License plates say a lot about a place. Beautiful British Columbia, Alberta: Wild Rose Country( Actually thats a pore example, if I got to name Alberta's it would be Alberta the land of dinosaurs, oil, and beef, maybe not quite as catchy but sums it up to the tee), and of course Saskatchewan: Land of The Living Skies. That indeed describes the provice; There is simply very little that obstructs the view of the sky. It stretches hundreds of kilometers in every direction giving beautiful views of the sunset and clouds themselves making up for the lack of mountains and forests. But what Im describing here is actually only the southern 1/3 of the province. As you go about 1 1/2 hours north of Saskatoon the praires are swallowed up by the boreal forest and the flat fields begin to roll giving depth to the landscape which then gives way to undulating terrain of remote wilderness. These lands are home to an abundance of wild life and an incredible array of birds. Farther North the rocky Canadian Shield begins which I'm afraid I cant describe because I've never been that far north except I do know it is filled with thousands of beautiful lakes very rarely visited by man.

I have always had mixed feelings about the prairies. Having been born in Saskatoon and living there until I was 5, I have spent a considerable time of my life especially with all the countless times my family has come back to visit Friends and family. Being that my greatest passions are the mountains, the forests, and the ocean it certainly doesnt seem ideal for me. Sometimes the flatness gets to menontnous and drives me to escape back to BC. The same way people from Saskatchewan visit BC and feel overwhelmed when the mountains and old growth forests close in hiding their beloved sky. Unless your in the North of the province there is only one easy way to escape the flatness of the praires, one remedy for me. The answer lies in the river valleys. The North Saskatchewan river which we first started to follow right from Edmonton cuts deep into the praire offering rolling hills and a natural setting obscurring the grid of farm roads and wheat fields.

After arriving in Borden, Sask where most of my family lives we rolled up to my Unlce Scott and Aunt Sonia's house where we would crash in their camper. Me and Cam had been planning a trip right from Edmonton, I knew that one of my uncles had a canoe and if we could organize a pickup we would be set to paddle down stream from the praire farm lands to several hundred kilometers north into the wilderness of the boreal forest. That night to my dissapointment I found out that my uncle no longer had a canoe so we were ready to abandon the plan. Apparently though theres a lot of canoes in Saskatchewan and people don't mind lending them to total strangers. So we borrowed a canoe from a Borden local and got dropped off at the borden bridge where we would start our paddle.

The first two days of paddling were pleasent, a wide and shallow river cut up by sand bars which make nice camping spots safely in the breeze away from the ravinous mosquitoes. The river wound its way north through a relatively deep valley providing relief for the otherwise flat landscape but still with an impressively big sky above us and surrounded by rolling pasture lands; I couldn't imagine a better place on the praires. Progressively during the last two days as we drifted farther north the scenery got increasingly more beautiful. The Saskatoon berry bushes and shrubs were being replaced with Spruce and towereing white poplars. The wild life was much better than expected, in those two days we spotted many beavers, a river otter, lots of deer(two of which swam across the river right in front of us ) a giant elk standing tall on a sandbar appearing as if floating in the middle of the river, tons of different birds including hawks, bald eagles, and gigantic pelicans which didn't seem to mind us paddling up close. Than a very cool wildlife encounter as I spotted a large black bear on the left bank about 200 meters ahead of us who jumped right in the river and began swimming for the other bank."Paddle hard," I shouted as we accelerated down stream to get a better view. We caught right up with it and watched it as it nervously climbed up the opposite bank and dissapeared in to a thick patch of spruce.

We pulled out of the river at a ferry crossing where we had arranged to be picked up. My uncle Scott picked us up just in time as the mosquitoes were starting to come out in full force ( Thank you so much Scott and Sonia for making the trip possible). We drove back to borden 2 hours away and had a well deserved nights rest.

The next day we packed up and were headed to Saskatoon but not before a quick stop at the Borden school where my aunt sonia works and many of my cousins attend. They had a big assembly with the entire school (actually theres only about a hundred kids in the school grades 1-12) in which we talked about our trip and ourselves. The kids were thrilled and so were we; it was actually really fun. It ended with the kids asking us all sorts of questions and then we signed autographs for whoever wanted (dont ask me why?).

The ride to Saskatoon was extremely fun. An easy 50 km. with a brisk tail wind pushing us full speed down the damp highway. As we entered the city limits the damp highway turned into a flooded highway as the rain started driving almost as hard as I've ever seen rain fall. But it was so wonderful, the rain was warm and we knew we would be at a warm home to shower and dry up after. The rain continued until we arrived sopping wet and plastered with mud and gravel at my family friend's home.

In Saskatoon we took a couple days of extreme relaxation. We were staying in the home of Puck and Bill whos kids Cody and Josina me and my brother had played with from the age of 1. They were very hospitable (thankyou guys so much) and after that nice stay we more than ready to go back to camping on route to winnipeg.

Me and Cam decided to split up to ride to Winnipeg 777 km. away so we could travel at our own speeds. The day I left I pulled by far my longest day at just over 200 km. before finding a tree in a field to camp under. The next day I left the main highway to take a more scenic route passing into the lake country of Manitoba and ended my day on the border just a shade under 200km. I couldn't help but laugh at the irony while approaching the provincial border as the road dived down a fairly long and steep hill of a river valley; It was a nice way to end a very flat ride. I was thrilled to be past Saskatchewan, from here it was all new road unfamilliar to me. I had spent so much time all over sask. but never made it to Manitoba or into Ontario. Of all the points I make for myself to cut up the trip into sections this is one I was really looking forward because new territory to me feels like exploration a key element in any well rounded adventure.