Quiet South Country of Alberta

I have been trying to get enough information about hiking in the past month so in case we are going, we will have no issue but it seems there are not enough. Yesterday i decided to go to southwestern Alberta and get as close possible to Holy Cross Mountain so when the time comes I know where we are going as well I did not want to spend the day at home. I unfortunately miscalculated and started a bit late because I had to do a tiny amount of shopping so when I got back to the City it was already dark.

I first drove to Okotoks and then to Black Diamond. The second tiny town is not comparable to the first one and I guess it is because Okotoks is closer to Calgary and many people who have high paid jobs live there while generally country people in Alberta are well off but the difference is obvious. After Black Diamond you drive south until you get to Longview and there you turn right onto Highway 541 and that is where the number of vehicles reduces to 1 in every half an hour! Alberta regardless of The Rockies is a beautiful place. Endless fields, vast ranches, wild flowers, streams, you name it. When you get close to Longview and turn to 541 the foothills start and that adds to the beauty but like anywhere else most of the land is separated from the road by barbed wire and fences. Another reason that not many vehicles are seen on the road is 541 leads to closed road in this time of the year and I saw the sign when I made the turn. So only locals drive up and down that road. I do not know how that road is the remaining months of the year. 

So I went until a sign shows Eden Valley and I took out my telephone to check it and I realized there was no signal! So I thought I should have gone back. The clock was ticking and I had no connection and I was out of reach. So I head back right after that while according to the map I was only 19 KM away from where I would have parked if I had gone to hike Holey Cross Mountain.  

Southern Alberta, below Calgary area has for sure the same beauty of Highway No. 1 area but there are not fancy shops, restaurants, bars and so on. If someone like the nature in fact he or she should consider that part just to feel hassle and traffic free. That is where I am going for my hiking when I am a little more practiced. 

(Photo: A house on the steps of a hill in Longview. The picture is small but you can see the tiny little dots on the right, the cows. A gravel road connects the houses to the main road. The masts are probably communication towers for mobile phones)