Day 42 Moose Jaw

After more than six weeks exploring together, today was the day we parted ways with Jonathan and Jenna. They begin to make their way north-west to start their year long adventure in the Yukon, and we head home. It is such an incredible privilege and blessing to spend this kind of time and experience with your adult children. Jonathan and Jenna are fabulous company and fun adventure buddies. They have been so incredibly supportive, especially over this last two years, I quite literally don’t now how we would have made it through without them. I will dearly miss the daily-them, but I am so thrilled for them, that they are setting off on this grand adventure. I am sad our adventures have ended for now, but I am happy to go home. I am so sad to leave Joanathan and Jenna, but so happy to get home to everyone waiting for us there. I am currently a mess… which should come as no surprise to anyone!

Our send off party, in the pouring rain

For the first time in almost seven weeks of camping travels we had to break camp this morning in the pouring rain. Even more significant, it rained torrentially all night, and the trailer was sitting in a lake when we came out this morning. Packing up to go was a delight! I can’t begrudge the west some much needed rain, but my goodness it didn’t let up for almost 600km. Shortly after we hit the road the wildfire smoke settled in with the rain, so between the both of them, our poor GPS would announce poor visibility every 5km or so, ALL DAY! Picture taking was not an option today, so you will just have to take my word for it, it was yucky! For most of the drive we had trouble seeing the car in front of us, never mind the scenery!

What our screen looked like for most of the day!

What our view looked like for most of the day. That's smoke, not fog.

By the time we reached Swift Current we calculated that our six hour driving day was going to take us about eight hours. The thought of pulling in, in the rain, and cooking supper was a little more than we were prepared to face so we stopped at a roadside diner for a break and an early supper. GREAT idea! It did mean another hour later arriving, but it was an hour well spent! After Swift Current both the rain and the smoke became a little less intense, allowing us to see Reed Lake as we drove by. It was an odd-looking spot. We weren’t sure if it was a field, or a body of water, or a wet coulee. It looked very strange to us. We finally saw a sign declaring it to be Reed Lake, so I was able to Google it and find out just what we were looking at.

Reed Lake is salt lake that, along with three other neighbouring lakes, are part of a Western Hemisphere Shore Bird Reserve. These bodies of water are endorheic lakes, meaning they have no outflow. They exist due to spring runoffs and inflow from local creeks. The water levels fluctuate significantly as you might guess, but their only method of lowering water levels is evaporation, creating Canada’s only inland saline lake system. This is an extremely important eco system for migrating birds. The area is a nesting ground for more than 30 species of shorebirds, and over half the world’s population of Sanderlings hang out here before making their way to nest in the Canadian Artic. The white that we can see all over this area is salt, visible when the water evaporates. I wish we had more time (and the weather was better) to explore this area. The trails and viewing platforms look great, but we will have to save this for the next trip west! Always so much to see and do.

When we arrive in our campground, it’s exactly as we had hoped. Near the highway, drive-through, long sites that mean we don’t have to unhitch the truck, and full-service. A stretch, a rest, a good night’s sleep and we are set for an early getaway tomorrow, heading to Winnipeg!