In search of the Brule Sand Dunes at Hinton
The plan for my first full day in Hinton – Day 48 of the trip, Tuesday, June 12th – was to find the Brule Sand Dunes and to re-visit Ogre Canyon, which my son had taken Cathy and I to a few years ago. Things didn’t go as well as I’d hoped, but it was a very interesting day 🙂
The day started off cloudy and dreary, and that was the forecast. By 08:00, though, clear skies were moving in from the southwest and I got ready for a big adventure, with lots of dog-friendly walking available.
My first stop was at the visitor information centre. When I asked about the Brule Sand Dunes and Ogre Canyon and said that I had a good 4×4, the two women on duty gave me rough directions to the Brule Sand Dunes, and a handout about Ogre Canyon.
At 09:25, I turned north off Highway 16 about 20 minutes west of Hinton. With signs pointing the way, this should be easy. Right? 🙂
Just off the highway, a kiosk held a large Public Land Use map that might be decipherable if you spent long enough with it. I couldn’t find any useful information on it, though.
As beautiful as this was, Bella doesn’t like bumpy roads. Sorry about your luck, sweety, Tucker and I do 🙂
Is this Canada’s most scenic sewage lagoon? I have no idea where the sewage came from – there are no buildings anywhere near it.
The gravel road suddenly turned ugly. This looked like at ATV track to me, but I’d go for a look. Maybe it would get better. Sure, that could happen 🙂
About 4 km in, I quit and turned around at the first possible opportunity. By then I was driving in a ditch so narrow and deep that the only way I could have gotten out of the Tracker would have been by climbing out a window.
Heading back out, here’s a look at the track I’d come in on. Yes, that’s stupid. Even when I was 25 years old, that would have been just looking for trouble.
I decided to do some exploring in the general area, and took the road leading to the Wildhorse Lake Recreation Area. If nothing else, the kids could use a play, and Bella some water time.
There was only one other person at Wildhorse Lake and he was fishing a few hundred meters away, so it was a good place to chill for a while.
On the way out, I made a short detour to see Kinky Lake and campground. The campground fee is $23 per night, including firewood. The sites are small and bare.
The road had forked on the way to Wildhorse Lake, and I decided that the other road had potential to reach the Brule Sand Dunes. It started off well.
I came to an information kiosk, and the map on it made this look like a very good route to an even better part of the dune system, which runs along much of the south shore of the lake.
Alas, the gravel road soon turned into another sandy ATV trail. This is where I decided to turn around – the trail ahead turned and dropped sharply, and a wide spot was not far behind me.
When I tried to turn around, I got high-centered. I must be getting out of practise. So here I was, stuck a few miles from anywhere, alone except for Bella and Tucker, with no equipment for doing any 4×4 travel (like a shovel).
As I was digging myself out with a tire wrench and my hands, I heard the little angel on my shoulder laughing: “You haven’t screwed up badly in a long time, so I’m going to let you get away with this one. But I am going to make you think and work hard enough that you won’t forget the lesson.”
I got the hill dug away,and in half an hour or so was pointed back in the right direction. My inReach satellite communicator had been on the job, just in case, though 🙂
I was sort of adventured-out, so that was it for the day – I’d find Ogre Canyon the next day.
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