Posts Tagged With: White Horse Hill game preserve

Winnipeg, Manitoba July 13,2023

In 2020 I turned 70 and was planning to celebrate my July birthday with a trip to Winnipeg. As we all know, Covid happened and the planned trip never materialized. Three years later I am no longer 70 but the birthday celebration is under way.

Out trip began in a roundabout way. The International Peace Garden is on the North Dakota-Manitoba border but about 130 miles west of the route we would take from St. Paul to Winnipeg. We had frequently thought about visiting it but it was always too far out of the way to justify the effort to visit. This year we made the accommodation by leaving half a day earlier than we had planned for Winnipeg. The extra hours would allow us to make it to the peace garden without sacrificing our Winnipeg time.

We spent Wednesday night in Grand Forks ND and Thursday morning left for the International Peace Garden. Of course, we didn’t go directly to the garden, we made a stop at White Horse Hill National Game Preserve, a sort of offshoot of a National Wildlife Refuge. Our drive on U.S. 2 took us through an agricultural area with topography ranging from flat to rolling hills with numerous “prairie potholes”, small lakes, ponds, and marshes that fill depressions left over from glacial action.

A particularly pleasant view is of the crop of canola which is hitting its peak blooming period. This time of summer is when canola flowers before the seeds are produced. The yellow canola blooms are a bright contrast to the green of many other crops. The yellow blooms continued when we journeyed into Canada as the Canadian prairies produce more canola than the U. S. North Dakota is the leading canola producer among U. S. states.

White Horse Hill is on the south side of Devil’s Lake, North Dakota’s largest natural lake. Devil’s Lake is interesting. Like the Great Salt Lake, it normally has no natural outlet. The size and depth of Devil’s Lake can vary greatly. Unlike southwestern U.S., ND has seen an increase in precipitation in the last fifty years and the lake has expanded, forcing the relocation of hundreds of homes.

White Horse Hill is at a higher elevation and not threatened by the expanding lake. Unfortunately for us, our drive through the preserve only provided glimpses of prairie dogs, none of the native elk or bison were visible.

Our next stop was Rugby, North Dakota which advertises itself as the geographical center of North America. This claim goes back to the 1930s and a calculation by a National Geographic staffer.Two later efforts moved the geographic center of North America to other North Dakota cities but Rugby has longevity and better marketing behind its claim. The marker is but a stone monument in the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant but there were two other groups of people taking pictures while we were there.

From Rugby it is just a forty minute drive north to the border and the International Peace Garden (IPG). The IPG opened in 1932 as a symbol of peace and international collaboration. We had a picnic lunch here and then spent 90 minutes exploring the formal gardens. Sculptures, fountains, flowering plants, green plants, trees, and terraced hillsides made for a relaxing and colorful interlude. As a bonus, our membership to the Minnesota Arboretum waived the $25 admission fee.

Zipping through the border checkpoint and simple questions, we continued our drive through agricultural Manitoba on our way to Winnipeg. The IPG is located in the Turtle Mountains which are more like tall hills but in contrast to the surrounding flat plains, one can forgive the people of Manitoba and North Dakota in calling these mountains.

Winnipeg bursts upon you as urban sprawl is contained and you go from farmland directly to city. We are staying at a Homewood Suites outside of downtown Winnipeg. Tomorrow we begin our touring.

Ed and Chris, Winnipeg, Manitoba July 14