Day 19 - Tuesday June 6/17
(Not posted until evening of Wednesday June 7, due to technical difficulties with loading the photos.)
The day started well with eggs, bacon, toast and coffee breakfast - outdoors, in the midst of a flock of goldfinches which were feasting on the dandelion seeds surrounding us. What a treat!!
Left camp at 10:30, 17C, sunny, partly cloudy, and breezy, for a day of gentle touring in the area, primarily focussed on visiting the St. Victor Petroglyphs Historic Provincial Park.
The Willow Bunch Regional Park - Jean-Louis Légaré Campground where we are staying is nestled into a coulee that runs down into a broad valley (photos)
As the plaque says, the cemetery was closed in 1918 after the Spanish Flu epidemic - many of the deaths recorded on the plaque were in i918 (photos)
(Oh - we did find the trailer sewage dump site)
Off we went on a 20km trek on the typical prairie dirt highway to St. Victor - which turned out to be a wee hamlet also called Beau Village on the signs entering town. Unfortunately, the Petroglyph Park “Monarch Lodge” information centre was locked up, but we read all of the information boards that were available outside the building (photos)
Beside the information centre was an old church that has been come a museum - but unfortunately that too was not open (photos)
After reading the information boards, we proceeded the last 2&1/2km up to the petroglyphs site on a rocky outcropping high above the coulees and valley below. It was difficult to actually see most of the 340 petroglyphs - although we did see clearly a human face. The petroglyphs (rock carvings) by indigenous persons travelling through this area have been date back to some 500 to 1800 years (photos)
It was tremendously moving to be in this remote and wild place, imagining the peoples who had move through here prior to the arrival of settlers. The wind was blowing wildly - strong gusts of 50-60 km/hr almost blowing us off our feet. A pair of ravens gliding on the wind as they hunted seemed to be watching over the site and us. From atop the rock outcrop we had great views of the surrounding countryside (photos)
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| Panoramic view from the cliff where the petroglyphs are on the rock outcrop |
We sat in the truck out of the wind and enjoyed the views and the soaring ravens as we ate our picnic lunch - and listened to classic rock on a Regina radio station!!
We took a different, longer route back to the campground (but on paved roads!). On the way we came across a cairn memorializing a pioneer school in the area. (photos)
The plaque noted that when the school opened in 1916, of the 13 pupils, 2 spoke English, and the others Norwegian, Swedish or French!! So much for concerns some have these days about immigration to Canada - we are a nation of immigrant families!!
We are perched on the edge of the “Big Muddy Badlands” of Saskatchewan (more tomorrow after we take a guided tour of the area). But already we can see the widely varied topography of “the prairies” (photos)
Upon arriving back at the campground, we came across a plaque we had previously missed - again commemorating Jean-Louis Légaré, and noting his role with repatriating Sitting Bull and 200 Sioux to the U.S. in 1881 (photos)
After a nap we enjoyed supper ‘al fresco’ of bbq pork ribs, rice and broccoli!
Looking forward to our guided tour of “The Big Muddy Badlands” tomorrow - with our own private tour guide, a woman by the name of Tilly who grew up in this area and is reportedly over 90 years of age.
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