In Duck Mountain Provincial Park, Manitoba, the prairie peaks start to make a little bit more sense.
Even though a small portion of the Duck Mountain highlands are in Saskatchewan, the topography pales in comparison to the eastern ridge in Manitoba. That's because this prairie "mountain range" was part of the western shore of a deceased glacial lake, Lake Agassiz.
Alright, they're not true mountains in the sense that they were never formed by tectonic movement uplifting the earth's crust, or volcanic activity. They were formed solely by erosion and the accumulation of glacial till. Still, this is enough to give the elevation prominence when considering the flat prairies beneath.
ABOUT DUCK MOUNTAIN
Duck Mountain exists near the mid-point of the Manitoba Escarpment— the western shore of the ancient lake. There are several viewpoints from the peak of the escarpment located via back-roads. However, these roads are not maintained and many are accessible by ATV or snowmobile only.
This shot was taken on our trip, "Sunrise Hunting Over the Manitoba Escarpment." From this eastern ridge in Duck Mountain, you can see the hills taper off into the lowland plains.
Photo from the same location as above in late November. This shot was featured in our story, "Back Where We Started."
So, If you're ever bored while driving through the plains of Manitoba, remember that you're driving through the bed of a 10,000-30,000 year old lake that was once larger than all of the Great Lakes combined. If that doesn't make it slightly more interesting, there's always the roadside attractions, like the golf ball in Gilbert Plains.