17 August 2016, Wednesday

I am awake at 4:30 am this morning listening to a torrential downpour accompanied by rumbles of thunder. Some of the contractors are already awake, talking and laughing quietly. By the time our 6 am alarm goes off, the rain has ceased. We walk over to the restaurant and are greeted by Steve. He asks if we would like bacon and eggs again. I ask for french toast. “That I can do,” he says. Thiti, who does most of the cooking is still asleep. Steve comments that Thiti thought we looked pretty spry last night when we returned from our hike. We pointed out that the reason the hike to Kwasitchewan Falls is so challenging is the 660 meter elevation gain on the way out due to all the undulations in the trail. Steve says he’d like to try it with his son someday. After two big slabs each of french toast, accompanied by bacon and coffee, we are ready to finish reorganizing Jazz. With a full tank of gas we drive southwards. We elect to take the route west around Lake Winnepegosis. Although this route is an hour longer, it is marked as scenic on our map.

The day is mostly cloudy with occasional showers. We both find it easier to drive when there is not bright sunshine. As we travel, a group of four great blue herons flies over in a diamond formation. We pass many ravens and two bears along the road.

We arrive in Swan River about 2 pm and stop at a restaurant called Y not Johnny’s. We order chicken, brie and fig sandwiches with apple slices on ciabatta. They are very good. The sky clears and the temperature rises more than 10 degrees F as we go.

We finally arrive at the north entrance to Riding Mountain National Park. From here it is 53 km to the Wasagaming Campground where I reserved campsite 71 for 1 night, planning on finding a less crowded, non-reservable site early Thursday morning. On our way down route 10 through the park we stop to investigate Moon Lake campground. To our surprise, most of the sites are empty. O checks with the campground hosts and discovers that the campground is usually only full on weekends.

At Wasagaming we check in and I am handed my reservation card for the post at site 71. The campsite is a crowded RV city, each camper right next to the other. Site 71 is occupied by a large RV. The sticker on the post expired this morning, but they don’t look like they are going anywhere. For O and me, this is a great opportunity. We prefer the quiet Moon Lake campground anyway and were planning to move there tomorrow. We return to the check-in office. I explain to the young man that our site is occupied and, while we don’t mind driving 36 km back up the road to Moon Lake, I don’t want to be paying for the RV at site 71. He is quite happy with my solution and thanks me for my understanding. He not only refunds the fee for site 71, he also gives us 2 free nights at Moon Lake! As we are standing at the counter we notice a bear trap on the median of the entrance road. O asks about this and is told that it is not set at the moment. It is more a warning for people to maintain bear-free campsites. Usually they place a dead beaver inside if they are trying to attract an errant bear.

Back up route 10 we go, admiring mountainous cumulus clouds against the blue sky, their bottoms dark and threatening and their billowing white tops reaching for heaven, glowing in the evening sun. So here we are, tent set up, enjoying the evening. I have read there is a very good bakery in Wasagaming. Our tentative plan for the morning is to head down there for breakfast and to catch up on laundry. Exciting, eh?