En route to the Grasslands! |
An abandoned old church on the side of the road |
The park itself was so different from any
of the other parks we’ve visited. It was
the type of place you catch yourself simultaneously trying to absorb the near
and the far, the horizon that stretches out for miles and miles and the little
details underfoot – the lichen on a rock, or a blade of prairie grass dancing in
the wind. Needless to say, much of my
time was spent desperately trying to commit every last detail to a memory I
know will eventually begin to fade, snapping photos through a camera lense that
seems just too small to truly capture
the vastness.
Shortly after entering the park, we were
greeted by one of two Black-tailed Prairie Dog colonies, the
only remaining wild prairie dogs in Canada.
They’re cheeky little things, popping in and out of their tunnels with
sweet faces that seem to be stuck in a permanent expression of shock or
surprise! In an effort to determine
which one of us was more stubborn – me or the prairie dogs - I spent some time
patiently sitting on a nearby rock, waiting for them to emerge from their
underground homes. The prairie dogs were
pretty good at that game, but we did manage to capture a few sneaky photos.
Our next stop was a little hike along the
ridge of the Frenchman Valley river. We
stopped to take a few photos on the top of the ridge before clambering down to
find the actual hiking trail, once again trying to take it all in.
After our hike, and having reached the end
of the park much earlier than expected, we decided to backtrack and wait out
the remaining hour or so of sunlight in order to try and capture some night
photos of the stars. We drove a short
ways back to the second prairie dog colony, where we parked on the side of the
road and had an impromptu picnic on the hood of the car, snacking on crackers
and cheese. After a few crackers, we decided it was time to put our adventure
shoes to work to chase the setting sun, peering down prairie dog holes, while skirting
around patches of mud and dodging clumps of cacti, hidden in the crevices of
the cracked, arid earth. J captured a
few photos as the sun sank behind the rolling hills before we decided it was
time to turn back to the car [having learned the hard way that chucks and vans
are not the kind of adventure shoes that were made for cacti-trekking ;)]
By the time we got back to the car, the
sky was painted with all the hues of twilight, deep purple and gray with
streaks of pink and orange. We killed
some more time with J playing his acoustic guitar in the middle of an abandoned
park road, me listening, and the moon (crazy bright last night) just overhead,
beginning to peek out from the clouds.
It was kind of perfect, and easily one of my favourite memories from the
day.
Anyways, we (read: J) managed to capture a
few starry night photos, including the big dipper which has been eluding us
since a previous adventure when we decided to chase after northern lights in
Kingston. But, that about brings us full
circle and the perfect place to end for now…
These pictures are AMAZING!
ReplyDeleteAlso you and J are adorable :)
Thank you! Such a beautiful place! Miss you tons xx
ReplyDeleteJust saw the replies to my comments today! Miss you too Andrea! Kingston isn't the same without you :(
ReplyDelete