Yukon Trip 2009 - Day 32 - Pierre Grey P. Park

June 23rd we were up fairly early and headed into Grande Prairie to get an oil change done on the truck.....after 1,500 km of dusty gravel road, a new air filter was in order as well! That done, and a top up of the fuel tank, we were on the road once again, headed south on #40 again......This highway takes you from the flat, Peace River country, to the foothills of the Rockies as it ends at Hinton, Alberta.....

The trip was uneventful, we have seen a lot of wildlife on this road some times, but not this trip. Stopped in Grande Cache for lunch and continued on until we came to Pierre Grey Provincial Park....and as it was getting about that time....drove in to take a look.

This was a lovely area! I'm not sure if there are a number of smaller lakes or one large very convoluted one. There were at least 4, I think 5, different campsites in the area, each on it's own lake or part of a lake, with walk ways all along the shorelines and interconnecting the various campsites

We decided it was definitely worth spending the night at.....in fact is an area that bears further investigation another time! The above was the view from our campsite.

I took this picture, mainly to show the Saskatoon Bushes in full flower - remember we had just left Saskatoon Island which was further north, but obviously at a lower elevation, as the Saskatoon bushes there had long since flowered and the fruit was full size although not yet ripe.

Ernie and Shantz followed one of the trails and came to this unique sign.......

this was the remains of a trading post, run by Pierre Grey, for many years in the late 1800's early 1900's

this was one of the boat launch areas....(electric motors only), besides this wharf there were picnic tables and a fish cleaning station....the whole park looked very fresh and clean and very well looked after.

In the evening we walked along the shoreline towards another of the camping areas....saw this mother duck with just one baby (I think she is a Blue Wing Teal), there were also some Yellowlegs Sandpipers in the same general area.....

this trail and walkway led to a smallish island....there was a brand new arched bridge laying just up the road, so it looked like this bridge, which was a bit worn was about to be replaced.....

here we were on the island and looking out at a portion of the lake.....

at the very tip of the little island there was a large old dead tree with this very large, occupied, Osprey nest - it looked like it has been used for many years.

coming back, in a particularly dark spot, we spooked this Spruce Grouse....I tried a picture without a flash and several with a flash....this was the best of the bunch.....

and a final evening look at the lake........

Campground fee: $20 Total distance traveled to date: 7,445 km.