Riding Mountain National Park

Nov. 2, 2014

Yesterday we stocked up on groceries - real food (fruit! veggies!) feels like such a luxury after living on Timmy’s and gas station coffee - and headed for Riding Mountain.  We’d read some excellent reviews about the Park and were excited to see what all the hype was about.  In true form, we went with no particular plan, no real map, and no cell phone reception – perfect conditions for an adventure if you ask me! (Sorry, Mom and Dad).

First stop: a little village on the edge of the park (where everything was closed for the season, naturally).  We walked along a small pier to check out the water.  It was a pretty little stop, but the patches of snow and ice covered branches were somewhat of a shock to the system (although, “not if you have the right jacket” as J would say, to which I promptly reply with rolled eyes).

Having determined that everything was boarded up for the season, we decided to head to Clear Lake in search of a hiking trail or two.  The trail wasn’t bad, but we opted not to do the entire 9km hike, deciding instead to do some more exploring in other parts of the park.  In our quest to find another trail, we ended up stumbling on something even cooler: a BISON ENCLOSURE!  At this point, we were fairly deep into the park already, but the signs promised us bison in just 18 more kilometers.  Woo hoo! Who could resist?

Hands-down, the bison were the highlight of Riding Mountain.  The “enclosure” turned out to be a large, fenced in area through which one can drive, checking out the herd of bison along the way.  We totally lucked out the first time we drove by (because, you know, obviously we did more than one loop through the enclosure) as we basically drove through the herd, with bison on each side of the road, just a few meters away from the car.  They’re such spectacular and peaceful looking animals to see up close, gently grazing along the side of the road, a real treat to see up close! 

We overstayed our welcome that first loop through the enclosure, and decided to get going after being encircled by a group of 3 bison that were getting pretty excited about our being in the middle of their herd.  After a quick stop at the bison exhibit (lookout) and another drive by the herd, we decided to head out, not overly keen on driving in the dark with the abundance of deer in and around the park (although, despite our best efforts, we still wound up driving the majority of the way to Brandon, MB in the dark.  Fortunately, we steered clear of the deer and got to Brandon in one piece).

Today we’re off to Regina!  For the first time in a while, we have no fixed agenda or planned stops, so we’ll see where the wind blows us once we get there.  Until then, we have a lot more prairie to look at!