a better seat like mine because I have had it with the piece of crap she has been fighting with.

We drove down past the base of the dam and found a very nice, private picnic area at the bottom of the its spillway, which was closed at that particular time. There was a pretty foot bridge over a small stream that burbled nicely and we could listen to the chattering of Bohemian Waxwings while we enjoyed some PBJs and fresh fruit at a shaded picnic table.

My wife looks a bit strained in our selfie because she was staring into bright light while you-know-who was taking too long to get the picture. (Hey, composition is important.)

Upon seeing the Waxwings I remembered that I had brought along the bag with the Canon EOS 7D that Ray had left me, so it seemed like a good moment to bust it out. It performed yeoman service and I think Ray would have been pleased with the results as he was something of a birder.

After having our lunch we had a nice visit with some friend who were camping in the park and headed for home. We did stop briefly in Nanton, Alberta, because we couldn’t remember having checked it out before.

We found a bookstore that was closing just as we walked up to it, but the owner invited us in and we ended up buying a few books and some artwork. We also found some antique shops around the corner. We didn’t buy anything in them even though there were some vintage cameras I was eyeing. I just don’t have space for any more so I gave them a pass. Besides, the prices were too high. I have learned to stick to bidding on estate auction items for pennies on the dollar.

Having checked out the few interesting shops, that was that for Nanton. We headed home to relax for the evening. That didn’t exactly happen because of the storm that rolled through town that evening, but that is a story for the next day…

Today’s cameras were: An OM System (Olympus!) Tough TG-7, my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone, and my Canon EOS 7D with a 70-300mm EF IS USM f4.-5.6 lens. Each image caption specifies the camera it was made with.