Day 4 - Prince Albert N.P.

It rained on and off all night and all morning so we had a very leisurely start to the day and decided to explore the park by car.  Surprisingly, this turned into my second biggest picture day.

On the way out we saw some Elk on the side of the road.  There we're some young ones but it was pouring rain so we didn't take too many photos - at least not by my standards.  ;)

We drove up to Hanging Hearts Lake where we hoped to rent a canoe the next day.  On our way back, the sky parted briefly and we did a 3 km walk down to a beach.  We were the only ones out and the girls had a great time swimming on the sandy beach and leaping though the waves.  The bugs weren't even bad.

The trail boasted of a cool fern bed and it was pretty neat.

There were lots of boardwalks too.  Saskatchewan parks doesn't seem to make a lot of trails in the parks, but when they do, they do it right.  All the trails we were one were beautifully maintained.

Coulee showing off her beautiful nose.  It was way worse in person.  I was starting to wonder if we were going to have to go down to Prince Albert and see a vet - but the Benadryl eventually did the trick.

Beach time frolicking.  Lacey was SOOOO sassy!

The stick was stuck in her tooth.  She had us giggling quite a bit as she tried to let go of it.

One of my favourite photos of Coulee, just wish her face looked better!

Did I mention, Lacey was feeling sassy?

We saw this look a lot this trip.

An unposed, action photo of both girls and they are in focus.  I think that is a first!

Teamwork?

Coulee is really starting to put her back into it!

The victor!!

But not for long.

 The waves look huge, but they weren't... at least I don't remember them being that big.

We then drove up to the Narrows and checked out the campground - it was very nice.  We even saw a small bear along the way.  We noticed on the way to the Narrows that none of the day use areas were being used so we stopped at one on the way back and the girls got another chance to swim on the beach.  There was an abandoned beach ball that Lacey quickly popped but enjoyed nonetheless.

On the way back to the campground we decided to do a quick 4 km hike.  We should have stopped while we were ahead.  Lol. The bugs were horrible and we were quite miserable.  We hiked to a tower (that we later realized we could have driven to) and it  didn't even have a particularly nice view.

But our delay back to the campsite paid off.  We saw a fox on the road with a rodent in his mouth.  It was very cool.  He/she walked right past the car and was so close, I should have had a different lens on. The dogs never noticed - which was nice as they usually bark at wildlife.  :)  My camera settings were totally wrong (of course) but I did fluke out with kind of a cool panning shot!

Day 3 - Prince Albert N.P.

Day 3


We got up early to head out on a hike and to beat the heat and "crowds". We hiked on Kinnowa trail to Anglin Lake. It was just us and 1,000's of mosquitos. It was brutal. We sprayed up right before we left and again at the lake. We have marigold spray for the dogs and if it made any kind of impact we sure couldn't tell.  Coulee's nose is so bumpy it looks like she was crossed with a weird ugly alien. You can see it starting in these photos even.

The lake was pretty. There were some loons and a pelican floating around but the lake access was pretty swampy. The girls jumped right in, but it wasn't something we could have waded in.  After about 20 minutes at the lake we headed back into the forest with all the bugs, and headed back to the car. After about 30 minutes I noticed Coulee's back leg was bleeding.  On closer inspection we found a leech. Ugh. She had 5 or so on her. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Lacey didn't swim as  much and from what we can tell she escaped without any hitchhikers.

We got back to the car without seeing a soul. I think I understand why no one in Saskatchewan hikes. Despite being coated in deet, I was still covered in bites. I didn't take many photos - stopping just brought a swarm of mosquitos.  I don't think we've ever hiked as fast as we did along that trail trying to unconsciously "outrun them".

After a much needed nap, Marlin and I headed into town to buy some supplies - including antihistamine for Coulee as she looks just horrible (They didn't have the right stuff though, so I gave her a super small dose and we ended up finding the right kind the next day.  It took three days for her to recover and look semi-normal again.).  Lacey had even more bugs on her but she didn't react the way Coulee does.

The town of Waskasui was pretty touristy. The beach was gorgeous but super crowded. We checked out the two campgrounds in town - one was like a parking lot but the other one was quite nice. 

Day 2 - From Leader to Prince Albert N.P.

The second day started with a tour of Leader's wildlife sculptures.  I'll let their beauty speak for themselves.  I've labeled them so you'd know what you were looking at - in case there was any doubt.

Prickly Pear Cactus, Meadowlark and Prairie Rattlesnake

Ferruginous Hawks

Lynx

There were more, but we just couldn't go on and we decided to cut our losses. You'll notice we didn't bother hauling the dogs out of the car to complete the family photos. Sadly, these were the only photos I took this day as we spent most of it driving.

We got to Prince Albert N.P. in the early evening and set up camp at the Namekus campground.  It only had 15 sites and was steps away from the beach.  Nice place, tonnes of bugs.

Saskatchewan Vacation - Day 1

Sorry it has been so quiet here for a few weeks.  Marlin and I packed up the trailer and the girls and headed off to Northern Saskatchewan for a vacation.  After the first day, we didn't have cell coverage and only caught the occasional wifi.  I'm now going to bore you with 2 weeks worth of vacation photos. I took the most photos on the first day so I promise it will be quick and painless... after today that is. :)

We had no plans for the vacation other than to go north and visit some parks, see some wildlife and maybe hang out in a canoe a little bit.

While driving by the giant metal corn in Taber, I was hit with the urge to get cheesy family photos taken at all the roadside "attractions".  Fortunately for all of us, this urge ended after the second morning.

The only night we had any kind of plan for was the first one - we were going to stop at Saskatchewan Landing P.P. just outside of Swift Current.  When I checked the on-line reservation system though while driving through Medicine Hat, I discovered it was full - as was every other provincial park in the nearby area.  I got out our trusty guide book and started calling.  I had a hit on my second try - in Leader, SK.  Phew.  We were pretty sure the night was going to be a write off, but it turned out it was one of our best.

Near Leader, there are some Sand Dunes in an Ecological Reserve and wow were they cool.  We dropped our trailer at the worst campground ever, grabbed a snack and headed out. The dunes were about 50 km away. It was probably around 7 p.m. when we got there.  As you can see, like most of our Saskatchewan destinations there were crowds everywhere.  ;)

Most of the sand is covered with vegetation but there were areas of open dunes. The road leading up to the area was just sand too.  They were like giant beaches on hills with no water in sight.  We couldn't resist letting the dogs off leash and they had a blast running around.

The girls are there to help show you the scale of the dune.  This was the nearest one, but was not the largest.

 Sorry for all those!  You have no idea how many I've culled out so that I didn't have 40 pictures in this post!  

We left faster than we would have liked but dusk was coming and the coyotes were starting to howl. We saw a bit more wildlife during the drive home.

I've never seen so many pronghorn or young animals as we did this trip.  I've learned that I make a horrible wildlife photographer.  I'm always in such a panic that my settings are wrong and I miss my focus.  I need to work on that!

Tomorrow we reach Prince Albert National Park...