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by Vince (VE6LK)
It’s time for another return trip to the correctional institution that I spoke about in my last post. And that means only one important detail: more time to POTA en route. This trip will carry me, via a ‘short’ 325km detour from the direct route, into Castle Provincial Park and Castle Wilderness Provincial Park, with a stop or two along the way.
The Research and planning
Castle Provincial Park CA-2971 is within the larger Waterton Biosphere Reserve CA-0109, so any activation I can do is automatically a 2fer. Looking more closely at the map, I see Castle Falls CA-2969 is within Castle PP, and that makes it a 3fer. I printed off the park info sheets from POTA.app, studied some satellite imagery, printed some, and bundled it all together. I have been in this area once before, camping in August (and the bugs were awful, yuck!), so at least I knew three things…where I was going, an expectation of cell service (not great off the main roads) and bugs would be minimal to non-existent, given it’s mid-November.
In thinking about a route that needs to get me closer to my hotel and one that increases the number of unique parks I’ve activated, I decided upon Beauvais Lake Provincial Park CA-0632, another 2fer with CA-0109. A satellite view shows easy-peasy road access, and even if the main gates are closed, I’m still on the property, so it will be a valid attempt/activation.
But I also really want to get to the Castle Wildland Provincial Park CA-2972, as it’s never been activated before. And while there is road access through the entire Castle area, I opt to take paved roads as winter driving and gravel (and no cell service) can be unpredictable at best. I’ve also never been to Castle Wildland, but in my mind, I’m imagining views reminiscent of Waterton Lakes or Glacier National Park, given the very close proximity. As it turned out, I wasn’t too far wrong.
I also tacked on one park at the last minute and was happy I did so, even if I could not activate it.