Yesterday I took a drive to Riding Mountain National Park, which is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Winnipeg. It is easy for me to get hooked on anything that has to do with nature and/or critters, so when I joined the facebook page for RMNP, I pretty much knew that I was going to have to make time to visit.
I found out that there is a multi park pass that covers all the National Parks in Canada and that the annual passes right now are good for 2 years instead of one, so I now have a pass that is good until the end of September, 2018. I can see a lot more trips there in the coming couple of years. Also, since the pass is good for all National Parks in Canada, I can use it when I go to Vancouver and go through (and probably spend a night or 2) in both Banff & Jasper in Alberta.
If you are interested in the 2 year annual pass, you must purchase it in 2016.
I saw one Black Bear shortly before I got to the park, but did not see any inside the park. He crossed the highway in front of me and as I pulled over to try to get his picture, I knew he would disappear before I could get a good one. So, I pointed the camera through my windshield and snapped before I had even come to a complete stop. He disappeared into the bushes and I was unable to take another one.
Not the best picture, but it is the only one I’ve got and you can tell that it is a Black Bear.
At the Bison enclosure, you have a chance of seeing the Bison and you have a chance of not seeing them. Their area is huge and the few roads in there are a long way apart. As I drove in the gate, I saw one immediately – then I saw 3 more not far away. Off to the side from those 3 was a herd of them. 🙂 I stopped my car and started snapping picture and before I knew it, they had me surrounded. One other car that was going the other way was there for awhile, but when the road cleared for a minute, they continued on and I was alone with a herd of Bison.
Other cars were coming in the gate soon after, but the Bison created a road block stopping anyone from getting up to where I was. Since the Bison had past me and were now behind me, the road was now clear in front of me and I decided to move on a bit. I found a road to an observation deck and went in there to take a look around. After looking around and looking at the maps, I decided to head back the way I had come and I could move on to other areas of the park (if the Bison roadblock had cleared).
The road block was still in effect, so I just took more pictures. Finally they moved off enough and I drove out to look around the park some more.
I also took a few videos of the Bison. 🙂
I’ll be back! 🙂
