We just spent two nights on the Prairies, taking the northern Yellowhead Highway route from Winnipeg through Saskatoon and the Battlefords. Here’s a quick little recap of this leg of the trip:
So happy to finally reach Manitoba! Ontario is SO big!
There were no options for free campsites around Winnipeg on popular free camping apps (we’ve been using freecampsites.net and Campendium), but I’d done some research before the trip and knew of a wildlife management area north of the City that I hoped would do the trick for an evening. We went for dinner at a pub in Winnipeg so that we’d arrive near dusk, and then drove north of the city to Grant’s Lake. This is a waterfowl bird refuge that is managed by Ducks Unlimited Canada. The spot was sufficiently tucked away from the road, but like most of the prairies didn’t offer a lot of tree cover.
Drone shot of our campsite at Grant’s Lake
The mosquitos were really bad here, and we thanked our lucky stars for the screens we made for the windows. The evening started out very warm, but cooled down once the sun set. It wasn’t our best sleep, but we were happy to have found a spot! Given the mosquitos we packed up quickly in the morning and enjoyed breakfast later on down the road at a picnic rest stop along the highway.
The mosquitos were hard to capture on camera – this doesn’t do the swarm justice!
We stopped for our routine provincial sign picture mid-day. Somewhere early into our drive in Saskatchewan, a mouse appeared on our windshield wipers. I wish I’d thought quickly and captured a photo, but the little fellow was on the move scrambling across the window and was quickly taken away by the wind. Where he came from and how he got there, we can’t be sure! RIP little mouse passenger.
Last night we treated ourselves to our first paid campsite of the trip. For less than $20, we had access to showers and a quiet parking spot in the tiny town of Maidstone Saskatchewan. We slept really well here, and are feeling rested and ready to tackle the next leg of the journey! We are skipping Alberta for camping this round, as we plan to spend a few days here on our way back to Ottawa to visit friends and family. Next stop: British Columbia!
A quick toothbrush stop at the Alberta provincial border!
More pictures to follow next post – we were fairly negligent photographers through the Prairies. Sorry everyone!
Lots of love,
Liz & Antoine
You were not along posting pictures at each Provincial sign. I did it in 1973 and again with David, Paul, Kim and Jennifer Esposito in 1994. Was great fun and we also cheered and honked our horn when we reached BC
Wow that would be a long trip with kids!!!
Re: The Mouse Welcome to the country. While you were trying to sleep the mouse was enjoying the peace and quiet AND warmth in the engine bay. We’ve had damage on a number of our cars out here at the Pointe. They can chew the wiring so that the car won’t start/run. On my GTI the under hood sound silencer pad has been all torn up. Safe driving. G
Ahh yes, you’ve confirmed our suspicions then – we thought he might have joined us in the night. He managed to stick around for quite a journey down the Hwy though! Almost 4 hours! We did a quick check of Sue and she looks to be ok; hopefully it didn’t chew through anything important!
Oh dear the mouse!!!!!