Pines Campground near Fox Creek, AB

We got out of Dawson Creek about 10 am, and our first stop of the day was at Beaver Lodge, which has a giant beaver statue that has had its 20th birthday this year. Townspeople are pretty proud of it, and it's well cared for with buckets of flowers planted round.

Another little jaunt down the road, and we were in Alberta, Canada. Our time zone changed, so we are now on Mountain Daylight Time, like at home in Laramie.

We stopped at the Phillip Currie Dinosaur Museum for 90 minutes and enjoyed the exhibits. Afterward, we ate our tuna sandwiches and continued down the road. We arrived at Fox Creek at about 4:30 pm. Unfortunately, the municipal campground was full. We checked out Smoke Lake Provincial Campground, but it was $30, and our site would be a quarter mile from the one toilet. Two of the three camp loops were under renovation, so we headed back to a campground we'd passed heading into Fox Creek.

The Pines is a Royal Mounted Legion campground. It's a private campground that used to be a provincial campground. When the nearby highway was widened to 4 lanes, it was abandoned and leased to this veterans group.

The Veteran who greeted us said it was locally supported. There was no fee, and we could just park in the Day Use area if we were only staying overnight. We set up camp, and Phil gave $30 we would have paid for the provincial site as a donation. We are both veterans, after all. Most of the park's sites are filled by members of the local Legion chapter.

The Pines is surrounded by a major fire burn from last year. The campground was closed all year last and only reopened this summer. New picnic tables and rented portapottied as a result, but it's nice to be among other Vets.Read more