SASKATCHEWAN PARKS, MUSEUMS, THEATER AND GOLF

The Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) is the major east-west route across the southern part of Saskatchewan. Its highlights include Regina, Moose Jaw, Swift Current and the Fort Walsh National Historic Site. But if you drive off the main route and explore the back roads, you'll discover much more.

A scenic back road. Saskatchewan.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

Take scenery, for example. It ranges from 30-meter-high sand dunes to highlands, forests and 100,000 lakes and streams. Visitors to the northwest will find the dunes in Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Wilderness Park. The highlands in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, in the southwest, mark the highest point of land between Labrador and the Rocky Mountains.

Saskatchewan parks and bird sanctuaries

Two national, 34 provincial and 101 regional parks are havens for birds and birdwatchers. Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, established in 1887, is North America's oldest bird sanctuary. Redberry Lake and its islands, Saskatchewan's first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, boast 200 bird species.

Late August to November is the best time to see massive waterfowl migrations. You don't have to travel far. Chaplin Nature Centre is close to the Trans-Canada Highway.

You can experience the diverse landscapes and parks on hiking, biking, fishing and waterways trips. The Saskatchewan Outfitters Association provides information on lodges, guides and packages. Canoe Saskatchewan, helps you find canoe routes, rapids classifications, weather, wilderness resources and information on archaeology, geology and history.

Winter activities

While spring, summer and fall are the busiest seasons in Saskatchewan, you shouldn't avoid the balance of the year. Winter brings a host of enjoyable activities, ranging from dog sledding to old-fashioned sleigh rides, pulled by horses with jingle bells on their harnesses.

Visitors who cross-country ski through provincial parks may encounter moose and hear wolves howling. Heated ice fishing huts allow you to land “a big one”, even when temperatures drop.

Snowmobiling is especially popular. More than 10,000 kilometers of developed trails, some in provincial parks, link communities and resorts.

Winter festivals include the February Mushers Rendezvous in Preeceville and the Prince Albert Winter Festival.

Museums and First Nations culture

Restoring a Model-T Ford in the Western Development Museum.
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

Four Western Development Museums (WDMs) pay tribute to Saskatchewan's pioneers and immigrants. A recreated 1910 boomtown street highlights Saskatoon's WDM. Moose Jaw's WDM showcases the history of transportation and pays tribute to the Snowbirds, Canada's famous aerobatic team, based in the city. Yorkton's WDM portrays western Canadian immigrants. North Battleford's WDM/Heritage Farm and Village have an agricultural theme.

The First Nations Gallery in Regina's Royal Saskatchewan Museum portrays Aboriginal culture and lifestyles with dioramas, maps, stone tools, furs and traditional medicines. Colourful summer powwows celebrate the First Nations culture with drumming, chanting and dancing.

Gangsters, bootleggers and rumrunners from the 1920s Prohibition era (some say even Al Capone) hid in a network of tunnels under the streets of downtown Moose Jaw. According to hearsay, illegal Chinese immigrants escaped persecution and hefty head taxes in these tunnels.

Nowadays, guides dressed as characters from both eras lead The Chicago Connection and Passage to Fortune tours beneath Main Street. In the Tunnels of Moose Jaw, visitors see a gangster's living quarters, a bootlegging operation, a Chinese laundry and restaurant.

Saskatchewan's history is also linked to that of the famous red-jacketed, Stetson-hatted Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), who maintained law and order in Canada's West between nomadic First Nations people and white hunters, traders and settlers. Fort Battleford National Historic Site of Canada has costumed interpreters.

Activities in Regina, Saskatoon and North Battleford

In Regina, the Saskatchewan Science Centre features the Kramer IMAX Theatre and hands-on exhibits ranging from static electricity to outer space. The Royal Saskatchewan Museum showcases Aboriginal culture, fossils, geology and a robotic T. rex. Wascana Centre, one of North America's largest urban parks at 2,300 acres, boasts the MacKenzie Art Gallery, and a lake where visitors can rent pedal boats and feed swans.

Cypress Hills Golf Course. Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, between Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

Saskatoon sits on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River. Its Synchrotron, the $174 million Canadian Light Source, creates intense light beams that help scientists understand the molecular structure of materials.

Saskatchewan's smaller cities are also worth visiting. North Battleford's Allen Sapp Gallery/The Gonor Collection, for example, features vivid paintings of reservation life by the talented Cree artist.

Golf, festivals and theater

Saskatchewan boasts entertainment for all interests: casinos, theatres, concerts, more than 250 museums, and an equal number of golf courses. Tourism Saskatchewan publishes an annual Golf Tour Guide.

Saskatoon skyline and Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Festival
in tents by the South Saskatchewan River.

Summer festivals range from Saskatoon's Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Festival, in a circus tent by the river, to the Regina Folk Festival. In July, Lloydminster celebrates Colonial Days and Craven hosts a Country Jamboree. Nipawin's Great Northern Pike Festival runs from June through September.

Child plays with pet rabbit. Saskatchewan vacation farm.

Where to stay

While Saskatchewan's cities feature modern hotels, and its parks offer camping, some visitors may prefer rural accommodations. Guests can play cowboy at ranches and vacation farms. They'll enjoy trail rides, horse-drawn wagon rides, cattle drives and hearty meals around crackling campfires. The Saskatchewan Bed and Breakfast Association provides information on member properties.

Once you discover that there are so many things to see and do in Saskatchewan, you'll no longer think of it as a drive-through province between Manitoba and Alberta.

TRAVEL INFORMATION

More things to see and do in Saskatchewan:

Canada's RCMP Training Academy & New RCMP Heritage Centre

Canadian First Nations Archeological Site Wanuskewin is Older Than Pyramids

See Ukrainian Easter Eggs and Cultural Artifacts in Saskatoon's Ukrainian Museum of Canada

Tourism Saskatchewan: www.sasktourism.com