The Great Hilly Plains
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
I would just like to set the record straight on one thing: The Prairies are not all flat.
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| Not Flat! |
I’m not sure who made up the popular
you-can-see-your-dog-running-away-for-three-days joke, but whoever it was
clearly had never spent any time in Southern Saskatchewan. And thanks to that fellow anonymous,
and my imagination/gullibility, I’ve spent much of my life assuming that
everything East of the Rockies and West of the Canadian Shield was flat as a
pancake. One should never assume,
I suppose.
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| Grain elevator at Wood Mountain |
There are flat parts to the Prairies, but as per usual we spent most of our time as far
from the Trans Canada Highway as possible, which meant that we avoided most of
them. But although we missed out
on easy riding, we were well rewarded for our efforts.
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| Sagebrush |
The landscape in Southern Saskatchewan was absolutely breathtaking. There
were massive plots of farmland, wheat fields and the like, but there were also
extensive tracts of rangeland filled with prairie grasses and fragrant
sagebrush. Wildlife included
Badgers and Pronghorn, Mule Deer and Prairie Dogs, and at night the ever
present yipping and howling of Coyotes on the prowl. The air is crisp and filled with the scent of newly baled
hay, and the silence left when the sound of the only vehicle to have past you
in the last hour fades, is near perfect.
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| When you need a cup of coffee, you will go to any length to get it. |
The Saskatchewanians were amazing as
well. We had more offers for
places to stay then we had nights in the province! People were very friendly. They would always stop to talk to us, perhaps give us some
homegrown produce, and went out of their way to make us feel welcome.
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| Crops and grasses make beautiful patterns |
Grasslands National Park was a great experience as well. We had a "day off" in the park, which involved cycling 64 km, mostly gravel, and walking another 6 km looking for Rattlesnakes and Sage Grouse. Again though, it was well worth the effort. The land there looks so unlike anything we've seen in Canada to date. Very unique, and stunning.
Nope, not flat at all.
3 comments:
But Winterpeg is indeed flat. Saskatatchewan along the Trans Canada, is flat, from what I remember. I never owned a dog.
There are huge tracks of flat land, and vast hilly regions, and surely, it would be difficult if not impossible to cross the entire Prairies without seeing both. But it's true that Transcanada Highway for the most part avoids the most ondulating regions, such as the "Pembina Mountain" in Manitoba, along the South Saskatchewan River in Sask. and the Peace River in Alberta.
Thanks for the comments!!
You are right, there are massive sections of the prairies that are, indeed, flat. Actually, we have been riding through a wonderfully flat section on the Crowsnest Hwy between Medicine Hat and Lethbridge for the past couple of days. We had some good flat bits in Manitoba too, as Rich says, Winnipeg is pretty flat. However, we stayed well South of the TCH in Saskatchewan and boy, were we surprised at the hills we found! Especially in the Southwestern corner.
Lots and lots of people we spoke to about our trip came out with comments such as ‘Once you leave Northern Ontario, you won’t see another hill to the Rockies!’ So we wanted to mention, perhaps a little tongue-in-cheek (cause we find it fun), that hills most certainly do exist in the Prairies.
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