Storyline: Westward Ho!
The idea of boondocking at Moose Jaw’s information centre was thwarted by the extreme heat and our propane griddle malfunction.
There is a huge gravel parking lot behind the “big moose” where one can stay for a few days. But with 33°C+ outside it was cooking close to 50°C inside.
To survive the heat, we’d need to run the AC off the generator all night. We don’t feel comfortable running a generator during wild camping near other people and or communities. And we both needed some cooling and a good long shower.
So we checked into a hotel. The beauty of heaving a camper van, rather than a travel trailer or larger motorhome, is that you can park everywhere, including in a hotel parking lot.
We then wandered to the information centre, which was impressive.
Tons of displays on the agriculture, crops and farm equipment. Took a few photos with the Moose and the Canadian air forces plane, inquired about nearby restaurants and cafés.
There were 3 cafés in the city centre close to each other that serve espresso and other espresso-based coffees. The family restaurant Streets just around the next corner is good. In the centre there are many restaurants. This is what the young lady from the information centre told us.
What attractions would be interesting to visit? The tunnels downtown, and the homestead some 15 km south. Didn’t do either. When we reached the tunnels next day, we found out that one had to schedule guided tours for each of them. Not cheap. The one we thought could be interesting was too late for our schedule. There were school kids touring. It was noisy and echoey.
We had breakfast included at the hotel, but their coffee was as bad as in any other hotel in Canada. Unlike in Europe, espresso is unheard of. The recommendations about downtown cafés were welcome and their coffee was good.
Our main reason to stay here though was to find out why the griddle didn’t work. Was it the propane supply or the griddle itself? Still a long way in front of us and will need it. If you remember from the previous post, it stopped working for no reason (much later it’ll start working for the same reason, i.e. we still don’t know why – A). To make sure that it wasn’t the griddle, Alex bought a small propane bottle from Canadian Tire store across from the hotel. The griddle worked with it. Thus, it was our propane tank, connection or a hose. It was really hot the 2 days we were there and almost impossible to stay out in the heat and work under the van. We called a few repair places we found, but no one wanted to look into it. It had to be a specialized shop. They didn’t do propane.
Long story short, we enjoyed the AC in the hotel, the recommended cafes, strolling in the park and more. Downtown was far from our hotel and too hot to walk. No sidewalks either. But parking Doranya in a city can be a problem.
We were glad when the lady in the information centre recommended the free parking along Athabasca Street by the park. Failing to fix the propane supply to the griddle, we stock our fridge with food we could eat without needing the it. The freezer was also full of cooked food, so we’d be OK with just a microwave until we find the problem.
Off to Grasslands National Park.
Long stretches of straight roads, farmland and farm structures as everywhere we’ve been so far in Saskatchewan. Alex has been driving since we entered the prairies, or sooner sometime before we left Ontario, so he thought it was time for me to take the wheel again.
To be honest I enjoy observing the surroundings and taking photos from the passenger seat. But it would be good if Alex could take some video while entering Grasslands. There are not many places on these roads one can stop.
We reached a town named Gravelbourg and parked in front of what seemed to be a French school.
French in Saskatchewan? Who knew.
We walked across to a fast-food place and had lunch. Later on, I did some research on the name of this little town.
Apparently, it is a French speaking community. Since founded in 1907 Gravelbourg has been an important centre for the Roman Catholic Church and French-Canadian culture.
According to Parks Canada “Between 1906 and 1926 more than ten thousand Canadian citizens, many of whom were then living in the United States, answered the call of Reverend Louis-Pierre Gravel to make their homes on the broad plains of Saskatchewan where they built towns and established French-speaking cultural institutions.” Thus the name Gravelbourg.
After lunch I took on driving towards the Grasslands. I wasn’t so lucky to experience these straight long stretches of good Saskatchewan roads.
As soon as I turned away from the town the roads became narrow and chewed up.
Part were gravel and at one point there was a road recently covered with tar and gravel. The noise of little tarred stones hitting Doranya was painful.
The entire van was covered with the tarred stones and it will take to Medicine Hat, AB when we could wash it. It also rained, although not a lot on the way. The rain though cooled the temperatures.
Eventually I got us to the Grasslands Information Centre at Val Marie. Gave up on driving afterwards. After registration we had to turn back, drive to the park entrance and then 23 km to the French Valley West Block campground.
We received a lot of interesting information and instructions at Visitor’s centre. The rule of the thumb for a bison: Lift your thumb up your outstretched arm. If you can cover the bison across you are safe.
If you see parts of it slowly back off. Listen for a rattle of a rattlesnake, stop and locate then snake then slowly move away from it.
Once we enter the park there are 7 lookouts and interpretive sites on the way with a small place to pull away from the narrow gravel road. All were well mapped. Stopped at the Prairie Dogs colony.
It was amazing experience to hear them all chatting and see them jumping around. They didn’t seem bothered by us or Doranya.
Aside from birds no other animals were waiting to greet us.
Arrived at the camp late afternoon. It looked very different from any other we have been.
A small campground, wide open, but sites were big enough for everyone’s privacy. There were at least 2 European campers in.
One was a couple from Denmark who had rented a Beyond like ours at Halifax. The others were a Swiss family with two little kids in their own Citroen camper van. Isn’t it amazing when one can do this with small kids.
At the campground registration/information desk they told us that there were no bison at the area at that time of the year. Same for the snakes. There were lots of birds though. Next morning, I saw what probably was swift fox walking up the hill over our site. It rained in the night and part of the morning.
The birds were amazing. We managed to snap a few shots from the window or while walking around.
There were barn swallows nesting at the visitor’s centre building and all over.
We saw a common nighthawk minding its business on the nearby fence and ignoring us.
Loggerhead shrikes were in the bushes next to our site. Mind you these were the only bushes at the campground.
In the morning after the rain eastern kingbirds were in front of our window. Many other birds that we could not identify.
Sprague’s pipit, many sparrows, etc.
Golden hour on our first day was spectacular. The hills became suffused with yellow and gold light, but just for a short time. So short that Alex couldn’t get move from his spot quickly enough to see them before the light was gone.
Red & blue clouds were hanging over the riverside and Doranya’s left window.
After the night rain, the grasslands were teeming with life. Little cacti,
many flowers of which we knew little to nothing.
Even the wild rose, provincial flower of neighbouring Alberta, was around.
From the “Flowers in bloom checklist” we think we saw scarlet mallow,
narrow-leaved milk-vetch,
Missouri milk-vetch and others we couldn’t identify. Lichens on the many exposed stones and rocks were also colourful and calling for attention.
On a morning walk Alex talked to a gopher (couldn’t elicit an intelligent response though, but it may have thought the same about me…it sounded pretty angry – A). We posted it on Facebook and Tim, his nephew, suggested that it was mother yelling at her kids. I agree.
The decaying Larson homestead was nearby with a short hike.
The rain was holding off and we could walk through the valley to the red chairs in the afternoon. But is wasn’t for long. Severe thunderstorms were on the horizon, so we had to exit the next day. Writing this ten days later I still think the Grasslands were my favorite.
Perhaps it can get very hot in the summer, but when we were there temperatures were cool and pleasant.
The skies, as in most of out travel through the prairies were painted with clouds, sometime threatening, sometimes just decorating our views.
The vastness, the horizon at the distance, the quietness, the tiny plants, the invisible life,
the tales of the people that have tried to settle and farm this poor soil and rough topography, the howling winds.
Having been through a few national and many provincial parks the information provided at the Grasslands was by far the best.
Seems that Saskatchewan loves and cares about their history. Their information centres (at Val Marie and at the French Valley west camp) had many pamphlets on the history, geology, paleontology, archeology, their ecosystem, wildlife, birding 101, flowers in bloom checklist,
native plants, lichens,
and then come trails and activities, guide to responsible wildlife viewing and photography… the list goes on and on.
And if you ask the staff, they will help you with anything, including identifying the subject on your photo. I am writing this from another National Park, Lake Louise, where we can’t even get information on how to book a shuttle to the lake, where is the potable water or anything at that matter, without searching for a knowledgeable person. But there are many commercial facilities, expensive stores, etc.
One thing though, we could not see the dark starry skies at Grasslands. As in many other places. It wasn’t our time.
We’ll leave with a nostalgic feel for the things we didn’t see and couldn’t do.
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