Tuesday, September 6, 2011 (Crowsnest Mountain Resort, Coleman, AB)

We woke to clear skies again today...wow, what a great stretch of weather we are having!  After taking our time over coffee, we finally decided we had better get on with our exercises so we can get out and enjoy our last day in the Crowsnest Pass area.  Our mornings tend to be very lazy...if we let them. Here are a couple of pictures Steve took the other morning (that I didn't download until today)...very cool sunrise...


We had an issue this morning...this time with our Shaw Direct HDPVR satellite receiver.  As we have mentioned before, our trailer doesn’t really care for 30 amp power...it far prefers 50 amp.  We have a voltage regulator as well as a surge suppressor to protect our electronics.  Well, this morning, after a “blip” in our power supply, the receiver did not come back on...despite every effort to revive it...nothing.
So after a call to Shaw Direct...and going through the usual automated answering process...press 1 for English...press 2 for....he had to wait for a call back.  About 15 minutes later, Steve finally received a call from a real live person!  The rep took him through the same revival process that he had already tried and still nothing.  So we now have to find a Shaw Direct dealer in Cranbrook where we will be able to pick up a replacement.  We believe it is under warranty...we hope!
Steve also spoke to Runners RV in Cranbrook where we had had the trailer serviced last month.  We need to take it back in to have the rubber cups in the end of the axles replaced that they didn’t have when they greased the bearings.  The oven pilot light also needs to be repaired.  So it looks like we will be spending a little time in the Cranbrook area on our way back towards Trail.
It was around 10:30 by the time we headed out to the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre.  We stopped to take a couple of pictures of this beautiful area...
That's Crowsnest Mountain on the far right...

The slide was Canada`s deadliest rockslide that occurred in 1903 burying part of the coal town of Frank (population approx. 600) killing around 90... www.frankslide.com
The rockslide came down from Turtle Mountain...
...and across the valley up the other side...quite a distance...

We spent over 2 hours inside...watching a couple of movies about the slide and then wandering through the displays. It is really well done and very informative.
Interesting...



It was just before 2pm and we still wanted to walk the trail loop through the slide itself...but we were starving so we decided to go to the A & W just a short distance away for some lunch.  After a quick bite, and with the recycling depot just across the highway, we thought we would quickly take some empties (that had been taking up room in the truck) off.  The liquor stores here in Alberta are all privately owned and do not take empties back...actually all recycling must be taken to a recycling depot.
Well our “quick” trip to drop off our empties proved to be quite an experience.  We entered the building with our few dozen beer bottles/cans, some pop cans and a couple of empty wine boxes...only to have to stand in line behind people who had flat upon flat of empty cans and boxes upon boxes of empty juice containers and milk cartons. The guy in front of us literally had a pickup truck load...sheesh. Our “quick” trip took us almost 40 minutes before we could collect our bounty...$11.10! If it wasn`t for the fact that we have been hauling our recycling around for weeks and needed the room we would have left.

With that little experience behind us, we went back up to the Frank Interpretive Centre to walk the “Frank Interpretive Loop” and take pictures.  There were numbered markers along the loop but unfortunately we did not have the pamphlet with the corresponding description.


That is the Interpretive Centre up top...


Very cool rock...


That flat area in the distance (with the buildings) used to be where the main townsite of Frank was...now it is the Industrial park (and where the recycle depot is)...

We were hot and tired by the time we got back to the truck...the majority of the trail was downhill, walking through the slide area but the last part of the trail was steep...of course, all that downhill meant we had to go back up at some point!

We drove a little further along the highway for a couple of more pictures....you can see how the highway goes right through the slide area...
That's the Interpretive Centre up above the rocks...

After stopping to top up the truck with diesel (Alberta price is $1.17/litre...vs BC...well, Cranbrook, at $1.25) we took the Coleman Heritage route on the way back to the campground. It is basically just a drive through the old part of Coleman. 

Steve stopped on the way into the campground...that's our 5th wheel there...

Back at the campground, we set the chairs up in the shade (and out of the wind) on the other side of the truck and were enjoying a drink when our neighbour returned.  He had pulled into the site next to us late last night.  As it turns out, he is here working at the Devon Sulphur Plant that is just across the highway from the entrance to the campground. He is there for 2 weeks inspecting the commissioning of their new boilers so he and Steve had something in common.
After chatting with him for a bit, we headed inside...time to get dinner going.  We had our usual evening...relaxing in front of the TV before heading to bed.  We are leaving in the morning...heading back to Cranbrook, BC.

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