Riding Mountain National Park

It was a quiet night here in Wasagaming (pronounced Wah-SAY-guh-ming), Manitoba, last night. We tried four times to pay for our stay here before we finally got it accomplished. This morning, we had a leisurely breakfast, and then set off to see Riding Mountain National Park. We sailed on through the entrance, feeling pretty spunky with our free parks pass.

Our first stop was the visitor center. I noticed the red Adirondack chairs out front. Inside the "nature shop" was closed, but there was a nice display of stuffed animals representative of the wildlife in the park. There were beavers, wolverines, cougars, bobcats, bears, wolves, elk, moose...Mike I imagine they're missing their guts, blood, and bone. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see them up close. There were also pelts available for petting, and that was kind of fun.

Outside, we saw a display of the O-TENT-tiks that are available for rent in the campgrounds. In Oregon we have a thing called a "yurt." Here's a picture of one:

This was much the same, only shaped more like a tent.

Here's what they look like inside.

The visitor center was located at the edge of a huge lake called Clear Lake.

It was a little chilly for swimming, but if you're so inclined, you might want to consider the following.

We walked out to the end of this walkway.

There we saw more of the red Adirondack chairs.

This particular grouping had a shared table with this notation on the top.

They were a little wet for sitting, but don't you know we'd have been all over this if they'd been dry. I might still do it, just for grins.

The park was a bit of a disappointment to us. We expected to see turn-outs and scenic viewpoints. Instead, we saw this, almost exclusively. It was pretty much like driving through a deciduous forest. Also there were plenty of swampy meadows...the kind where you might see moose and elk. We kept our eyes peeled, but saw none.

And here's a warning sign you don't see every day.

After leaving the park, we drove through more flat wide open spaces. It wasn't until we started driving south again that we recognized the unique feature of this park.

The parks tour book told us this:

"Geologically speaking, some 20,000 years ago, a high beach ridge began forming along the western edge of Lake Agassiz, a postglacial inland sea that covered much of north-central North America. In the United States, the ridge is called the Pembina Escarpment or Gorge. The portion of the ridge in Canada is called the Manitoba Escarpment. 

"Whatever this abrupt rise in the prairie landscape is named, the stretch in Manitoba is a natural island of forests, lakes, and meadows that has been sheltered as a national park since 1930." (National Geographic Guide to the National Parks of Canada, 2nd Edition)

So...okay, look at the image below, and you can see the rise off in the distance. That is the Manitoba Escarpment, and the reason for the park's existence.

We were coming back from Dauphin, a little town to the north of the park. In the image below, that's City Hall off to the right. It was a cute and tidy little town.

Along the way we saw a few Canadian barns.

And we were amused by the name of this chain of restaurants. We didn't have lunch here, although it was tempting.

Instead we had lunch at this next place. Mike had the Bacon Mikeburger. What else could he have chosen?

 
As we headed out of town, we noticed this crop growing on both sides of the road. We'd seen a sign in town about the Industrial Hemp Growers Association, and if I'm not mistaken, I believe it is still illegal to grow hemp in the United States, even for industrial purposes.

In any case, we were intrigued by this crop. and so we pulled off to the side of the road to get a closer look. Sure enough...industrial hemp.

Turning around from this spot, we saw this:

From there we drove back into the national park, heading south again to Wasagaming. We noticed the canopy of aspen trees.

We headed back into town. Earlier, none of the shops had been open, and I was on the hunt for a refrigerator magnet and/or a shot glass. We could find none. The only shops open were clothing stores, and frankly, my clothing shopping days are over.

Also, we noticed several of these bat houses hanging from trees. We like our friends the bats, and so we're always glad to see the welcome mat out for them when we travel.

We'll be heading out for Winnepeg and a Harvest Host site next. After speaking to the owner of the park here, we've solidified our plans to stay on the Canadian side until we get to Niagara Falls. We're told that the roads are pretty good and that the scenery is spectacular. We'll have our eyes wide open.