Saskatchewan

When I passed through Saskatchewan on my way to visit Winnipeg, Manitoba I drove out on Highway 16. I was not impressed with the nearly complete lack of rest areas or even Highway shoulders. But the great part about the lack of rest stops in Saskatchewan was that I got to see many of the small towns that I normally would have driven past. I had to stop for rest breaks for myself and the dogs. it was a great opportunity to see rural Saskatchewan up close and personal. Lots of these towns are interesting from a historical perspective and a few still feature the old style wooden grain elevators.

Can’t sell me sweet dreams

One motel tried to sell me Sweet Dreams with an oversized orange lettered sign on it’s roof. I realized then that I have already filled up on Sweet Dreams and indeed am living these. What an amazing opportunity I have had to see this precious country for everything that it is. I really encourage everyone to road trip across the prairies. BC isn’t the only beautiful province. There is so much to love across the Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

I am now going through Saskatchewan on my way back to Alberta, from a wonderful camping trip in Manitoba. I had planned on going on Highway 1 and then bypassing Regina, but I saw 6 tornados forming in that area. The biggest tornado formation was huge, magnificent, black and had lightening forks streaking and orange glowing from within it. When you see something like that you are reminded how insignificant we really are in the great scheme of the planet. Anyway this monster seemed to be heading toward my intended route, so I continued West to Swift Current and up along Highway 4.

Saskatchewan landing: A treasure on Highway 4

Highway 4 in Saskatchewan is a gorgeous secondary highway that follows the trail of the MA etis settlers in Saskatchewan between Swift Current and Battleford. I wound up road weary at Saskatchewan Landing Provincial park where there is a gorgeous Victorian Fieldstone Farmhouse and a big reservoir that needed to be explored. The Park has a well used Equestrian Campground, where horses have large paddocks and are free to run and play when they aren’t going for rides with their humans.

An amazing place that you need to see

My dogs were way too excited about the horse camp, so we continued on to the campground for more run of the mill campers. Wow, these campsites did not disappoint. There are 4 areas in this Saskatchewan campground, and we found a peaceful grassy spot, high in the hills where the ruts from the covered Red River Wagons can still be seen climbing the hills in testament to the first travellers here. These little two wheeled covered wagons were a Metis design, and I thought it was cool that they were designed to float with wheels that could be removed to convert the wagons into a floating raft so they could cross the river easily. The more you know…

The area adjacent to the campsites is rich with grasses, cactus, wildflowers and sage brush.