The weather turned bad this morning, being cold, rainy and windy. But we didn’t want to just sit in the cottage all day, so after eating some of the breakfast items that we had brought with us, we set off to do some “car birding”. There are roads that follow two shores of the lake, so we decided to drive both of them, getting to know the area while spotting birds out the windows or on short stops along the way.
As we drove out of the town of Waskesiu, we saw several elk on the mowed lawn of a park. We also saw a bull elk calmly chewing its cud while laying down next to a park beach. Evidently, elk are abundant here.
We first drove along Kingsmere Road that runs along the north side of the lake. Much of it is paved but the last 19 kilometers were dirt and rather muddy and slippery today. That didn’t deter Dave and so we drove the length of it, accumulating lots of mud on the back and sides of the rental car. Even though the day was gray and rainy, the yellow leaves of the aspen, cottonwood and tamarack trees brightened the drive.
We also drove The Narrows Road, which parallels the southern shore. During our car birding day, we saw a few new species of birds for the trip, including some Common Loons, many female or immature Common Mergansers, and quite a few Ruffed Grouse and one Spruce Grouse on the grassy shoulders of the roads.
It was nice to return to the wam, dry cottage where we rested and read for a couple of hours. For dinner, we went to the same restaurant that we had visited last night, Pete’s Terrace, one of the few remaining open places in town.
Tomorrow is the final day of the trip, in which we’ll drive south again to Saskatoon and fly from there to Vancouver, then to Seattle. We will be arriving late at night in Seattle. This is the last blog post for the trip.
