Day 19: Fort Steele

Today, the sun wakes us up again and we leave our campsite around 9 o'clock. We stop by the exterior point of Waterton National Park, where we can see buffalos. They are still enclosed as they are trying to form a new herd. There are 6 animals and 2 calves. We watch for a while and then continue on. In the next town, we stock up on gasoline, gas, groceries, and alcohol. Another half hour later, we reach Frank. A small town where a terrible accident occurred on April 29, 1903. A massive landslide from Turtle Mountain came down and buried the young mining settlement of Frank under almost 100 million tons of rock. More than 70 people died. Even today, we can see the debris of the slide. Large stones and boulders are scattered everywhere. We take a short walk, look at the information boards. We learn that the causes were an unstable geological structure in connection with water and mining shafts. Due to lack of time, we don't visit the museum, but we are impressed by the forces that must have been at work here.
Now our path leads through Crowsnest Pass and we leave Alberta and are back in British Columbia. We cross the Rocky Mountains and are warned about animals such as deer, elk, moose, and bighorn sheep, but we don't see any. After 2 hours of driving, we reach Fort Steele. There is the Fort Steele Heritage Town, a historic town where 60 buildings from 1890 have been restored or reconstructed. We are running late and inquire about the entrance to the Western town. We are told that the historic shops are already closed and the town is open for another hour. That's enough for us and we stroll along the wooden pathways, past the old houses. We see a theater, museum, church, shops, bakery, restaurant, and much more. We can go gold panning again and the kids immediately start sieving gold in the pans. We quickly find some gold and the prospector reveals some secrets of gold panning to us. We leave the premises at 4 o'clock, happy to have seen the buildings and historical aspects and to have saved almost $100. The campsite is right next door. Today there is a swimming pool and we go swimming in 30°C weather. The kids splash around extensively. In the evening, we have homemade pizza.