Spring Trip 2010 - Day 23 - Battleford Provincial Park

So here is my second attempt today to get this posting done....it won't work from Live Writer, so am doing it directly on the blog....it is edited a bit, left out some pictures because doing the same thing twice in one day is a bit much!

So back to May 14th when we left the Boreal Forest behind us and finally got into the sort of country we expected to see in Saskatchewan! We traveled down #26 to the little town of St. Walberg ~ where we found a nice little RV park complete with a sani-dump, so made use of that facility before veering south east to the town of Meota.....

Not sure where that was along the route....but took it to show that the roads did get marginally better as we got closer to areas of population.

There was a nice regional park at Meota, situated on Jackfish Lake. The park ran along the shoreline. We stopped here for lunch and I could see shorebirds down there, but the only problem was that right across from the park, there were houses, so felt like we were trespassing in peoples backyards.....

At Meota we cut through a short distance to highway 4 as we would be heading north on #4 for a short ways in order to get to Battleford Provincial Park. Just past where we hit the highway, we found this huge Ducks Unlimited project ~ Jackfish Marsh. This sign was located at the parking lot, which was right beside the road.

This shows the proximity to Jackfish Lake which is just visible there on the horizon....

visitors were invited to 'go for a walk' so we did set out along this track for a while. We found what birds were visible were very 'spooky' and the area was so vast you would need all day to just investigate a small part of it. Since it was warm (20 degrees) we couldn't leave the dogs shut in the truck for very long.....

What was worth commenting on were the numbers of Double Crested Cormorant that flew over while we were there....there must have been hundreds in the vicinity.

From Jackfish Marsh it was only 10 km. or so to Battleford Provincial Park....another absolutely huge Saskatchewan Park...this one with over 400 campsites spread out in several campgrounds, plus a Golf Course, lodge etc. etc. We pulled into what appeared to be the main campground, at least the first one we came to, the gate was open, the water was turned on, the garbage cans were lined....yet we couldn't see any where to register or anyone to ask..... Pulled into a site over looking the lake and set up camp....the above picture shows the trail that appeared to run all along the area.... That is Jackfish Lake still - it is a large lake.

this is looking back the other way. That sandy area is the day use beach, complete with all the amenities....none of it open this time of the year.... I walked along the track a little ways and found....

some Palm Warblers....and got some decent pictures of them as well.....

Here is another look ~ we don't get these guys where I come from (well actually we did once, a couple of years ago, it made the 'rare sighting' list!)

There were lots of these Chipping Sparrows scratching around in the leaf litter near the campsite.....

and while I was sitting enjoying the sun, this Black & White Warbler was going over this tree trunk....these guys act more like nuthatches than warblers!

As the afternoon wore on we were still the only people there and were getting more concerned about whether we were really allowed to be there at all. Finally Ernie walked back to the main entrance - a bit of a hike! and finally found a small notice that said only the 'North' campground was open and that there was self registration in effect there - we of course, were in the 'South' campground. Probably we could have stayed there, probably no one would know or care, but I have a thing about doing the 'right thing'....so we packed up and drove another couple of kilometers to the 'North' campground where we found the self registration station right away and picked a site...

There was no one else here either and nobody ever checked, but at least I felt better that we had paid our money and had a right to be there.....

This campground was a long way from the lake.....

an evening walk revealed not much in the way of birds....but there were Snow Shoe Hare

and this is a good time to talk about one of the things we found different about Saskatchewan Parks. I'm not sure I have it all completely straight, but apparently, in each provincial campgrounds there are a number of these 'Seasonal Camper' sites. Each year, a lottery is held for those who would like one of these sites (there are more who want them than there are sites available, hence the lottery) and then the 'winners' for a fee 'own' that site for that year. If they want they can park their RV there and leave it for the entire season, but even if they aren't there (as was the case here), no one else can use that site, even for a night because it belongs to them.....

There were almost as many of these mauve Violets as there were blades of grass....they were everywhere, especially along the edges of the roads....

and then I was amazed to find these Yellow Violets. Here on the pacific coast, Yellow Violets grow in wet marshy areas...not in dry grasslands! These are 'Yellow Prairie Violets'....

This Goats beard I did recognize as it grows in our grasslands as well....