Grasslands National Park — Attraction in Mankota No. 45

My husband and I took three horses to the west block of Grasslands Park in June. It was amazing. We camped at the Equestrian campground, which at this point in time is basically a set of six corrals and a watering trough - but that was all that was needed. The equestrian campground shares a beautiful new pit toilet (so new it doesn't even smell!) with the Belza Day Use area. The most important fact about this is that the day use area has trees! The only ones for miles around. Shade was incredibly important during the heat of the day - and other than our horsetrailer's shadow, there was nowhere else to find any.

The setting is incredible. Rolling grass covered hills are on either side of the Frenchman River valley. These hills go on for miles, and are covered in original prairie wool. Even the hardiest of pioneers couldn't plow them. They are home to roaming buffalo, which is just way cool. At the time we were there, the bulls had been pushed out of the herd, so everywhere you looked you would find one or two by themselves, hangin' out and eating, resting, or having a dustbath. They are basically scared of people and will normally run if they see you, however of course it is smart to just give them a wide berth.

The riding is unparallelled. It is a dream come true for someone who read cowboy stories of ranching days in the prairies. You can ride all day without running into a fence. Simply amazing.

The wildlife viewing is also amazing. We saw scads of whitetails and mulies, including a mulie mom with two adorable fawns. We also saw a rattlesnake sleeping on the road, a garter snake, several jackrabbits and of course the black tailed prairie dogs in their colonies. And the birds...for those of us who live too far north we got a wonderful earful of meadowlark song. As you are riding there is a constant burst of activity as small birds take flight from the short grass prairie - many I couldn't identify, but there was always birdsong wherever we went. I also met lark buntings for the first time, curlews, bobolink, prairie falcons, brown thrashers, western flycatchers (which is funny since although we live in Alberta, we only have eastern flycatchers here), nighthawks (we hear them all the time but rarely see them), and saw a bittern and a sora. You never know as you ride over the next hill what you might find. For a landscape so demanding, its surprising how much lives there.

And the nights. I have never seen such stars. The Milky Way goes all the way to the horizon. It is truly worth going just to see what the sky used to look like at night before all the light pollution. I swear you can see twice as many stars there as anywhere else. And while you are laying there, amazed by the beauty of the constellations, you are enrobed in complete silence. During the day there is birdsong and wind, but at night (at least for several of the nights we were there) the wind dropped and of course the birds were sleeping. It was the most intense silence I have ever heard. Absolutely delightful.

There are some things we found out that are good to know before you go with horses. First of all, we had hoped to camp out in the backcountry a night or two, but soon found out it was impossible to get the horses down to the river for a drink except in a very few number of places. The river banks are steep and impossible to get down for horses. The good news is you can hobble them and they have infinite grass to eat, but there's no place to securely tie them up for the night. And there's no shade. Anywhere.

The biggest unexpected problem was NOSEFLIES. We don't have them, so had no experience. During the heat of the day they literally drove some of our horses crazy, rubbing their noses in the dirt and striking out with their front feet. We couldn't even ride, they were so miserable. We coated their noses with flyspray, but it didn't seem to help. Apparently a roll on works better. That is the biggest downer about riding that we found. Early morning and evening...

Grasslands National Park is one of Canada’s least visited wild spaces, and that’s both so very good and too bad at the same time.

It’s so very good because this unique and hauntingly beautiful ecosystem is fragile and would be damaged irreparably by too many intrusive visitors. And the lack of visitors - particularly relative to the immensity of the space - only enhances the emotive power of the place. Put simply, too many humans here would be a crime.

But it’s too bad because the grandeur of the immense spaces reaches deep into one’s soul, acting as a balm against the manic pace of modern life and reminding us of nature's healing powers. More people need to experience these feelings; if they did perhaps they’d feel more connected to this fragile planet we call home and be more inclined to take better care of the natural gifts we’ve been given.

During our three says of say hiking (we stayed at The Convent Inn in Val Marie) we lost ourselves (metaphorically) in the beauty of this place. Within 15 minutes of setting out on our first hike we caught a quick flash of movement in some rocks adjacent to the trail. Lo and behold, here was an endangered Greater Short-horned Lizard scampering about a mere metre off the trail.

As if that weren’t enough, a few minutes later we had a reasonably close encounter with another endangered species - a Pronghorn Antelope scampering along a series of hills below the high trail we were tramping. This beautiful animal teased us with its presence for about ten minutes before disappearing for good.

After about 30 minutes of walking the groomed trail gave way to cross-country trekking with no distinct trails to follow. Instead, one is expected to look for one metre high plasticized, painted trail guideposts spaced out at random intervals and distances. For the most part these are reasonably visible, but there were a number of times when we had to stop and stare - sometimes for ten minutes or longer - to find the next marker. While this can be disconcerting we managed to find all the markers and continue on our way with reasonable certainty that we were on the right track. *Note: this is a place where you want to bring a compass (and know how to use it) just in case you lose track of the trail.

We hiked to our turnaround point, which just happened to overlook a vast Prairie Dog town (yes, they’re called towns). We set up for lunch and just listened to the sound of the town’s residents calling back and forth, their calls carried on the ever present breezes that also brought the scent of prairie grasses and wildflowers to our high perch.

Finally, a word about the beautiful quiet of this place. You can spend hours walking, or sitting, and hear nothing more than the hum of pollinators, the rustling of grasses touched by the breeze, the occasional “yip” of Prairie Dogs, or the cry of a hawk gliding overhead.

It’s one of the most magical and therapeutic places we’ve ever hiked. Highly recommended - but not for too...

Great place. Lots of hiking. If you don't like the primitive experience, there are the Otentiks. Beautiful, lots of animals (please don't harass our feed them). Great star gazing. Beautiful prairie. Lots of hikes. You live with the prairie dogs at the camp ground. Very cute. There are some electrical hook up for campers. Dump station. Bring a big big to full up your water. If you will be there a long time, get stock up at Swift Current. There a small grocery store at Val Marie and some really nice, but small and quaint eat place at Val Marie. It a 35 km drive through mostly unpaved road into Frenchman camp ground (west block). No shower. You can pay at the camp ground in Val Marie for shower / laundry. I just used my shower tent. They have wifi at the ranger center at the camp ground. During the season, there are ranger run program to educate us about the practice prairie. Not really any bike trail. Unless you are an avid cyclist. Most trails are grass or gravel. I really enjoyed the trip. Was there 1 wk. Staff were very knowledgeable and friendly. Go out of their way to help you. If you are coming from winnipeg, go to East Block first. Otherwise it's 2 hours drive from West Block. There is ONE gas station in town. In 2019, the Rangers had the educational programs. There were a couple of program that cost $14. This word ranger-led hikes archaeological site and and bison facility. Well worth the money. Especially if one has oh, it is very educational and the hikes are very easy. Said were campfire talks and other programs that were free. They were all high quality. I am glad I participated most of them. These were not tourist trap call Vance. You get a lot of information about the ecology, conservation, and history of the park and its people ( past and present. They also brought indigenous expert talk to you about the history. I will definitely try to come back to Grasslands again. Unfortunately because of global warming ranching Etc, are prairie are in danger. Hope I get to see it again in my lifetime current conditions. Oh, he prepared to drive on gravel during...