{"id":5311,"date":"2017-08-26T20:52:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-27T02:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wobben.org\/?p=5311"},"modified":"2021-05-13T15:05:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T21:05:44","slug":"grasslands-national-park-august-19-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wobben.org\/blog\/motorhoming\/saskatchewan-other\/grasslands-national-park-august-19-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Grasslands National Park, August 19-21"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We are deeply in love with the prairie and love cruising through endless fields as far as the eye can see or rolling hills with cows grazing, camping in coulees or forests and watching infinite vistas or living skies. Esp. in South West Saskatchewan, we’ve driven through immense stretches of practically empty and desolate prairie, so each time someone suggested we should visit the Grasslands National Park, we were reluctant… had we not seen all that yet? Well, after nine years in Saskatchewan, we finally planned our first visit!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

East or West?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We booked two nights in Grasslands<\/a> as part of a small vacation, on our way to Cypress Hills<\/a>. In a nutshell, the West Block is where the bison and prairie dogs are, the East Block is where the badlands are. We picked the West Block, or to be more specific, the north part of the Ecotour Road<\/a> and the area around the campground, as the bison were #1 on our wish list. On Saturday morning we made our way to the Grasslands Visitor Centre in Val Marie, with a break in Gravelbourg to visit Toos and Darcy (thanks for lunch!). After registration, we drove back to the Ecotour Road and the entrance of the park. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bison bulls… check!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are a few pullouts with interpretive signs shortly after you enter and we found number two to be the most interesting: a big prairie dog colony and several bison bulls close by! Check! This was still on top of the prairie, but soon the road dove into the vast and rugged Frenchman Valley. As it was late in the afternoon, we continued to the campground on the other side of the valley to set up for the night. We had seen a bunch of dark dots in the distance (bison) and one bigger dot fairly close to the campground, we could see that bull clearly through the telescope. Like most of this prairie, the campground has no trees and is open to the elements. We didn’t set up much, just took our chairs, BBQ and telescope out and braved the wind to make a meal. The night sky in this dark sky preserve was phenomenal! But the temperatures dipped down quite a bit and we had no fire to warm us, because of a fire ban. I woke up around 4am and looked outside to see a white arc of northern lights in the north.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t\t