Horse-drawn Wagon Holiday in Canada

5 days / 4 nights

This little known ecologically sensitive area loaded with life and history takes on a different shade of beauty when travelled the way it once was by horse-drawn wagons while on holiday. Designated as a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve site, tens of thousands of shorebirds can be seen feeding here during spring and fall bird surveys. The area is also important to geese, ducks, many species of songbirds, raptors, deer and other animals. It encompasses more than 40,000 hectares (100, 000 acres) of protected land managed as an ecological reserve.

Package Price:
1090.00 Can./Person
752.00 U.S./Person

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Location: Saskatchewan / Canada
Weather: LOW 11.6 C at night
HIGH 24.2 C during the day

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Day 1

Leaving Regina, we will make our way to Saskatoon and Historic North Battleford where we will visit Fort Battleford National Historic Site overlooking the North Saskatchewan River. Fort Battleford showcases the role of the Northwest Mounted Police in the Canadian West. The fort was established in 1876 and abandoned in 1924. It offers five original buildings, four with period furniture, showing how the national architecture of the day was adapted to the West. The stockades and bastions are reconstructed, and the barracks have an interpretive display.

We will end the day at Atton's Lake Regional Park, where we will camp for the night. There is a nice beach area for the bold swimmers or good hiking in the surrounding hills for those who prefer to stretch their legs on land. Nearby is the site of the Battle of Cut Knife during the 1885 Resistance, which includes a marble cairn built in 1952 on the actual battlefield on Poundmaker Reserve, where chief Poundmaker is buried.

Day 2

After breakfast, we head towards Neilburg where we meet our host Joan and Bill, long time residents and local historians of the area. After we have transferred our luggage and equipment into the wagons, our trek will begin. Wagon travel not only is less hard on the sandy soil than motorized vehicles; it allows the trekker to pause and take the time to discover the subtleties of the terrain. The groves of trembling aspen trees and prairie grasslands alternate, until we get to Manitou lake's scenic views and healing mineral waters. You will experience the serenity of a place little changed since herds of bison roamed freely. Their bones still are strewn along the shore.

We will explore the Eye Hills overlooking the whole area. They were once heavily disputed among warring First Nations. We then make our way to our camp for the next days above Little Manitou Lake.

Day 3

Little Manitou Lake is in a way a microcosm of the greater Lake Manitou. As we explore the shore section by section throughout the day, we will get a sense of nature's dynamics at work. The crustaceans that inhabit these salty waters are a tremendous source of food for the myriad of shorebirds that stop here to nest or to refuel on their migratory journeys. From our camp we can see the majestic nesting blue heron colony in the trees across the lake. A little further along the shore, there might be as many as 50 white pelicans gently basking in the sun or taking their flight to soaring heights above our heads.

Day 4

Our guest Naturalist Kevin Cantelon has participated in a number of bird surveys in these parts and has gained an intimate knowledge of the species' individual behaviour. During the course of these long days spent by himself in this remote setting, he has developed an interest, very appropriately, in watercolours. He proposes to host a lakeside workshop on this day. We will also take the time to hike in the surrounding hills, rich in untapped archaeology. We will look at an ancient aboriginal food cache on top of an easy-to-find hill, where the gooseberries that were once stored, have germinated and given birth to a thriving gooseberry patch.

Day 5

It is filled with lasting memories that we will make our way back to cultivated land through the pastures of the grazing co-operatives that ranchers use to fatten up their cattle. You will get a sense of the ecological challenges ahead in terms of land use sustainability, as you witness first-hand the effects of overgrazing on plant diversity. After lunch we will start our trip back to Regina.

Package includes:
Tents, camping equipment, all home-cooked meals including wine and other refreshments, fees, applicable taxes, professional guide/interpreters and all transportation from point of departure to point of return. Sleeping bags not included.

Related Books

Indians in the United States and Canada: A Comparative History
Roger L. Nichols

			The Oxford History of the American West Editor Carol A. O'Connor , Editor Martha A. Sandweiss , Editor Clyde A. Milner
			Lavishly illustrated and based on the finest scholarship, this "stunning portrait of the West" (The Wall Street Journal) brings together the work of 28 leading western historians who explore this area from a dazzling number of perspectives. 250 illustrations, 16 in color.

			Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee:An Indian History of the American West Dee Brown
			Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is Dee Brown's eloquent, fully documented account of the systematic destruction of the American Indian during the second half of the 19th century. When it was first published in 1971, both reviewers and the reading public responded first with shock, then a deep sense of shame, calling it "shattering" (Washington Post), and "heartbreaking" (The New York Times). It went on to sell over a million copies in hardcover and four million copies in paperback, and was translated into 15 languages around the world.