Grasslands National Park - East Block — Ryan Lucenkiw Nature Photography

Grasslands National Park had been on my list of places to see for a long time. I had a rough itinerary for a road trip out west that I worked out a couple years back but never had the opportunity to go on. I got a bit of time off work so I just loaded my car and left. Grasslands is split in two, the East Block and the West Block. I spent a day and a night in each. Despite the short duration of time spent, I still managed to pack my day full of activity and find many opportunities for photography. In this post, I’ll focus on the East Block.

Leaving from Winnipeg, I had originally planned to spend my first night around Big Muddy. I had arrived there shortly before sunset but decided to carry on. Big Muddy (Castle Butte) is advertised in all the Saskatchewan tourism brochures, there was a sign from the highway suggesting it was open, but when you get there you find “Private Property - No Trespassing” signs all over the place and I just wasn’t comfortable spending time there. I figured Grasslands East Block was only a few hours away and decided to go for it.

I had done a bit of research before leaving, so I knew that the Badlands Parkway was one of the main attractions in this side of the park. Arriving in twilight, I had just hint of light left on the horizon. I decided to make the most of it and drove along the entire parkway. I chose Zahursky Point as my stop of choice and headed to the campground to get some sleep. It was a rough, short night sleeping in my car, but I woke up a few hours later to return to Zahursky Point to catch the sunrise.

The light was pretty dull and flat for me for an hour or so after sunrise due to low clouds on the horizon. I used that time to look for any composition I could find. When the sun finally rose above the clouds, I quickly moved from spot to spot grabbing the photos I wanted.

Once content, I headed back to the visitor centre to figure out how to spend the rest of my day. I was directed towards hiking the Valley Of The 1,000 Devils Trail. This trail would take me out into the badlands I had just seen from the edge. The whole area is designated as back country and you can hike just about anywhere out there and set up a tent. You’d have to carry in (and out) everything you need, but it would allow you to get into a better position for the sunrise or set. Notes for next time.

The trail was only about 12km return or so, but was really interesting to walk among the buttes. Many of them had orange tops which is sun baked clay, similar to terra cotta.