4 different campgrounds in 3 different Canadian provinces and 1 US state: what do they all have in common?
Moose Mountain Provincial Park, Saskatchewan
Turtle Mountain Provincial Park, Manitoba
Lake Bronson State Park, Minnesota
Quetico Provincial Park, Ontario
Answer:
- They all look similar (when you wake up and look outside it takes a few seconds to figure out where you are)
- They all have tall trees
- They all have no internet (see previous point re: tall trees)
- They all have mosquitoes
In a unanimous decision by all of the judges the mosquito award goes to Quetico Provincial Park. The sheer number of mosquitoes was incredible. We were sitting and reading in our screened tent and looked up to see the screens absolutely coated in mosquitoes. We had to hold our breath as we made the dash from the tent to the trailer. The poor dogs had bites on their faces and Lump could hardly see out of one eye. I spent about 1/2 hour swatting bugs in the trailer before we went to sleep and we still got bites during the night. Yech!
We decided to look into the purchase of a bug zapper, to use in the trailer, in the next reasonably sized town we encounter.
In addition to the aforementioned items, Lake Bronson State Park also has some nice trails…
… some nice river views…
… and TICKS!!! During a walk with the dawgs we noticed some ticks on their legs and feet, so we stopped from time-to-time to remove them. When we got back to the campsite we noticed a few more ticks, so before we let them into the trailer it’s time to pull out the comb and do some tick removal… 40+ ticks later we think we have them all. Nope. In the trailer we keep finding ticks!
Worst place ever for ticks. Even beats our previous tick best at Foss Lake State Park in Oklahoma.
The waterfalls at Kakabeka Falls Provincial park in Ontario were very picturesque. The photo at the top of this post is also from the same park.
The park itself is very dog friendly as they have a dog beach, which was more mud than sandy beach, but still, the dogs could swim off leash.
A quick “shout out” to Carlyle Collision & Painting located in Carlyle Manitoba: when we arrived at the Lynwood Campground in Moose Mountain we noticed that our bikes were hanging at a rakish angle. Upon further investigation we found that the steel riser tube of the bike carrier had ripped out of the horizontal base tube. It was around 3pm on a Friday, so a quick dash to nearby Carlyle to see if we could get it fixed. The very helpful staff at Carlyle Collision & Painting welded it back together, with some additional reinforcement, and spray painted it to prevent rust, all within 30 minutes or so of my arrival! Thanks very much Carlyle Collision & Painting! Also, they only charged me for 1/2 hour of labour. Very reasonable!
Trip Summary:
Depart: Grasslands National Park (East Block, Rock Creek Campground), Saskatchewan 10:45 am June 28; Odometer: 231046 km
Arrive: Moose Mountain Provincial Park (Lynwood Campground), Saskatchewan 4:30 pm June 28; Odometer: 231450 km
Depart: Moose Mountain Provincial Park (Lynwood Campground), Saskatchewan 10:30 pm June 30; Odometer: 231459 km
Arrive: Turtle Mountain Provincial Park (Adam Campground), Manitoba 3:00 pm June 30; Odometer: 231710 km
Depart: Turtle Mountain Provincial Park (Adam Campground), Manitoba 10:30 am July 1; Odometer: 231760 km
Arrive: Lake Bronson State Park, Minnesota 2:30 pm July 1; Odometer: 232048 km
Depart: Lake Bronson State Park, Minnesota 9:30 pm July 3; Odometer: 232069 km
Arrive: Quetico Provincial Park (Chippewa Campground), Ontario 4:00 pm July 3; Odometer: 232523 km
Depart: Quetico Provincial Park (Chippewa Campground), Ontario 10:30 am July 6; Odometer: 232523 km
Arrive: Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, Ontario 12:00 pm July 6; Odometer: 232795 km
Gas Summary:
Willowbunch, Saskatchewan (Jun 28): 53.8 L @$1.60/L ($86.02), ODO 231154
Weyburn, Saskatchewan (Jun 28): 30 L @$1.47/L ($44.09), ODO 231303
Carlyle, Saskatchewan (Jun 30): 48.8 L @$1.55/L ($75.52), ODO 231486
Deloraine, Manitoba (Jun 30): 31.7 L @$1.61/L ($51.04), ODO 231664
Langdon, North Dakota (Jul 1): 17.9 g @US$3.40/g (US$61.08), ODO 231909
Badger, Minnesota (Jul 3): 14.1 g @US$3.40/g (US$47.96), ODO 232125
Fort Frances, Ontario (Jul 3): 45.0 L @$1.70/L ($76.37), ODO 232335
Kakabeka Falls, Ontario (Jul 6): 82.4 L @$1.70/L ($140.04), ODO 232666