Oh, the Places We'll Go

Day 22 - Friday June 9/17
(This post compiled and posted on the evening of Sunday June 11th.)

Today's post will be a photo journal of our touring adventure in the Grasslands National Park in SW Saskatchewan - a huge national treasure! For more information about the Park itself, the interested reader could 'google' it😀 It is well worth reading about and knowing about!

Both our drive across the southern part of the province of SK, and around and through Grasslands National Park, on 'blue highways' (very narrow, no shoulders, very bumpy, and a lot of broken pavement), and 'gray highways' (dirt roads, often in better shape than the blue highways, but kicking up clouds of dust when dry) has really helped us to be more aware of and feel more connected to this part of our nation of Canada - much more so than if we had been just motoring through on the Trans-Canada! The mixed and varied vast expanses of land and sky, the flat stretches with seemingly limitless horizons, the large and small sloughs, the gently rolling hills, and the moraines, ridges, buttes, valleys and coulees of the badlands topography are truly awesome - awe-inspiring. Have I said enough?

Oh no - one more awe-inspiring feature/event: on Thursday night after we had set up, had supper, and were getting ready for bed, the wind continued to gain speed and strength - we are sure gusting up to 50-70 km/hr. in fact the wind was so strong it moved the wheel chocks out from under the trailer tires! After we had gone to sleep in our trailer that rocked and swayed in the wind, we were awoken by lightning and thunder. We stepped outside and felt virtually overwhelmed - small and insignificant - in face of the prairie storm that surrounded us - all the way around we watched both sheet and bolt lightning, as the sound of thunder grew closer and closer. Suddenly, almost instantly, the wind dropped off and we were in the eye of the storm, and the rain began - gently at first and then with increasing strength. We went inside and lay in bed, falling asleep again as we watched the lightning and listened to the rain on the trailer. (unfortunately, no photos!)

GrasslandsNational Park's main feature is explanation of and exposure to the 'prairies grasslands ecology', primarily through and 'Ecotour' by vehicle through and around the park. The following photo montage is from our experience of the 'Ecotour':

The 'Ecotour' - note particularly the winding, convoluted course of the Frenchman River.
The water flowing in this river is used by farmers in areas surrounding the Park for irrigation.
There is a large community-based irrigation project in Val Marie, north of the Park

A remnant from the past - one of the last 'frontier ranchers' in the area

When ya gotta go, ya gotta go!
Even at an abandoned ranch!

The stable at the ranch, built into the hillside

unfortunately, the wooden superstructure was burned out in a prairie grass fire a few years ago

Where the stable was dug into the hillside

Prairie dogs burrow and scurry all over the place, but tend to live in large colonies

Prairie dog mounds in the colony

Classic "on watch" prairie dog posture

A tipi camping area at the "Two Trees/Frenchman River Trail" site,
where we went for a fabulous "riparian" hike

Look hard - you'll see the Loggerhead Shrike we watched for a time as it protected its nest

Frenchman River - eroding it's way deeper into the valley - this river used to be the size of the Amazon!

Frenchman River - and an intrepid voyageur!

The tipi campsite area from where we hiked to the river

Another intrepid voyageur

The river is VERY VERY winding

Our picnic lunch site

The view during our picnic lunch

A well-deserved rest after lunch!

Purebred Plains Bison were re-introduced to Grasslands in
2006,after a 120 year absence from the Prairies,
from captive stock preserved and bred in Montana.