Sept 6 to 9 Lost Lemon (part 1) Lille Ghost town and Frank Slide

After six days of boondocking…it was time to head west again,,, destination this time was the Lost Lemon campground in the Crowsnest Pass. We had decided that, having already been through the Kicking Horse pass on the trip to Golden, that it might be an opportunity to travel a different route through the mountains…possibly an easier pass for hauling Xolo….as beautiful as she is….she’s no delicate featherlight flower when you want to pull her up hills…….

Alberta is generally pretty flat. A fact accentuated by that most wonderful horizon that is the Rockies.

The other problem we found travelling this road south of Calgary……its not a particularly densely populated area….so there are not a lot of roads to choose from…..but…intrepid travellers….we wound our way down to 3a west…..

First sight of Crowsnest Pass……..quite beautiful scenery as we approach the mountains again…..

On steep downhill sections there was no need for the engine brake to kick in as the incredible wind coming straight at us actually slowed us down.

.Breathtaking……again……

…and then unexpectedly…the landscape changes again….

and the road passes through this incredible rock field…lots of road signs for Frank slide. A history you Canadians may know of but we were completely unaware of…..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Slide .

In 1903 the town of Frank, a mining town, was hit by a massive rockslide (110 million tons of rock fell off the mountain…!!!) half the mountain collapsed wiping out part of the town and burying 70 people in 100 seconds with no warning. They only recovered 12 bodies…….its quite the thing.

The rock landscape remains….they dug out the road and the railway, you can see the channels through the rocks from the mountains around….but the rest of it remains…this unbelievable bare rock lunar landscape…..even though its been over 100 years since it happened……..a sight to behold for sure…..

Lost Lemon Campground in Blairmore….is by far the prettiest campground we have stayed in…..the views, 360 degrees of mountains….it is spectacular…….its also a well run, tidy clean campground…a credit to its owners. ( https://lostlemon.com/ )

First order of business when we arrived was laundry…and showers….We originally intended to only be here a couple of days….but it was so pretty we decided to stay an extra few days…..and according to Alltrails there are a lot of great looking hikes in the Crowsnest Pass….

Blairmore is a stones throw from the border between Alberta and BC……the local brew pub is the Pass brewery, touts itself to be the last craft brew before BC…..

We met some lovely neighbours in Lost Lemon, Tanya and Jordy…according to them the Lions bingo night at the Pass is a riot. We did not make it….maybe next time…..

First hike we picked from the many available was Lille ghost town…..still on the hunt for that ghost town…!!!

The hike itself did not start out too promising…it was a long drive up a very bumpy (full of mega potholes) road……and then the walk itself is up a trail used primarily for ATVs………it was a bit of a slog on the way up…it has to be said…..

But still beautiful

………with some interesting ‘sights’ along the way

The Alltrails guide suggests photographing the map at the trailhead to find the various bits of the town. We totally bombed on finding the cemetery.

Found the town……interesting place…coal mining town built in 1901, largely dismantled in 1912 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lille,_Alberta )

There are so many bits and pieces still there, bed frame, water pump, barrel rings….these things are over 100 years old and have been laying out in the open….but still quite evident as to what they are. It was a worthwhile walk to get there…..

The coke ovens were built in Belgium……every brick was hand numbered….they were disassembled, shipped to Canada, carted up the mountain and reassembled in Lille….only to be abandoned a few years later…….

A testament to the structure itself….over a hundred years later it still stands…..

We also managed to find mine no. 3

There was also a wonderful array of my favourite little guys….fungi…!!!

Couldn’t find mine no. 2…….even with a bit of trekking back and forth with the satellite image to compare to the map….but it was a lovely walk down……

Mine no. 1 is the easiest to find….

Cool walk…… Scott spotted a black bear on the drive down……briefly, as it ran across the road……I was way too slow on the camera.

It was a long walk and the rocky road is hard work climbing up and climbing down…..but its a hike worth the time and effort cos the stuff at the top was so interesting.

Where will the next hike take us….many to choose from……..