Woolford Provincial Park

Woolford Provincial Park is nestled at the bottom of a hill amid farmer's fields. After driving through graveled range roads for about 10 minutes from the highway (located 15 km from Cardston; There is an Exxtra Foods located there if you need to grab groceries/supplies/gas), we arrived at this quiant oasis. The area preceding Woolford is flat with scenic wheat fields and farms. Woolford is nestled at the end of the range road in an isolated forest area next to the St. Mary's river. The campsite itself shows signs of regular maintenance and the outhouses were reasonably clean. There was also easy access to garbage bins. We were not disturbed by park rangers once during our stay (I think the maintenance and permit check may be sub-contracted by a management facility, as we saw a truck come by to see our permit and to pick up garbage.) However, they were non-invasive and were low key (some camp sites that I have been to are not like that and they are constantly breathing down our backs about site rules). This was a positive about our stay at Woolford. A truck also comes by at 3:30pm and 7:30pm to sell firewood, which is convenient. However, you can find lots of free firewood next to the barn at the main entrance. This site does get very busy on the weekend so it needs to be booked in advance. However, it is fairly open during the weekdays. There were some short and flat hiking trails leading to the river, and a steep hill at the entrance which is a good workout for bike riders. However, the bike trails are very limited and we wished that there were longer trails to explore (most trails ended after 5-10min of riding). The river and surrounding hills is scenic and the park is full of wildlife (many varieties of birds, rabbits, deer, cattle). If you prefer campsites to seek relaxation and do not plan to do outdoor activities, this is a good site. The only downside is that almost all of the trees in the park have been affected by tree disease and they are half alive. Many of the branches are dead, so it is difficult to find trees to tie a tarp to (for tent campers). Overall, we enjoyed our stay but were sad to see the state of the trees.
9 years ago (08-08-2017)