Welcome to Grasslands National Park - Happy Solstice

Day 7 - Longest Day of the year.  Solstice is here.  Finally!  It is always such a bitter-sweet day.  It seems that since December we have longed for the long days of sunshine and have always kept Solstice in our sights.  Now that the big day is here it is oh so easy to slip into the negative by thinking that the days are getting shorter from here on out.....  Let's not go there.

On to the days activities.  We are here in this remote part of southern Saskatchewan to visit and enjoy the relatively new (since the 1990's), Grassland's National Park.  The park consists of 2 blocks of land.  The West Block is where we explored today.  The East Block is smaller but still some 600 square kilometres.  All roads are gravel and very narrow.  Care must be taken when driving in the park to avoid being a hood ornament on an oncoming Ford F350.  There are many short hills that peak with a cattle guard, called Texas bridges here, and zero visibility for oncoming traffic.  Driving is an act of faith in other drivers, who I imagine have faith in me.

We started late today and did not enter the northeast entrance to the park until around 9:30.  Once in the park we encountered numerous birds that took time to record and identify.  3 hours later we had travelled about 30k.  This was going to take a lot longer that we had planned.  Good thing we have 3 days to explore the park.  We saw plenty of birds, a few Bison and very few people.  What I would call a perfect day.  Of course the scenery was drop-dead gorgeous.  I cannot begin to describe what we saw.  Wide open expanse, grasslands, some until recently farmed for a few generations, hills and valleys, much of which has seen little if any human presence and that sky!  Show me anywhere that has a sky like that.  Wow!  Finally, the views are endless due to no pollution.  I suppose the dust can be heavy later in the year but right now even with the wind the visibility was excellent.

Near the centre of the West Block is the Frenchman River Campground.  Like everywhere this is a wide open piece of land.  The tenting area is about 5 acres of fenced pasture.  The fence is to keep the Bison out of the tenting area.  There is a few RV sites, some with electrical hookup.  This would be a great place to camp but be prepared for the wind.  Also, there is NO water.

Just a bit more on the birds we saw.  We picked up 2 bird species for our Life List.  These are:  Brown Thrasher and while I have seen Ring-necked Pheasant before it is a lifer as of when I started my life list.  Other non-life list birds today include; Lark Bunting, Western Meadowlark, Vespers Sparrow, Northern Harrier, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Nighthawk, Horned Lark, Wilson's Phalarope, Willet..... and more totalling 34 species for the day.

We returned to to the small town of Val Marie around 5:30.  We are staying in this small town as it is close to the park.  We have a terrific B&B called Sky Story.  Diana owns the place.  It is wonderful and so is Diana.  Diana fixed us a beautiful breakfast this morning of fresh fruit, goat cheese, veggie omelette, bagels, fresh jam, coffee and tea.  Yummy and nutritious.  If you are in this part of the world check her website for vacancy.  Note that it is modest older home that is neat as a pin, very clean and comfortable.  You will need a minimum of 2 days to see the park so book at least 2 nights.  We are here for 3.

Factoid about the small towns of the prairie.  As you enter these towns there is often a sign stating "We are the proud home of......fill in the name of the NHL hockey player or coach.  Val Marie is the proud home of Bryan Trottier who played on 5 Stanley Cup teams in the 1980's.  When we came though Climax, Sk. that town had a sign claiming Willie Dejardin, former coach of the Vancouver Canucks as their own.  Seems most towns out here are home to someone who made it to the bigs.  Funny thing though, no one claims politicians.  Huh....just saying'....

That's a wrap for today.  Will sleep good again tonight.  I will post about Day 5 and 6 when I can.  Some good stories to tell for those days....

Here are a few picks from today.  Enjoy!  Oh, by the way, you can check out our Instagram for photos as well.  Search for bmckee and you should be able to find us.  I am using our new iPhone 8 for our non-bird photos.  I hope they look ok.  Let me know if they come out okay on your end.  Thanks!

Dana in one of the big red chair that were placed on an overlook at the southeast corner of the park.  Seems tacky but it actually seems to work.

Westen Meadowlark

Taken from the red chair overlook.  This is Big Sky country!!!