Taber Municipal Park is a beautifully treed RV park sight on the shore of the Oldman River. It is in the bottom of a Coulee that has a steep driveway to get into followed by a ridiculously steep sided speed bump at the bottom of the driveway. I guess someone needed a lesson in what drive slow meant. The sites are large, clean, hard packed and level pads. Grass between each site, beach volley ball, and a trail along the river. Deer are plentiful around the park. Everyday we saw one or more grazing.
The Oldman River flows along side of the campground. It has on occasion flooded the park and this year it is expected to do so again due to the high snow load in the mountains. The Oldman starts in the foothills and feeds into the Saskatchewan River which feeds into Hudson Bay. That would be paddle. The trees in the park are Cottonwood and there are a lot of them and some are huge. Park staff told us some are 300 to 400 years old. Some of the trunks were twice as wide as me.
We stopped in Taber for 3 nights to visit family and to take a day trip to Wateron Lake National Park. We also took advantage of the stop over to have Old thirsty, our F250, serviced. It was due for an oil change and tire rotation. We have driven almost 6000 km since leaving home and we are pulling a 9000 pound trailer. College Ford in Taber looked after us. I got there as they opened and the truck was taken in right away. That morning we had our trailer repaired, replaced one slide drive gear box in Medicine Hat and now the truck has been checked. The drive to Taber was similar to the previous days of driving; the wind was trying to blow us back into Ontario. Just a few days before we arrived the wind was gusting over 100 km/hr. Since leaving Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba we have been averaging a little better than 9 miles / gallon, or 30 L / 100 km and we can’t even see the mountains from Taber. Thankfully gas is floating around $0.99 a litre here.
We arrived on the Monday and spent part of that day with family. Tuesday it rained so it was shop and service day and then dinner with family. Jennifer and I got our hair cut. I planned on going the summer without one as I have had a regimented cut for 28 years. Enough was enough! That plan lasted longer than my mustache plan. It was shaved off after 4 weeks as it drove me nuts. My last hair cut was in mid-March and I didn’t make it to mid June. We went to Tommy Guns Original Barbershop in Lethbridge and for 7 bucks more than usual I got a cut, wash, and rinse after cut to get rid of the clippings, plus a free coffee. Jennifer received the same for the same which took some discussion as none of the staff had cut a woman’s hair recently.
Wednesday, our last day in Taber, we drove to Waterton Lake National Park and it was amazing as the iconic Prince of Wales Hotel . It should be one everyone’s list. Read our posting on Waterton Lake National Park.