Nordegg, Alberta

So for May long this year we decided to go camping where we went last year in Nordegg, Alberta. We camped along the river, and it definitely seemed less busy this year maybe because it's a early long weekend or the predicted snow fall in the mountains that scared people off. Either way it made for lots of prime camping spots to choose from.

A bit of background on how my camping styles have changed since meeting my boyfriend of over four years now. He's taught me the difference between "campground camping," and "roughing it," but I must say overall it's lead to some memorable scenery like sleeping so close to a crystal clear mountain river. Now my version of roughing it isn't 100% accurate haha I bring magazines, candy, ipod, sometimes we even bring a laptop to watch movies off of at night! We always plan our food and try to mix classic campfire grub with something tastier than hot dogs.

Anyways so we set up by the river in the dark which is never much fun but there were lots of stars out so it was still a pretty setting. Jeff made a fire, the dogs stayed with my parents for the weekend so it was really strange not having the dogs running around but kind of nice because I wasn't having to check to see where they were every minute.

Back to Nordegg, if you haven't been there you should especially if you been to Jasper and Banff a bunch of times because Nordgegg is only about 3 hours away and is so pristine and untouched that it's really so much different than other mountain parks. There are waterfalls, and tons of different hikes to take to cool setting like lakes and lots of wildlife to be seen. The water is such a clear turquoise blue it literally looks like it melted off a glacier on a mountain. Awww... so nice, but it's cold, really cold haha like melted ice I guess.

So more about Nordegg, the town is not very large with a gas station/store, liquor store, cabin rentals, and a few other buildings along with a fire department and some residential houses. The town used to be alot larger in the past when the coal mine was open. Part of the town site from that period is gated off from the roads and you can't go into the old town unless on a guided tour. It's kinda spooky late at night because it's an old coal mining town that I'm sure has lots of scary stories.

We went mountain biking on the Saturday lots of tough hills, and bumpy steep trails to go on! I need a new bike soon, I'm using my mom's bike because she and my dad got awesome new bikes last year but the brakes are kinda squeaky and you have to squeeze pretty hard to apply some friction so I'm definitely on the look for a great deal. Speaking of deals I am soooooo glad I got some new hiking boots before we went, seriously they saved my life! We went climbing on Sunday and man oh man it's such a huge difference having the traction of real hiking boots because sometimes I wear bad shoe choices like walking long distances in flip flops, so this was an awesome change to feel so prepared. And I got them for like half price which is always great. So there are lots of outdoor activities to fill in the days and I was more than ready to sit around the camp fire and toast some marshmellows at the end of the night!