Between Saskatchewan and Manitoba

The Trans Canada Trail winds through the Shubenacadie Corridor, among the Gatineau hills, along one side of The University Of Waterloo Campus and across Duck Mountain Provincial Park between Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It's proximity to all we care about is fairly guaranteed. As this blog creates an electronic tie, that path may provide to many of us " walkers", another link, one from the natural world. As Megan and Matt hiked in the mid east, Bob and I treked the mid west. Who else was afoot?

Bob and I love a section of this trail . We regularly make the 15 minutes drive from his home town of Kamsack, to a parking lot by a wall of trees. The 9 km(return) path around Madge Lake was set in rough asphalt over 30 years ago and the extreme temperature shifts that happen year after year have now left patches of black along only small portions of the walk. Time after time, snow or heat... we reflect, relax and breathe deep as we thread through the pines and the elm and the birch.

Saturday, deciduous trees were bare - too many evening frosts. As we made our way, the path appeared to pop up through the press of leaf piles. The weather managed 5 above and promised rain. First a drizzle. That was okay. We had packed rain gear. Two roughed grouse jerkily tiptoed before us for awhile. Did they know it was Thanksgiving weekend? Then the sky opened and the folds in our rain gear acted as drain spouts as water leaked onto our slacks. Too wet, we turned around early ... the soaking making as laugh as we remembered our previous drenching this year at the infamous Lightening Bowl game between the Sask Roughriders and the Edmonton Eskimos.

Back in Sakatoon we have just enjoyed our Thanksgiving Salmon (sure to be a tradition) and are thankful that Amy bused in from Edmonton for two days.