9 August

Waskesiu Lake at Prince Albert National Park in Northern Saskatchewan is our stop today on the way to the next doctor meeting. A welcome oasis after yesterday’s crazy long drive through desert and fields.

As a descendant of a Ukrainian mother it’s been very interesting to me to see the strong Ukrainian influence in large parts of Canada. Many of the pioneer farmers were western Ukrainians escaping from the serfdom and poverty of the Austro-hungarian empire. We got chatting to a guy at our accommodation who told us that Saskatchewan is only second to the Ukraine for the number of Ukrainians.

No wonder you’re just as likely to see borscht and pierogis on the menu as ribs and fries and hear Ukrainian accents at the farmers markets.

We’ve seen elk on this trip but no stag elks with the big antlers. I was pretty resigned to not seeing any now. We were driving around Waskesiu and I said that it was the middle of the day so we weren’t going to see any wildlife. Pretty much straight after I said that a magnificent huge stag elk with antlers casually wandered across the road and stood in the grass eating and watching us. Just amazing!

Did a lovely walk to kingsmere lake where tha track also has a portage cart for people to take their boats and canoes in for adventures to further afield campsites on the other side of the lake.

The last couple of days have been a heatwave so the idea of spending a week camping by this cool clear water is very appealing! But today a brief swim has to suffice. Found a little track down to the river and swam in the beautiful clear water with no one else in sight.

Part way through the walk I started feeling sick like I was going to spew and pass out and my belly was rumbling. Was it beaver fever? (Locals name for Giardia which is carried by beavers.)

As the day went on I felt a little better and figured better off just keeping my mind off it so went for some more walks. Walked along the river hoping to see beavers. No beavers but saw a couple of deer and some giant mozzies! Drove around looking for animals and beavers – saw beaver nests but still no beavers!

Went back to the room to have a rest and write up more notes.

10 aug

Did some short hikes around Waskesiu today. One was through a forest full of wild raspberries. We heard and saw woodpeckers and saw where bears had eaten wood beetle larvae out of the logs. Thankfully we didn’t run into the bears!

Ron spotted another two beaver nests but still no elusive beaver.

Decided to treat ourselves to lunch but there was no treat about it! Totally overpriced for the tourists and tasteless. Hear that’s a common experience around here so might stick to the picnics.

There is an interesting story here about a guy called ‘Grey Owl’ who lived in the forest with his Mohawk wife claiming to be half Apache, half Scottish. He lived and dressed like an Indian and wrote volumes on his observations of the nature there. Turned out after his death that he was really a full blood Englishman with some kind of Indian fantasy.

The park was established in his time back in the 1800’s andany of the original log cabin buildings from then are still being used in the park.

The drive to our next stop La Ronge, was beautiful. Lots of forest, creeks and swamps. Saw two beautiful deer cooling off in the swamp.

Seeing beaver nests everywhere but yet to see the elusive beaver Ron is determined to find.

La Ronge is one big lake but also the site of a first nation community.

La Ronge is quite remote but was much more pleasant than I expected. On a lovely lake and has good services.

We’re staying in a comfortable motel which is good for a change from the car. I did some work and then we went out for a little drive to have a look around and drove through Sucker river Cree ( First Nation) community. It seemed like a nice little place, kids were fishing in the river and families were having bbq’s, some in tipis on their lawns or backyards.

We didn’t gawk too much or take photos.