Edmonton to Saskatoon (with pictures now)

Left Edmonton on my way to Saskatoon. The wonderful GPS tells me that I have a little more than 500km to drive through highway 16 and told me it will take me just a few hours to get there. Learning from my previous mistake and factoring time-zone change, I realized that I still have some time to kill. So I decided to stop over in Elk Island National Park.

Elk Island National Park is right off highway 16, about 30km east of Edmonton. Even though the name would lead you to believe that you’re going to see lots of elk, it’s not entirely true. Not much elk in here, however there’s plenty of bison.

Driving through the lovely roads, green on all sides and clear blue sky above, I did manage to see one humongous bison devouring some grass right on the roadside. It was huge. I took a few photos, then it started moving towards the car so I took off. I know a little bit about car insurance, and I’m not sure I have “having the car severely hit by furious huge animals” anywhere in my insurance raiders.

Here it is:

That was my first time seeing a live bison. All of my previous encounters with bison were in the context of a meal.

Further down the road, inside the park, is the Astotin Lake area. This is some decent lake with a cute island in the middle. No mountains here, so this lake really reminds me of similarly looking lakes in Ontario which are just as beautiful. It is amazing how differently you appreciate the look of a lake when there’s no mountains around it. Mountains add lots of beauty to any lake.

There’s a bench right next to the water. Knowing that there’s no person named Doug here to annoy me, I decided to take a short nap on the bench. Cool wind in my hair, carrying sweet flora scents. Short nap – maybe 15 minutes – and I’m feeling like a tiger again.

Time to pack and keep on driving…