We love our wee cabin at the lake! But we do have cabin fever and who can blame us, 175 days of below zero temperatures. This time last year our lake was wide open and a neighbour’s boat in and we were having morning coffee on the deck.
The few good days we had allowed me to complete the modifications to our truck camper. A new enclosed front generator and modified rear storage allows us to haul our 16 ft. Sea Eagle kayak behind the passenger seat of our truck. Not that we have need for it now…but just in case winter decides to give up this year.
A funeral for a dear friend in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan was all we needed to get motivated. As long as we were heading north to our favourite part of the province we would take the Northern Lite and continue north for some winter camping. Yes even Charlotte was ready! I had spent some time in our camper this winter at Agribition so knew the four-season camper could handle the low temps. We would have to rely on our solar panel and two six volt batteries for all our power. The camper and stock solar panel and batteries came through with flying colours, our batteries never dropping below 12.2 volts.
Unfortunately our favourite northern campsites did not come through as well. If we thought we had lots of snow back here at Pike Lake, it was nothing compared to Anglin Lake, Waskesiu Lake and north.
The roads were great and plowed out in Great Herron Provincial Park as were the roads in Prince Albert National Park. We could get to the campground entrances but the campgrounds still had two to three feet of snow throughout. We stopped at Spruce River, Anglin Lake and then north to the Narrows north of Waskesiu townsite in Prince Albert National Park. We had hoped to see the otters playing, obviously they also were not in the playing mood.
The townsite usually very busy with people was quiet and snow piled everywhere. The main beach house had a five to six foot drift blocking the entrance, we sure need some warmer weather for the May long weekend.
We did however find open water on the Waskesiu River. Here we watched some confused Canada Geese arguing over whose fault it was they arrived back to this. Our journey north ended at the Hanging Heart Lakes where the marina road remained unplowed.
We totally enjoyed our province’s north again seeing a different beauty one does not experience in the summer months. The north is a great place to snowshoe, cross country ski and hike and enjoy the beauty of the green spruce against the stark white snow. As beautiful as it is it’s time winter to get lost and allow us a short but beautiful summer.
Short on campgrounds we were lucky enough to be able to camp at my cousin’s place at Northside, Sk. on Hwy. 2. June runs a great go-to-destination antique store, Northside Antiques and Collectibles, which also is home to the Black Spruce Art Gallery. Check the menu for more on this in a future article and photos.
Back at the cabin and another snowfall….perhaps this will be the last! For us our travels are starting again and we hope to see you “Down the Road”
We hope you subscribe and come back often….Charlotte and Gerry