Biathlon March 2010

Last weekend I embarked on a biathlon; two days of skiing and shooting (pictures that is). Escaping the city around 4:30 my brother Shawn and I headed to Duck Mountain Provincial Park. Along the way we made note of any potential photogenic scenes - a low pasture with horses and a setting sun, a lone church just off the highway, and several deteriorating farmyards and communities.

After a low key evening and a restful sleep at our hotel we hit Duck Mountain Ski Area around 10:30. The weather was beautiful and after our first run we began taking off layers of clothing. Being late in the season the slopes were not crowded. Following a couple runs down the easy slopes I moved on to a few intermediate hills. I watched jealously as nine and ten year old children whooshed pass me on snowboards and skis. Later I attempted Hangover, an aptly named suicide run. Near the bottom I noticed three children taking a break building a snowman off to the side. The temperature had risen to 3 Celsius by mid-afternoon. As a result, the runs were becoming somewhat slushy and less enjoyable. Around 5pm we headed to Kamsack for supper and to scope out the town. We declined Avatar which was playing at the theatre and cursed ourselves for not packing swimming trunks for the hotel pool. Instead we planned our photo trip for the next day.

I am by no means an expert photographer, but I love documenting and capturing history in pictures. It is thrilling to research and ponder about old farms, ghost towns, and interesting places.

We were up and on the road by 9am on Sunday. On the drive we noticed an animal moving in the shallow ditch. On our right maybe thirty feet away was a wolf. Wish I had taken a picture! I noticed another out further in the field.


We were excited for our first photo stop, an abandoned farm on the way to Kamsack. We had to hike our way into the farmyard, but it was worth it. It consisted of sheds, a house, a hall-like building, and a couple other unidentifiable (and inaccessible)
structures. We spent a good hour there.
We traveled down the road for brunch in Kamsack where we received the most excellent service from a nine-year old host. It was then off to Veregin, home to a Doukhabour Prayer House, an elevator, and a couple old buildings on main street. Nine miles east we stopped in Mikado which had an old post office, general store, and church.

Canora proved to be a
quaint and bustling town
with a number of Ukrainian
churches. South of Canora was
Gorlitz, a one street hamlet with
about ten houses (half of which
were abandoned) and a church.
In a couple years this will be a
ghost town photographer's goldmine. A few miles past Yorkton was Otthon Church. Built in 1950 it didn't have the potential we had previous thought it did. A short detour northwest on highway 15 revealed the tiny hamlet of Birmingham with only three or four houses, but still occupied.

Just beyond Melville we ran into fog thwarting our photo hunting excursion. Nonetheless we had a great time and captured some superb pics. I can't wait for the next outing!

Feel free to recommend any ghost towns or neat areas of Saskatchewan under comments.