Sunrise over the Conglomerate Cliffs. The positive side of getting here in the dark was to wake up to this amazing view.

Mathilde is working on a jewelry order (you can visit her Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RideItUpJewelry

Riding Last Grizzly, a fun dowhill trail in the Albertan side of the park, near Elkwater Lake.

Following Julien’s suggestions (in the book Vie de Van, of course!), we headed to the Conglomerate Cliffs for a sweet boondocking site. However, since we were already in the Albertan side of the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park for biking, we decided to cross through dirt roads. We didn’t expect them to be that steep and were too low in diesel for that inclination (and the pump could not pick up the fuel…) Sooo… We got stuck on a hill and had a bit of a moment trying to back up with the Westy attached (we have to be careful backing up with a tow bar and couldn’t unhook the Westy), but made it with the help of a local. JF drove 45 min to the nearest gas station and came back in the dark. As we stayed behind in the middle of nowhere, many herds of cows came to sniff and check the bus. One young bull stuck around for a while and Mathilde turned a stressful situation into a good laugh, saying: Mom! He must be one of Roaditup’s followers! He wants a selfie with the bus!

We were only 10 minutes from the boondocking site, but driving in the dark on those roads proved dangerous since cows charged the Westy (that I was driving). There are LOTS of free ranging cows here, so driving during the day is strongly advised. The roads also become a mud fest when it rains, so stay away if it is in the forecast of if there had been rain in the last few days.