We left Buffalo Pound and back on the Trans Canada Hwy we found out that the famous prairie winds are continuing to blow, hard, so we decided to skip Grasslands National Park and head to Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park which is not so far off the main hwy. I always find the prairies to be good backdrop for photos. The white stuff is not snow, its salt.
Off the Trans Canada and about 40 min drive on a very well maintained and drivable secondary hwy we arrived at Cypress Hills. The park encompasses a large area in Saskatchewan and Alberta divided into the centre block and west block – we stayed at the centre block. The park is a resort with a large pool, golf course, restaurants, store, equestrian, zipline, etc. ……. it is open year round for skiing and toboggan runs. We stopped by the ‘free’ wood pile to load up before heading to our site which was assigned to us at the gate. All the sites in this section are fairly open with a lot of large pull-though sites, but we were given a fairly private site at the end of a row with only trees behind us and the comfort station (which has laundry) a short walk away. The facilities are the cleanest I have ever seen in a campground, including the sani-dump.
On a hike the next day we followed the Moose Trail for a couple km. which led to a ski shack with a nice wood stove inside – it looked new. We then walked a small portion of the Great Trail before taking to the road to walk to a lookout -about 8 km. return. At the lookout we were able to see for 100’s km. over the plains where massive buffalo herds once roamed and long before that glaciers carved the landscape. On our way to and from the lookout we passed many very large cows – some of whom had young ones that they moved to protect as we passed. One youngster on our way back was inquisitive and had us a bit concerned when it started to stride quickly toward us with its mother standing very close by.
