The Cypress Hills rise up about 600m above the prairie, with lodgepole pine trees and a.o. deer, elk, moose and cougars. A good destination for our last trip of this year!

Monday September 21

Nico came out of nightshift this day, so he still had to sleep for half a day before we could head out to Cypress Hills. We hoped to get there before dark, but we also had to pick up my bike at the bike shop and get gas before we could hit the highway. Around 6 we were getting close to Swift Current and we decided to stop there for the night. We rolled into the Trail Campground there, a nice campground right next to the town. As it was my birthday, I had been looking forward to a nice dinner at the resort on Cypress Hills, but I had to settle for a nearby Houston Pizza

Tuesday September 22

We had a nice and relaxed night, and after a chat with the lady (Wies) in the campground office, who moved here from Holland in ‘54, we went for groceries in town and then continued our trip to the Centre Block of Cypress Hills. Only two campgrounds were still open and we picked a nice spot on the Rainbow Campground. The weather was gorgeous, we just relaxed there and barbecued. Then we got a visit by a very curious buck deer. He came over to our site, dared to come close and sniffed Tess (almost nose to nose) and startled when she hissed at him He walked around the cats and towards Nico by the picnic table. Then he looked at the cats again and figured he’d better get out of here We weren’t sure if he was just curious or trying to intimidate us (as it’s rutting season), it was probably a mix of both

Wednesday September 23

What a great place to wake up. Not only is it a nice campsite and is the weather great, but the pine trees also smell so good. In the afternoon we went for a little bike ride in the park. We went to the small lake (Loch Leven) and biked around it, then went to the visitor centre and the restaurant at the Cypress Hills Resort Inn. We went in for coffee, but ended up having supper already Nice people, nice building, nice food!

Thursday September 24

A very lazy day today, the only acitivity today was a short hike over the Woodland Trail from our campground to the resort (and back), and Nico’s firewood chopping

Friday September 25

We had breakfast at the resort and felt like going for a drive (the Centre Block Auto Tour). Of course we wanted to see wildlife and we knew our chances were much smaller during the day than in the evening, but we didn’t want to wait. It was a very scenic drive, at first over a bumpy gravel/cobblestone road past the boy scout’s camp, then a paved part past two truly spectacular viewpoints and the rest was over pretty good gravel roads over the fescue prairie on top of the Cypress Hills plateau. Those viewpoints were Lookout Point and Bald Butte, where you have stunning views over the prairie to the north. You can see Maple Creek and even a bit of the Great Sand Hills that are 100 km to the north! From Bald Butte you can also see the Gap (the valley between the Centre and West Blocks) and the West Block itself.
At the end of our drive we went to the Highland Trail and hiked around the ponds in that little valley there. No moose to be seen, but gorgeous scenery with the fall colours.
On the campground we started a fire and cooked on there for a change. We decided to winterize the motorhome after this trip, so this was the last camping evening for this season!

Saturday September 26

We could’ve stayed one more night, but decided to leave today, so we’d have some time at home too, before we had to work on Monday again. We left at 9.15am, grabbed a coffee at Caroline’s in Maple Creek (but we both didn’t like our coffees much) and I made some sandwiches once we were on the highway again. After another brief stop in Swift Current (for gas and better coffees ) we kept going until we got home around 3. After cleaning and winterizing the motorhome, we’ll be hibernating for the winter and regularly looking at the pictures of all the great trips we have made this first season!!

album motorhoming! 09/21 – 09/26 Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park (Centre Block, SK) (120 pictures)

Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park – Rainbow Campground

One of the many campgrounds in the Centre Block, in a gorgeous forest setting. Rainbow was the last one with services to be open after the main season, it was 1-1.5 km away from the core area. We picked a full service site as they seemed a bit more level than most other spots. Despite the extra services in the park being closed (grocery store, cafe, food etc) we still had to pay the full rate of $26 (normal provincial rate). We didn’t have to pay park entrance anymore (but we had a year pass anyway). The only extra service in the park that was still open (besides the visitor centre) was the Cypress Hills Resort Inn with its (good) restaurant. We did not check out the small toilet buildings on the campground, only the service centre (with toilets and showers) that was very nice and very clean! Beautiful park, just a bit too hilly to bike much.

Nederlandse tekst “motorhoming! – Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park (Centre Block, SK)” »

over a week ago we were at Buffalo Pound, also check out the update of Waskesiu, in the post below!!

September 11-13

For this short weekend we decided to stay close to home and go to the Buffalo Pound Provincial Park above Moose Jaw. For pictures of the south eastern part of the park (incl. the bison herd), see the pictures of the family visit. We camped on the Maple Vale campground and just stayed there, we didn’t even bike. It was busier than we thought it would be (season kind of ends with last week’s Labour day), but it was fun as we got to chat with other campers quite a bit, esp. our neighbour Gord. We camped by a dried up creek where we saw a least chipmunk several times. The campground is close to the lake and lies in the coulees, very pretty. Most of these electric sites on grassy terrain with some trees are pretty spaceous. On Saturday night we had a fire until after midnight, heard the coyotes yepping and howling and enjoyed the company of Gord and his wife Lorraine. On Sunday we spent some time in the park near the campground, where we sat by the lake and made pics, before heading back home again.

album 09/11 – 09/13 motorhoming! – Buffalo Pound Provincial Park, SK (94 pictures)

Buffalo Pound Provincial Park – Maple Vale campground

grassy sites with some trees, and bushes all around. Beautifully located in the coulees, the sites are fairly open, but very spaceous. At the end of the campground there is a non-serviced section with some smaller but more private sites. The Service Centre has washrooms and showers, but seemed in need of some updates and cleaning. The small toilet buildings were closed for the season. We had a shoulder season rate of $18 for electricity (normally $22). There’s a store close-by that was supposed to be closed for the season, but still opened up in the weekend to get rid of some stock.

Nederlandse tekst “motorhoming! – Buffalo Pound Provincial Park” »

A bit late, but here’s the update about our trip to Waskesiu almost 4 weeks ago!

Wednesday August 26th

All year ‘everybody’ kept telling us that we should go up north to Waskesiu. So finally we did! It’s about 6 hrs for us with the motorhome, plus we stopped by the Highway 16 Jct for gas and to stretch our legs, and we very briefly visited Caroline in Prince Albert. Close to 8pm we arrived in Waskesiu, just before dusk. We immediately fell in love. People kept saying how beautiful it is up here, but nobody said it was THIS beautiful! Even the campground for long trailers that seemed like a parking lot on Google Earth with only few trees is gorgeous! Some parts are very open, but we picked a spot between huge pine trees and bordering trees and bushes. At dusk we walked to the lake, just in time for some past-sunset pics. Stunning colours!!! We walked to town along the lakeside trail in front of gorgeous cabins, watching carefully for wildlife (elk and black bears frequent the area) to avoid surprise encounters. We visited the grocery store and walked back over the main road. We had to cross a big part of the Trailer Park campground to our spot, and it was inevitable to walk through some dark areas. We kept talking to let possible wildlife know we were there, but still we almost literally bumped into an elk in that darkest part!! She was only a few metres away when I spotted her on the left side of the path, so I startled and back away behind a picnic table on the right side. But she wasn’t bothered by us, so she kept grazing and we walked around her to go to our own motorhome without any more surprises. Not the smartest move to walk around after dark, but it was worth the hike after 6 hrs of driving

Thursday August 27th

Partly cloudy and not as warm as it was supposed to be, but still nice to bike to town after breakfast. We again took the trail in front of the beachfront cabins (wow…) and had a latte at the Beach House. In the afternoon we chilled at the campside. We were allowed to move to a more forested part of the campground that you could only reserve for RVs up to 27′, if we’d see a place we’d think we’d fit in. It was a beautiful part, and we should fit in several of those spots, but we’re happy at the more open part too (more to see I guess), so we’re staying put. In the bushes by our motorhome I already spotted a deer today!
For supper we went to the Asian Station in town, where we also saw deer and afterwards we went to the golf course. We were only in a small corner of it, but there we saw deer and elk together (both moms with their offspring). We kept our distance in passing around them, but at some point the small deer both came towards where we were and passed us very close by. Just amazing. We left the golf course again to get an ice cream and watch the sunset on the breaker by the beach! After that we went back to the campground and watched a movie.

Friday August 28th

We walked to the store by the cabin park on the main road for some fresh rolls for breakfast and hung out at the campsite, where we saw deer walk by again. Later in the afternoon we decided to go for a drive. We took the route along the north side of the lake, the Kingsmere Road. A well maintained gravel road where you can often see wildlife, but we didn’t see any (maybe because it was the middle of the day). Still a beautiful drive though! We stopped by the Waskesiu River, the Waskesiu Marina and the Hanging Heart Marina.
At night we had a meal in town and biked to the golf course again afterwards. This time we found the elk herd including the bull! Leaving the golf course we caught the gorgeous colours just after sunset – I don’t think I’ve ever seen them as beautiful as in Waskesiu!

Saturday August 29th

In the morning we had deer walking by, again! We also were entertained by playing squirrels again, so there was no shortage of wildlife. Even wildlife that you don’t want: musquitos. We had to spray generously and every two hours to prevent being attacked by tons of those critters. I even sprayed the cats a few times, didn’t want them to get lots of musquito bites in the face or something either.
In the afternoon we biked around on the campsites (Trailer Park and Beaver Glen which is way deeper into the forest) and into town. Time for some last pics and then a BBQ at our site. And again, sigh, we had deer walking by! The cats were very intriged by them

Sunday August 30th

We took the beautiful scenic highway out of the national park again (didn’t spot any wildlife though) and continued our way back home on the highway 2. We visited Astrid’s family in Wakaw and had a very relaxing break there. The rest of the drive back home seemed very long, we had supper at the 16 Jct. and around 8pm we finally arrived home. A long drive… but well worth it!

album 08/26 – 08/30 motorhoming! – Prince Albert National Park (Waskesiu, SK) (180 pictures)

Trailer Park Campground, Waskesiu, Prince Albert National Park

Pull through sites (27′+ can only reserve this campground) on grass, partly very open en partly with huge pine trees. The least natural campground (Beaver Glen is in a fairly dense forest), but still gorgeous and closest to town. There is also a part though, that’s more forested and the sites (little bays) are smaller and more private. Surrounded by bushes and trees, and cabins and trees (everywhere you look in town, there are many trees…). Frequented by deer and occasionally elk and black bears. We had full hook up for $34 and a NP parks pass is needed. The Service Centre was modern enough and clean, great! I think it’s about 1 km to town, with shops, few restaurants, hotels etc. The only national park in SK, and the most beautiful one!!

Nederlandse tekst “motorhoming! – Prince Albert National Park (Waskesiu, SK)” »