Thursday started as a thickly overcast day in Saskatoon, a big contrast to the sunny days we had been enjoying. After another continental breakfast in the hotel, we packed up and drove out of the city, heading north. It is a two-hour drive to the town of Prince Albert and our destination for the day was beyond that, Waskesiu Lake. But we had a couple of stops planned for birding along the way.
The first stop was Duck Lake, about an hour outside of Saskatoon. It’s in the Willow Cree Indian Reserve and is a lake as well as a town. By the time we reached Duck Lake, we were in the sunshine again. We drove to the lake’s edge on a gravel road and saw a huge flock of Snow Geese on the water, but no other birds. Snow Geese have been so abundantly visible on this trip, we’ve probably seen tens of thousands of them.
Then we drove into the town of Duck Lake and stopped at a museum that had a very tall observation tower from which we had a nice view of the surrounding area. We enjoyed the view and learning about the local history from the museum.
Next we drove a few kilometers north and stopped at a forested area containing cross country skiing trails. The prairie birding book I had brought along indicated the Nisbet Forest could be a good birding location, so we wanted to take a look. By this time, it was around 11:30 a.m. and we found the forest to be beautiful but very quiet. We walked on the trails and heard a chickadee, a few squirrels, a distant Pileated Woodpecker, and finally a Ruffed Grouse that Dave saw but I only heard.
After a check of our heads and legs for ticks after walking on the trails (none found, thankfully) we continued driving north to the small city of Prince Albert. We stopped at a strip mall to eat lunch at a bar named Bugsy’s that was popular with the locals, and then walked next door to a Safeway store to pick up a few breakfast items for the next two days.
Driving further north for about 35 minutes, we arrived at Prince Albert National Park, where we paid for a 3-day pass, and then to Waskesiu Lake and the town of Waskesiu. We found it to be a very quiet, nearly empty place when we arrived, but undoubtedly it is popular and very busy in the summer. The lake is large and surrounded by forest that holds bear, elk, moose and birds. The staff person at the gate of the national park said that elk are especially numerous.
We drove into town and found the resort’s office inside a gift store. We’re staying in a two-bedroom cottage that has a small kitchen, gas fireplace, and two couches. It’s very nice.
While Dave relaxed in the cottage, I walked to the lakeshore and around part of the town. Many of the shops are closed for the season, but a couple of restaurants are open, as well as most of the cottages and inns. There aren’t many tourists here at this time of year.
We drove to one of the restaurants at about 5:30 for dinner and on the way we saw a big bull elk casually walking along the road near our cottage. I was glad we were in the car.
Dinner at Pete’s Terrace Restaurant was a very good pizza. Then we returned to the cottage so Dave could watch Thursday Night Football.
