After leaving Vernon on Monday morning, we made the trip to Okotoks. Unlike last time when we ran into snow showers, this time was much better with only a couple of light rain showers as we came through the Rockies.
We pulled into the Okotoks Lions Campground, which will be our home for the summer, at about 4:30. We quickly set up camp in site 20 which is one of only 2 or 3 sites that we will fit. It is one of the designated host sites so is nice and close to the office.
This area seems to be about 3 weeks behind Kamloops, weather wise. You can see in a couple of the pics above the trees are just starting to leaf out. The shot with the front of the trailer was just taken a couple of days ago and the trees are now in full leaf. The trees here are almost 50/50 Poplar and Cottonwood. We have had those little sticky leaf bud covers all over everything for the last couple of weeks! Fortunately they are almost done now but in a week or two we will be having the cottonwood fluff storms starting.
The first couple of weeks here we spent just learning the ropes. Chris works in the office so had to learn their booking and office systems and I was outside doing guy stuff like lawn mowing, trimming and associated stuff. Also figuring out the campground layout and the best way to get rigs into the various sites. Some are a bit tight. The park has 55 full service sites with 30 Amp power, water and sewer and 6 tent sites with 15 Amp power available. For the tenters, there is a washroom building with hot showers.
You will notice some of the pedestals in the photos have bags over them. Due to COVID-19 and social distancing requirements, we are only allowed to open up half the park. We have to leave an empty site between occupied ones. That means we only have about 26 or 27 available sites at the moment. Also as the public washrooms have to remain closed, we are not allowing tenters either. To stay here guests must be in fully self contained units. As per COVID-19 protocols, we also have to go around and sanitize the picnic tables and pedestals when a guest leaves and not to mention, anywhere where people are likely to touch.
Also for this reason, Pauline, the manager, has only hired one other couple to work with us. Normally there would be 4 couples working a 4 on, 4 off shift cycle with Pauline managing. Now there are only the 3 of us including Pauline and her husband Vern. The other couple, Don and Glenda, are people we originally met in Yuma 3 winters ago. They actually told us about this park and are partially responsible for us being here. They are old hands here as they have been doing this on and off (more on) for the last 10 years or so.
There is a fair bit of urban wildlife around here. We have a small herd of deer that are very tame. Not so tame that you can touch them but Maya and I have been within 5 feet of them and they just stand there and watch you or casually move away.
This one was a lot closer than it appears in the picture; maybe 10 feet away and was coming up to check us out.
We also had a pair of Canada Geese nesting in an old stump at the back of park. About 2 weeks ago, we got word that one of them was in distress. It seems mama goose had got her neck stuck in a crack in the stump.
In the above shot, you can just make out her head at the bottom of the crack. Papa standing guard on top.
One of the guests had called the fire department and they showed up with a truck and ladder and were able to get her head unstuck.
I am not sure if they had anything in the nest but we have seen them back a couple of times but they don't seem to be nesting.
