Camping and Hiking Cypress Hills

Friday

After dropping Hugh off at the airport (he's on the way to St. Therese's for a week-long retreat on spiritual healing), I picked up Eric at his home shortly after 8am.

We packed his stuff in my car, and then immediately hit the road westward on the #7 to Kindersley, then south on the #21, stopping in Leader.  We actually took an hour-long detour to Checkerboard Hill where we saw some great views of the area.  Along the way, we also saw antelopes on the side of the reoad.

After the short detour, we resumed our journey on the #21, through Maple Creek to the Cypress Hills Winery where we enjoyed a late lunch along with some wine tasting.  I bought 2 bottles: rhubarb, and sour cherry.

The last stretch to Cypress Hills (west block) was a short 1 hour journey.  We camped in spot #17, relaxed in the shade for a bit, and ate dinner.

After setting up camp we went on a 6km hike to the Conglomerate Cliffs. We watched the sunset here, and hiked back at dusk.

Saturday

Saturday was another spectacular day - perfectly hot and sunny.  Our goal was to be up and hiking by 10am, but alas, we were an hour late getting going.  We got up at 8 and stumbled our way through breakfast.  Car-camping can be tedious, packing and unpacking food, storing and retrieving food from the car...

But once we were on the trails, we were motoring.  We hiked 13kms in the heat of the day, along South Benson, Baldy, and La Barge trails.  This was not our intended itinerary, but poor provincial trail maps meant that we had to amend our plans.

Still, we got some wonderful views.

By 3pm we were exhausted, and went back to our campsite to rest and stock up on water supplies.  Then at 6pm we got on the road again, this time on the TCT, heading towards the Hidden Conglomerate Cliffs.

The hike was a short 6km (return), and just what we were looking for.  We'd already covered good territory earlier in the day, and what we were looking for in this early evening hike was essentially viewpoints, and that we got:

When we got back to our campground, it was already after 9pm.  Caked in bug spray and sweat, the first thing I did upon returning was jump into the nearby stream and wash myself clean.  Oh the great feeling of cleanliness after a19km hiking day!

Sunday

Sunday began with breakfast and clean up.  Sidenote: I slept wonderfully on my new 6.5" sleeping MEC sleeping pad.  I've never slept so well camping!

By 11am we were on the road again, this time by car, headed to the centre block of Cypress Hills.  We took the "Gap" shortcut, a 17km dirt road meandering up and down the lovely hills of the area.  It was clearly a farm road, as we encountered cattle and waterholes all along.

Once on the west block, we immediately went to the lookout:

Then we went for lunch, followed by a 13km hike along the TCT.  It was gorgeous, with a variety of field flowers and trees, forests, and medows along the way.  We even had lunch while sitting on a log, with a curious cow standing about 8 metres away, watching our every move.

 

After completing our hike, we got in my Jetta to make the 5 hour trip home.  We went on the #1, eastbound, stopping at the Original Joe's in Swift Current for dinner.  After dinner we took the #4 northbound, through Saskatchewan Landing and Kyle before turning east on the #7 in Rosetown.  I arrived home near midnight exhausted, but with a tremendous feeling of accomplishment.

I love hiking, and I'm beginning to love camping.  It doesn't replace cultural trips to see other parts of the world, but there's certainly something to be said for exploring the wild outdoors of the places that we live in.  And in terms of hiking experiences in Saskatchewan, there is no better place than Cypress Hills.

Tomorrow I rest, before going for cheek surgery in Moose Jaw on Tuesday.