Rob-n-Hild, oot and aboot eh? Sorry - 2022

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Sasksatoon

We started off with the usual breakfast of champions at the hotel - as compared to when we make porridge on the camping stove. Champions are being supported by eggs and bacon as well as sandwiches and fruit. Feel free to guess whose breakfast choice is whose.

In Saskatoon we had found some nature walks listed and figured the best option was to start at the bottom (furthest South) and work back up to the city. Unfortunately, the most southerly - Beaver Creek turned out to be behind a locked gate until 10 am so we had to look for Cranberry Flats first. This we found and had a nice walk with some new species including chipmunks at last! We see these so often in Ottawa that at was a surprise to have taken so long to see them now. There were also beautiful tree swallows and lots of small white flowers.

On our return we realized that we had missed the car park and had actually parked in area marked as No Parking. Whoops.

By then we figured Beaver Creek would be open so we started off back - and up popped a prairie dog at the side of the road. We had mis-identified a ground-squirrel as a prairie dog a few days ago, but this time we are pretty sure we got it right.

Beaver Creek turned out to be a tougher walk than we had imagined, given that it seemed to be set up for school parties. It started off on the escarpment looking down over the river, but then went up and down lots and lots as we followed various tracks. There were lots of tracks of deer and the odd horse as well as something we are pretty sure was beaver - but we still didn't see any!

There were lots of tracks of deer and the odd horse as well as something we are pretty sure was beaver - but we still didn't see any!

Spring seemed to have progressed much further here. The aspen trees were already growing leaves. So bright and green.

The prairie crocus (Anemone patens), is the first plant to bloom on the prairie each year. We were happy to find it during our walk.

One trail took us across the meandering river a couple of times. Bridges are always good for playing Pooh-Sticks.

In the summer signs told us that there will be tonnes of different birds here. Hild tested out the bird-hide, but none were seen. May is too early for bird watching here.

After this walk we were ready for lunch and then we planned to walk around the Saskatchewan river in downtown Saskatoon, but we couldn't find anywhere to park where we could make tea and (finally) christen our pancake pan. So we ended up a bit further out of the city at Meewasin Park.

The fellas were hoping for banana pancake but these were just plain old pancakes. Yum!

After our tea and pancakes - we walked down to the first bridge and back. This was a fun bridge as it had a pedestrian bridge hung between the two vehicle bridges. Quite fun.

Other than lots of foot prints of birds in the mud, we did finally get to see some water-creatures, but the only living ones were tiny fish and they are hard to identify to species level. There was also a lot of evidence of small crabs or crayfish - but only bits of shell left after something else had eaten them!

Then it was work time, with Hild doing accounting and Rob getting some meeting documents ready. We leave Saskatchewan tomorrow - only a short stop on the way West, but we plan to spend more time further south in the province on the way back East.

May/June 2022

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