Travel Log - Prince Albert National Park

On to Prince Albert National Park - very nice place. We took "scenic" 263 both into and out of the park. Just before entering the park we stopped at a Lion's Club park on one of the lakes. I noticed a bird diving around the dock - upon further study it was a red necked grebe - a new life bird for me!!!!! We had our picnic lunch in another picnic area right before entering the park. We got a yearly Canadian National Parks Pass and printed literature about the park. We took all the driving tours in the park. We came in on Scenic Drive #263. Then we took the Narrows Drive. Paignton Beach was set up really nicely - firewood for the picnic areas, picnic tables and benches to enjoy the view. Historic as well with old fireplaces and a camp kitchen built by relief workers in the 1930's. The end of the "Narrows Drive is a great campground. There is a boat trip you can take up to the narrows - departs 3 times a day and they also offer a sunset cruise. You can also rent boats, canoes, and kayaks - would be something fun to do to go up the Narrows area of Lake Waskesiu.

We drove through the town Waskesiu - nice, small inviting town with guest services - restaurants, hotels, gift shops, etc. It would be a fun place to stay if you were going to get to spend more time here. We were lucky to see a fox hunting and running the road near Waskesiu. Then we took the Hanging Heat Lakes/Kingsmere Drive. At the top was another place to launch boats or canoes - pretty, quiet, it would be a fun canoe or kayak area. While shooting this image of this peaceful spot, I was being dive bombed by huge dragonflies. Their wings were buzzing right round my ears. It took me a few minutes to figure out why the dragonflies seemed to be attacking me - they were after the swarms of mosquitoes that were feasting on me! I don't tend to notice mosquitoes nearly as much as Henry. I was concentrating on my photography and the dragonflies were more annoying than the biting mosquitoes . . .



We didn't see the nesting pelicans but there are supposed to be a group of pelicans that nest here each year.

I shot this image on our way back to Prince Albert on scenic 263.



On the way back to the town, Prince Albert - we stopped at some of the marshy ponds - saw another pair of red necked grebes - one that I think might have been a chick. Saw another unknown duck with chicks and a belted kingfisher. We spent the night at the Comfort Inn so we could have internet. Had dinner at Humpty's - Henry had cod and I had upside down Shepherd's Pie. After two nights with no internet, we finished our evening catching up on our internet stuff.