This was the first of four driving tours Margaret and I enjoyed in the fall of 2003; this first one we took in the Morgan to Swan River, Manitoba, the second tour in the Healey to Waskesiu in Prince Albert National Park, and return visits to Shell Lake and to Duck Lake in the Morgan.

In the segment between Saskatoon and Wakaw, you pass through rolling to flat agricultural areas, with a slight climb through the Strawberry Hills just east of Saskatoon on Highway 41. These hills are in part lateral moraine deposits on the eastern edge of glacial Lake Saskatoon. To the north and east we skirted the Minichinas Hills, morainic hills of modest height, passing south of the village of Smuts. An alternative and scenic route is to drive Highway 41 to Aberdeen then turn off on to Highway 27 to Prud'homme. This small village was home to Gray Nuns. Here they built beautiful residence, adjacent to it is a fascinating wrought iron fencing which depicts the twelve stations. This fence was designed and built by a local farmer, Mr. Poilievre. Prud'homme was the birth place of the 23rd Governor General of Canada, Jeanne Sauve' . She was the sixth Canadian to be appointed as Governor General, the de facto Head of State for British Monarchy. From Prud' homme drive east to Highway 2, then north to Wakaw to rejoin Highway 41where you turn east to Melfort.

In this rolling landscape there are many small wetlands which hold migrating waterfowl- mallards, canvasback, Canada geese, and American coots.The uplands, which are cropped although the harvest is complete, support crops of wheat, flax, canola, and on the odd field speciality crops such as borage. Scattered throughout this farming landscape are as many rock piles as there are small groves of aspen. The rock piles serve as a source of stone, especially the limestone and various species of metamorphoric rock. Locally they are used for fireplaces, garden walls and walks. During settlement some very fine homes were constructed from field stone.

En route the most spectacular view was the tens of thousands of Snow geese in the Melfort area. There is a quote attributed to James Audubon regarding the migration of the Passenger Pigeons, it was in effect they "darkened the mid-day sun". The show of migrating Snow Geese over the city of Melfort might be a close second. Between Melfort and Tisdale lies the small hamlet of Star City, approximately a mile north of Highway 41. Tacked to a telephone post was a small sign which read "art gallery." A must see on our return leg to Saskatoon. East of Tisdale and just northeast of Crooked River was our first encounter with the boreal forest. Gone are the very large fields of cereal crops. There were small fields cut into the forest, many of these planted to forage. On certain fields sit many round bales of forage waiting to be hauled away.

In the segment from just west of Melfort to Crooked River I could see Margaret madly writing away. It turns out that she was writing down the names of streams as we passed. She thought the names of these streams were very entertaining. Here is a sample from west to east: Gone Hunting Creek, Sweet Water Creek, Leather River, West Hanginghide Creek, Doghide Creek, Presbyterian Creek and it goes on!

If you are really keen on fly fishing with Brook trout as your challenge then the Fir River at Hudson Bay has some beauties! Portions of this stream are a pleasure just to wade and listen to the water flow amongst the boulders. This is especially true if it is early fall where the clash of colour between the birch and dogwood adds to stimulate ones senses!

East of Hudson Bay we approach part of the Manitoba Escarpment, the Porcupine Mountains and Forest Reserve.This escarpment begins south of Riding Mountain National Park and ends in Manitoba north of the Porcupine Mountains although the Pasqua Hills north of Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, could be considered its end. Much of the land in Manitoba to the east and south of the escarpment was once the basin of glacial Lake Agassiz. Between Hudson Bay and Mafeking there are some picturesque streams, for example, the Armit, the Red Deer, the Steeprock, and small hamlets, especially Baden.

The Steeprock River crosses Highway 10 just north of Mafeking. There are camp grounds in the area (a nice one at Mafeking) so if you wish to test your fishing and hiking skills try the Steeprock. According to the avid fly fishermen, there are numerous pools, many of which are deep, and fast clear water with moderate numbers of Brook trout and a few Rainbow trout. This stream as with all others west of the Nelson and the God's River area of eastern Manitoba have stocked populations of trout. There are no indigenous trout in this portion of western Manitoba. In some of these streams various species of trout have successfully reproduced but angling pressure and infrequent high flows have moderated population success. In addition on the lower reaches of these streams various agricultural practices have impacted both on the physical as well as floral structure of the streams.

From Mafeking we drove south through Novra then took the gravel road #365 fourteen miles up to Bell Lake in the Porcupines. With no traffic and a resaonably smooth road we enjoyed the mellowing yellows of aspen and birch while we drove through a shower of snow flurries. We had dodged light rain showers from west of Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, to here. The elevation some 800 feet above sea level (some 600 feet above Highway 10) was sufficient for a reasonable temperature difference, a change resulting in the showers changing to flurries. Not a problem - we turned on the heater and fan and continued to Bell Lake. Bell Lake is one of three camp grounds in the Porcupines, the only modern feature missing at all three are flush toilets. Bell Lake was very beautiful and the snow fluries gave the green and gold of the trees and the blue of the lake a kaleidoscopic appearance. Across the lake you can see portions of the landscape scarred by forest fires.

We took our time driving back down the gravel road to the highway as the cloud and haze began to disappear just enough to give us a panoramatic view of the lowlands below. South through Birch River and Bowsman to Swan River and to our lodgings at the Riverbank B&B . This is a beautiful old house built in the early 1900s which sits on the banks of the Swan River. In the construction of the main floor local granitic field stone was used, and as Pam Doleman our host told us, this one is one of the few old stone houses that remain in the area.

Swan River was named by the first of the settlers who had observed swans in the Thunder Hill area which is southwest of the town. European activity in the valley has been ongoing since the time of the fur trade, influenced by the factors who ran Hudson Bay posts. Some settlement occurred as early as 1770. The major thrust of settlement here was in the late 1890s as it was across much of prairie Canada, either just proceeding or following in the footsteps of railway construction.

The Swan River valley cradled between the two large parks, the Porcupines and the Duck Mountains, offers many great opportunities to bird watch, photograph, mountain bike and camp. One of the best cycling spots in this area is Thunder Hill. It is where the American Indians believed that the Great Spirit created thunder and lightning. Also one of the steepest hills on the Manitoba escarpment is found in the Porcupine Forest Reserve, an excellent test for the well conditioned cyclist.

South of Swan River are the Duck Mountains with Baldy Mountain the highest point in Manitoba ( 2730 feet). We travelled south from Swan River through Benito. Benito is the home of two-time world curling champion Ed Werenich and the 1999 Canadian Junior curling champion. West on Highway 49 (Saskatchewan) just south of Benito we stopped at Pelly. Pelly (Fort Livingston) was the seat of government for the North West Territories in 1874 as well as the headquarters of the North West Mounted Police. Unfornuately for us the local museum was closed so we lost an opportunity to learn first hand about Fort Livingston and Fort Pelly. Well maybe on next trip. We continued west through the aspen parkland and its beautiful fall colours through Sturgis and on to Kelvington. Then we turned north to Greenwater Provinical Park. Stopping several times just north of Kelvington, we watched thousands of Snow and Canada geese foraging for spilt grain in the stubble fields. From here it was a gradual climb on a beautiful curving highway to the Park. It was our first visit here -wow!

Greenwater Lake Provincial Park is a block of mixed aspen parkland and boreal forest approximately 78 square miles in size. According to Saskatchewan Environment a remnant of Fescue Prairie exits north of Greenwater Lake; a World Wildlife Fund study indicated that less than one percent of the Fescue Prairie exists within Prairie Canada. The plant and animal life is diverse. To promote this the Park has excellent hiking trails and an interpretive program as well as an Interpretive Center with interactive displays.

Northwest of the Park we continued homeward to Saskatoon with a stop at Star City to find the art gallery I mentioned earlier. Finding the gallery in Star City, a hamlet of less than 70 houses proved to be fun. Finally we located it north of a railway siding on the north side of the hamlet. The search was worthwhile as La Vern Rohrback, artist and properitor of Wild Roh's Art Studio is a wildlife artist who works in several media - oils, watercolour, wood and bone - doing both flat art and sculpture. His work can be found in galleries across western Canada and in private collections both in the USA and Canada. After an enjoyable visit with La Vern we headed home.