Oct 7 2006
Camping
Yesterday we checked out off the expensive hotel and went to a Provincial park that has a march where a lot of geese gather every night to spend the night. The geese are loading up food to prepare for the big annual trek South. I took some pictures, but it was very dark and you don’t see any geese. Last night we camped for 11 dollars. I must say slept just as good on my Thermarest mattress in our tent than in the soft hotel bed. It’s thanksgiving weekend and this camp site is in another provincial park very close to Winnipeg. So there are lots of people with big pick-up trucks full of beer and firewood who had a party last night. One of our neighbours was snoring very loud but still I slept very well.
Today we’re heading north to an island in Lake Winnipeg to hike and maybe we’ll see some moose. Unfortunately the weather has changed and it is grey, rainy and cold. In combination with the totally flat landscape it really reminds me of the Netherlands. No, I’m not homesick…
Oct 7 2006
Moose
We had almost given up hope. It was getting dark, it drizzled and we were cold and exhausted. So we decided to leave the wild life viewing spot and hiked back to the car. And then there was a noise in the woods and a big moose crossed our path. He was very close and didn’t pay us much attention but just kept going its way. Our hearts were pounding, it was the first moose for both of us.
Too bad this photo was taken in The Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg and the moose in the previous paragraph was non-existant. We saw a lot of geese but no meese. Hecla island was almost deserted, the season was definitely over. The campsite closed, all shops closed and we couldn’t even find the hiking trail that was on our map. So we walked in a slight drizzle that later turned into rain along the shore over boulders and pebbles. We did see a couple of American Bald Eagles though, but they were pretty far away. Huge birds with a wingspan of 2 metres. And even though we had a bear cannister we didn’t see a bear either.
In the evening we decided to head back towards Winnipeg and camp somewhere there so we wouldn’t have to get up at 6 in order to catch our flight home.
By mare • animals, canada, english, outdoors, travel •