Now back to the trip. Thursday May 20th, which I have figured out was the 29th day of the trip (it was switching back and forth from different types of blog entry that confused me)....we made the decision to leave the 'west block' of Cypress hills and head to the 'Centre Block'....one of the reasons for this was the fact that we had been catching bits and pieces of weather reports from somewhere in Montana that were talking about 'flash flood warnings' and 'thunderstorms' and 'cold fronts' - so we thought it would be a good idea to get away from these 'impassable when wet roads and onto some pavement....and of course we still had the worry of the upcoming long weekend. We also slept in so got a later than start than planned....but finally got on the road, back to Maple Creek where we topped up the fuel tank and then south to the Center Block....after wending our way past stores, a gas station, swimming pool, lodges (this is a provincial park? not like the ones we're used to) we finally found the entrance to the campgrounds.....
and joined a number of other units (most from Alberta) in the parking lot at the campground office....which didn't open until noon....as it turned out...the Campground itself had only opened this day. Like all parks in Saskatchewan, they did have year round camping, but the campground that was used for that, as of this day became the 'tenting' campground, so the few units that had been there had had to move into one of the regular campgrounds...so those people were also waiting to register. While waiting, we learned that a number of campgrounds in southern Alberta weren't going to be open for this long weekend as they were all so far behind thanks to the snow. We also learned that the Alberta part of Cypress Hills was now privatized and the general opinion was that no one would go back there....so scratch that idea!
While we sat waiting, I was shocked to see a mouse run up the windshield and then sit on the roof of the truck! I don't know where it came from. Whether we had brought it with us or if it had just shown up. I do know I was very relieved when it finally scampered off and ran into the bush!
I'm afraid these two pictures got reversed (I miss my 'Live Writer')....this is part of the paved walking/cycling path that runs from the campground down to a lake in the 'civilized' part of the park ....we'll take this walk in a moment....
And this is our campsite. We had only paid for one night, but after seeing the nice size, the fact that it was quite isolated so even if the campground was full we would be OK, we'd already made up our minds that we would go back in the morning and pay for 3 more nights to get us through the long weekend.....so with that decision made, we set off exploring....
The entrance to the paved path was just across the street from our site, there was a lot of bird activity in the area.....this was one of several Yellow Rump Warblers....this one being an 'Audubon' the variety that is commonly seen in my neck of the woods back west of the Rockies, but not normally seen east of them...like here..
More of those Swainson's Thrush that we've been seeing everywhere.
A bit further along the trail, which was in denser forest....there was this amphitheater and a snow bank....left from that snowfall that was rec'd a couple of weeks before....
A rather 'demented' looking Shantz, in the snow....
This path branched off and led to another campground. Apparently this area was once burned and replanted which is the reason why all the pine trees are the same size and age...making for a rather eerie landscape, particularly since there wasn't much under growth....
The path crossed a road here....so took a picture of one of the banners....how many provincial parks do you know that have banners on the streets? not to mention hydro and telephone wires? Not here in B.C. they sure don't! Not like this anyway.
Continuing on we came across a few more snowy areas....
Just before the end of the path, we found this Three Toed Woodpecker....
The path ended at this little lake. There were cottages lining the road opposite the lake and appeared to be almost a subdivision of sorts on the opposite shore - we never did get there to check it out.
This Double Crested Cormorant was perched over the water....
Bird life was everywhere in this spot - here a male Mallard
a female Red wing Blackbird....there were a lot of Red wing Blackbirds in the bulrushes
looking the other way on the lake, back towards the main entrance, this was a swimming beach....
There was a Red necked Grebe on a nest at the edge of the beach.
Lots of Brown Headed Cowbirds....
headed back along the path now, this trail branched off...I think heading to the 'tent' campground...never did get a chance to follow it....
When I was almost back to the campground, this Red breasted Nuthatch flew down and proceeded to take a bath almost at my feet!
The bushes beside our campground were full of these Least Flycatchers....
After supper, I started out to go for an evening walk and these White tail Deer bounded out across the road right ahead of me....
This one stopped and stared, beside the paved path.....
I walked up into another loop of the campground where there were more of those Least Flycatchers....
More mixed up pictures....this showed our campsite from further down the campsite road...you can see that this section was quite forested.....
This Pink sided Junco was perched on one of the campsite markers.....
This is a more open section of the campground with lots of Aspen trees.... So we went to bed that night, relieved that we had a solution for the long weekend and glad to see the park wasn't quite the zoo we had feared it might be.
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