9-15-17 & 9-16-17 Hiking at Prince Albert National Park

Let's go hiking

Friday 9/15/17

This morning we woke up with the temperature in the thirties. Great temperature for camping and hiking. After breakfast we went on a two hour hike. We hiked the Fisher Trail, which was a 4.5 mile loop. To get to the trailhead we hiked a mile of Red Deer Yellow Trail. The hiking trail was wide and both hikers and bikers share the trail While hiking we had to watch where we hiking because at times roots from the trees are on the trail. I always trip a few times when I don't pick up my feet. The first part of the trail took us through a forest of aspen and spruce trees, the second half the forest changed to tall pine trees. As we hiked we saw squirrels enjoying the cool weather and birds chirping. We didn't see any other wildlife but we did see some droppings. The trail went by a small lake which we saw through the trees. As we were hiking the yellow trail back to the background a bird flew out of a the brush and scared us considering we didn't expect it. Larry said it reminded him of when he use to hunt pheasant and quail and when you got close they would get scared and do the same thing. By the time we got back to the campsite it was time for lunch.

The lake we saw while hiking

The hiking trail we hiked

For lunch Larry barbecued Hatch chili turkey burgers, they were delicious. It was still a little cool so we ate inside. We rested for a couple of hours and then walked to town. We started off walking the road and then we switched to a trail along the shore of Waskesiu Lake. As we walked the shoreline we looked at the cabins that looked over the lake. They were log cabins and very nice. We saw a gentleman building a deck, perfect weather for it. We walked around town for an hour or so. We saw people getting ready for an event so when we got to the visitor center we asked what the even was, the lady at the desk who happened to be the lady that greeted us at the entrance gate yesterday told us the event was called a Fun Run and it raises money for MS. The town isn't that big, it has a few shops, lodges, motels, cabins and a few cafes. The town is growing and it keeps making improvements. They have lawn bowling greens, a golf course, disc golf course, tennis courts, basketball court and are in the process of building a mini golf course. While at the visitor center the lady said there were elk on the golf course so we walked towards the area. We didn't have to go far before we saw a few bedding down under some trees. There is a great beach area and playground. We had a great walk through town. 

The Visitor Center in Waskesiu

A restaurant in town called AsianStatio

A carving we saw in town 

For dinner I baked jalapeno sausage bacon poppers. We hung around the Minnie all evening and relaxed. We had an outstanding day.     

Camping in Beaver Den Campground

  

Saturday 9-16-17

We woke to another cold morning. We had breakfast and then went on a hike. We hiked the Red Deer Trail Red Loop, took about 3.5 hours. The loops itself is 5 miles but to get to it we had to hike part of the yellow loop. By the end of the hike we had hiked 6.5 miles. The hike was awesome. We started off by scaring a couple of white tail deer out of the trees. We would have just walked by them if they didn't get scared and run. When we started walking the red loop we saw a cow and calf elk walking across the trail. We stopped and let them decide where they were going. As the trail turned we heard an animal running so we turned around and saw a few elk running along the trail. While watching the elk run we spotted a bull elk going into the trees. We continued our hike and we saw the bull grazing in the trees. We hiked close to a neighborhood and saw a cow and a couple of calves grazing. They didn't seem to be afraid of us, they just watched us hike by. The trail was easy to hike. It went through a beautiful forest of spruce, aspen and pine trees When the trail got to town it went around the golf course and through town.

One of the elk we saw

Resting on a bench during our hike

One of the elk watching us as we hiked by

One of the holes on the golf course

As we were hiking in town we saw a lot of bicyclists who were participating in the Fun Run for MS. The bicyclists were very friendly and said good morning and waved. As we were hiking through town we had to share the trail with the bicyclists so they told us which side they were coming around us on. The event was very well organized and had a lot of participates.

Once we were back to the campsite we didn't leave. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading. We had a super day of hiking and relaxing.