Friday June 28

Well, this day was an adventure! I drove in to Regina where I stocked up on food and a few necessities for the trailer. Then, because I couldn’t check in to my campsite until 2, I had lunch at a Husky restaurant (on the recommendation of my son) and updated my blog. Just in case you are wondering, neither the wifi nor the food was up to scratch, but the people were nice!

Then off I went to Buffalo Pound Provincial Park on the western side of the city. The park is huge, with a large lake. It’s part of the Qu’Applle valley system. That was a pleasant surprise since I didn’t even know if it had water! The lake goes on and one as one drives through the park. The hills are not as steep as at Echo Lake, and the valley is wider – I liked it better as it did not have that ‘huddled’ feeling and one still could enjoy that prairie sky.

I checked in and found my site – which is unremarkable, and unfortunately close to a shower/washroom with its flood light (when did people become unable to use a flashlight?)  but adequate. I once again backed in successfully, though since there were many people around, not with the certainty I had the previous day. Then I decided to put up my new tarp and bug house. Not because there were any bugs particularly, but the site didn’t have any shade and I wanted to see what it looked like and how difficult it was to pitch. 

A couple of good old beer drinking dudes laughed when they saw the tarp stretched out – they were probably off to town for supplies to supplement their already significant guts – but they were unable to scoff when they returned. With the help of a couple of trees, I did fine, and the resulting little house is quite pretty. Thanks to the folks in the office whose contributions helped me buy this from MEC! Soaked with sweat from my efforts (it was uncharacteristically humid and very hot) I sat and read until I cooled down.

Once revived I set out to explore the park. I had been told about hiking trails at one end of the lake and I started there. I explored the Bison Range, which was beautiful, but the bison must have been laying low as I saw none. 

Then I found the boardwalk through the marsh. This was an astonishing experience. Simple enough – a boardwalk through a marsh at the end of a lake. And perhaps it was the heat, and my fatigue, but I found the experience magical.

 The reeds extended slightly above my head and the water, with floating lime green duck weed, was just a few inches below the boardwalk. 

I tried to walk quietly, but the walkway creaked and groaned as I walked along. But that did not seem to deter what must have been hundreds (thousands?) of creatures around me carrying on with their noisy lives! Bird calls, frogs, insects, maybe fish – everything had a voice or a movement that resulted in sound. I did see birds – some seemed quite tame – but the predominant feature was the sound. 

When I reached the end of the boardwalk I sat on a bench. I was bathed in a wash of heat, sun, and sound. For about half an hour I just sat and soaked in the life and beauty around me. And then I found tears streaming down my face – of gratitude that I had the opportunity of coming to this magical place, of awe at the beauty of this place, of fear for the future of places like this, of amazement that after all these years something can feel so new and unique, of passion for the immense prairie sky.

Or maybe I was just tired. I toyed with the idea of taking another 3km trail and decided (wisely) to go back to my campsite where I showered in a real campsite shower. I do love the shower/bath combo in my trailer but since I’m not hooked up to water this weekend, I wanted to conserve. A glass of gin and a light supper that I didn’t have to cook, having purchased some readymade salads that morning, finished my evening. I patched and mended my favourite white sun shirt I use for hiking and kayaking. The clouds grew darker and darker as the evening progressed and by 10 a thunderstorm was upon us settling the party troops and putting the kids to bed which was fine by me. As always, sleep in my wee hobbit house was deep, long, and delicious.

Today’s exciting flora included this cactus growing on the side of the dirt road on the way back from the marsh. Couldn’t believe it! And because I was out of the car with my camera, I captured the humble daisy which grows profusely on the roadsides here