1994: Grassland National Park

          The next morning we took down our tent and packed our supplies into the car in the fog that was engulfing Cypress Hills, and headed toward Saskatchewan.  We stopped in at the Tourist Information Centre and after our enquiries they reminded us to make sure we call ahead and make  reservations for the T-Rex Tour which we had planned to be our next stop.  When we made the call we discovered that we could only get onto the tour two days later, so we changed our plans and headed to Val Marie, Saskatchewan to check out the newly established Grassland National Park.  

            Grassland National Park was set up to preserve some of the last remaining flora and fauna of the prairies, most of which had disappeared because of all of agriculture that had taken over.   At the park headquarters things seemed rather confused, but finally we were able to get some information.

    We ended up camping in a rather barren looking campground in Val Marie, since there weren’t any campgrounds in Grassland Park.  Once we had the tent up we took a nap during the hot afternoon.  At 6:00, we drove into Grassland National Park.  It is in the evening that most of the animals come out.

    The flat prairie landscape and huge sky were beautiful, and indeed the animal did come out, but first we saw the ring of rocks that were remnants of an old Indian teepee circle.  We discovered some Black-tailed Prairie Dog towns, and a burrowing owl.  In the distance there were some Prong-horned antelope and White-tailed deer grazing.  We also spotted a Meadow Lark and lots of hawks.  

    We came upon a painter and his wife who let us look at a burrowing owl through their spotting scope.

    It was foggy and cool the next morning when we emerged from our tent.  We broke camp and began our drive through Grasslands.  The prairie dogs were our most interesting thing to see, although watching two coyotes and two antelopes through the heat waves, gave us a sense of Africa, which was neat to experience.  

    We decided to take a hiking trail that overlooked the valley, and came upon another teepee ring.  A couple that had also camped in the same campground told us that there had been two Great Horned Owls perched over our tent early that morning.

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