A Most Peaceful Place

Is this a slice of heaven or what?

Opapiskaw Rapids

on the Winnipeg River near Lac du Bonnet, MB  (the locals say lac du bonny)

The river was higher than usual, so the rapids were fairly submerged.

Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) 

So very peaceful.

I think this is Alumroot (Heuchera richardsonii). 

Did I say it was a most peaceful, still evening....??? 

 
And what Canadian lake, river or stream is complete without our national animal Castor canadensis

A storm advancing?  Yes, this is part of the storm system that caused flooding in Alberta, dumped a lot of rain over Southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba....with more to come.  But, I didn't know about all that.  I'd been in the woods for a few days, completely oblivious of what was going on in the rest of the world.  Switched off and tuned out.  So nice.

A Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio canadensis) also enjoying the simple and very natural life.

This particular bit of serenity was courtesy of Opapiskaw Campground in Manitoba's Whiteshell Provincial Park.

Thanks, Manitoba.  I'll be back.

Where is it?

North Dakota, Part II

All right, still over on the western side of NoDak, next up is Theodore Roosevelt National Park, South Unit.  Medora is the resort hub of the park.  It's got a western, cowboy theme going on.  There's a big country musical there every year - not my sort of thing, so I've never been to it.

The badlands are quite spectacular.  Also extremely hot in mid-July.  It was sweltering the day I took this photo of a huge bull bison.

A Black-tailed Prairie Dog  (Cynomys ludovicianus)

Did I say it was hot that day

On to the Cross Ranch by the Missouri River, some 30 miles north of Mandan. 

The Nature Conservancy has secured a portion of the ranch along the western side of the river, plus there's a state park.  Nice quiet place to stay.  Good fishing I think.  Spotted Towhees and Lazuli Buntings had nests in the shrubs around my isolated campsite.  Field Sparrows sang all day long.

This is on the Lewis & Clark Trail (click on photo to enlarge).

There's interesting information about TRNP at these links: 
http://www.nps.gov/thro/index.htm
http://www.realnd.com/badlandsindex.htm
The geology of the park:
http://theodoreroosevelt.areaparks.com/parkinfo.html?pid=26955
About the Lewis & Clark Expedition
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition