Where do you go when you need to switch off from the hectic pace and ordinariness of everyday life? Well, the Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan, Canada could be just the perfect place – a place of peace and tranquillity, where the skies are big and the grass is golden, the wildlife is thriving, the viewpoints are stunning, and the sound of coyotes sing you to sleep at night. What’s not to like?
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Where is the Grasslands National Park, Canada?
The Grasslands National Park is located in the south of Canadian province Saskatchewan. The Grasslands National Park is split into two blocks – West Block and East Block, with each block offering a very different topography and experience:
- The West Block is based next to the town of Val Marie has protected grassland habitat, bison, black-tailed prairie dogs and a self-drive route called the EcoScenic Drive.
- The East Block is a 2-hour drive south-east from Val Marie and so is even further off the beaten track and right up against the border with Montana, USA, but provides incredible Badlands scenery.
From a scheduling point of view, as we were visiting Drumheller (badlands scenery) later in our road trip of the Alberta Badlands and Canadian Prairies, then we decided to cut our driving down and stick to the West Block of the Grasslands National Park on this trip.
So, for the purposes of this blog, I will be focussing on our trip to the West Block of the Grasslands National Park.
The Visitor Centre for the Grasslands National Park is based in the small town of Val Marie, about 3.5 hours drive west of Regina or 1.5 hours south of Swift Creek.
What makes the Grasslands National Park worth the journey?
There are many reasons to make the journey to the Grasslands National Park, but top line:
- It is the only national park in Canada dedicated to a grasslands habitat and preserving this type of habitat.
- The Grasslands National Park is relatively quiet because it is out of the way – in fact it only gets around 12,000 visitors a year, as opposed to 4 million in Banff. As a result, visiting the Grasslands National Park feels special, undiscovered, and peaceful.
- It is absolutely stunning!
Getting to The Grasslands National Park (West Block)
We were travelling from the Historic Reesor Ranch in Cypress Hills InterProvincial Park to reach Val Marie in the Grasslands National Park which takes just over 3 hours, however as we wanted to travel via Fort Walsh Historic Site then this extended our journey by an hour, but we were glad to have made this stop in the morning of our travel day.
We then scheduled a second stop at Maple Creek.
Maple Creek (‘Cow Town’)
Maple Creek is a small agricultural community which was settled in 1882. In 1884 the first shipment of cattle from Western Canada was loaded onto the newly built railway at Maple Creek to go to market, which lead to the nickname of ‘Cow Town’.
We only made a brief and functional stop in Maple Creek to fill up with fuel and buy provisions for our next stop in the Grasslands National Park where we would be in self-catering accommodation. However, in the short time we were in town, we enjoyed the frontier style buildings on Jasper Street and a quality coffee at The Daily Grind café (which features in the film A Cowboy Christmas alongside the Historic Reesor Ranch).
Scenery on the way from Maple Creek to Val Marie
After our pit-stop in Maple Creek, we had a 2-hour 20-minute drive to the town of Val Marie. On the way we marvelled at just how flat the scenery was – endless fields of wheat, wide horizons, miles and miles of straight roads and train tracks, grain silos and nodding oil drills….and repeat!
We saw hardly any cars on our journey, just the occasional white-tailed deer disappearing into the fields. For us visitors from a much smaller country, the sheer scale and endless rolling landscape was just awe-inspiring.
The town of Val Marie
Val Marie is a tiny town on the edge of the Grasslands National Park (West Block). It was originally settled by the French and had 2000 inhabitants at one point, although today numbers have dwindled to about 300, but apparently with a disproportionate number of yoga practitioners (unchecked fact!).
When we arrived and drove through town (that only took a minute!), to be honest it looked quite deserted, with no-one around. Most of the action seemed to be inside the local VM Grocery & Liquor store which was busy and had a good range of products for top up provisions.
Standing out in Val Marie are the old and new Val Marie Grain Elevators – the old crib-style municipal elevator was built in 1927 and at the time of construction was one of approximately 3300 elevators in Saskatchewan, although there are now many left now. Tours of the elevator are available.
What to do in the Grasslands National Park (West Block)
Grasslands National Park Visitor Centre, Val Marie
Our first stop was to the Grasslands Visitor Centre in the centre of Val Marie to pay park fees, pick up maps and check our driving routes.
Snakes – there were clear warnings around the Visitor Centre about being ‘snake aware’ whilst in the Grasslands National Park as there are rattle snakes (‘rattlers’). The advice was to wear sturdy ankle boots for walking in the Grasslands National Park, stay on the paths, and avoid stepping or jumping over rocks when there could be snakes hiding on other side. If going off path, then to consider wearing snake gaiters.
Ticks – the other element to be aware of is ticks which are prevalent in the Grasslands National Park – wear long walking trousers and tuck them into your socks. Give yourself a good spray with insect repellent containing DEET!
See bison on the EcoScenic Drive, West Block
Taking the EcoScenic Drive is the main way to explore the West Block of the Grasslands National Park which centres around Frenchman River Vallery. Whilst the EcoScenic Drive is only 20km long, it starts a little out of town and so it is more of a 80km round trip when you include getting there and back from Val Marie.
On our way to the cattlegrid which marked the entrance of the EcoScenic drive, we encountered a brave coyote on the road and several more deer bobbing about which was a good start to our wildlife spotting. Hopefully the bison will be as obliging…
Once on the EcoScenic Drive you will find numerous information points where you can pull in and read about the special aspects of that stop. The Visitors Centre has a leaflet about these stops, so you know what’s in store for you, but namely:
- Endless stunning viewpoints across the valley carved out by glacial melt waters many thousands of years ago.
- Bison which have been reintroduced into the park and are now increasing in numbers. We saw two bison up close and a large herd on a distant hill. We also spotted a pink granite bison rubbing stone, left over from the ice-age, and used by thousands of bison to ease an itchy back over the years. Note – if you do see bison then you should be respectful and retain a safe distance.
- Endangered Blacktailed Prairie Dogs on the Top Dogtown Trail – this is the only place in Canada (and most northernly place) where Blacktailed Prairie Dogs still exit in their natural habitat. They were busy collecting grasses and calling to each other on the dirt mounds above their homes underground.
- More teepee rings in perfect vantage points to be able to see anyone coming down the Frenchman River Valley.
- The deserted homestead of Walt Larson who braved this unforgiving land to build a house on the steep banks of the river, 72km from the nearest services.
- Parks Canada Red Chairs at the Belsa Day Unit Picnic Stop which was a great place to sit and enjoy the vast horizons and huge skies, silence and stillness broken only by bird some and the sound of cicadas (noisy ‘like motorbikes’).
We hardly saw any cars in the park – it really did feel like we had the park all to ourselves. The few cars that did pass were visible from miles away by the cloud of dust following the vehicles along the valley roads.
Walk the 70 Mile Butt Trail or Eagle Butt Trail
On our second day in the Grasslands National Park, we chose to walk the 70 Mile Butt Trail which is only 2km long, but uphill – it is the highest point in the area and 923 meters above sea level.
Once we had parked up at the trail head and cleaned our boots on brushes to avoid spreading invasive species, we set off on the 70 Mile Butt Trail which was flat for a while before starting to climb to the top of the massive flat-topped butte. We took our time and stopped regularly to admire the views on the way up, before arriving at the top for spectacular 360-degree views over Frenchman River Valley.
70 Mile Butt was named as such by the North West Mounted Police who patrolled this area from 1874 to 1912, because it was ‘70 miles’ from the Wood Mountain and ‘70 miles’ from the East End outpost. When travellers saw 70 Mile Butt, they knew that they were near Val Marie which was a shallow and safe place to cross Frenchman River.
If you want to continue your walk, then you can pick up the neighbouring trail, Eagle Butt, for another 2km walk, but this time a less elevated walk.
Where to stay for the Grasslands National Park (West Block)
There are several options for accommodation around the Grasslands National Park (West Block) and if you are camping there is a fabulously situated campsite in the West Block called Frenchman Valley Campground (check the Parks Canada website for details).
We booked self-catering accommodation at The Crossing at Grasslands, which is the only accommodation of its kind, backing directly onto the Grasslands National Park itself.
The Crossing at Grasslands self-catering accommodation
The owners of The Crossing at Grasslands, Susan and Neil, were incredibly welcoming and accommodating.
Prior to our arrival, I had asked about opportunities locally for stargazing as the area is a Dark Sky Preserve, and Susan went out of her way to assist me with this request (more of that later). On arrival at our apartment, we found a handwritten welcome note featuring one of Neil’s photos of the northern lights and knew we had made the right choice.
Our two-bedroom vacation apartment had a beautiful view from a balcony overlooking the grass-covered hills. The colours of the Grasslands seemed to come alive in the fading light of the day, adding an extra magic to the landscape – turns out that Golden Hour is particularly magical in the Grasslands and everything glows!
We sat on our balcony watching swallows flying in and out of their nesting places below us and listening to the call of the coyotes at 7pm each night. Other than that, just blissful peace and quiet.
Wiener roast and stargazing in this Dark Sky Preserve
Our hosts at The Crossing at Grasslands offered to put on a campfire and stargazing session for us in the yard of the accommodation (whilst keenly observing fire guidance and regulations). Our Son helped Susan collect firewood and put chairs out in the yard before lighting the firepit and settling in for a supper of nachos and salsa, hot dogs roasted on long forks (‘wiener roast’), topped off with a Saskatoon Berry crumble and ice-cream.
We watched the sun go down, chatted to our hosts and roasted marshmallows until it was completely dark, and the sky was alight with a blanket of fully visible stars – with no light pollution at all the view of the Milky Way was breathtaking and such a memorable evening. We just can’t do this at home…
Contemplation at Mary’s labyrinth
The owners of The Crossing at Grasslands have constructed Mary’s Labyrinth in one of their fields and so we headed there for a contemplative walk before dinner. The process of following the path through the labyrinth, weaving backwards and forwards, to the middle and out to the exit again, was rather hypnotic. I have never known our family to be so quiet as we each wandered through the labyrinth, lost in our own thoughts of gratitude.
Reflections on The Grasslands National Park (West Block)
There’s no denying it, the Grasslands National Park is off the beaten path – you really do need to make an effort to get there, but the rewards when you do are huge, like the landscape and skies.
The family agreed that this was the favourite stop on our road trip of the Alberta Badlands and Canadian Prairies, due to a combination of the tranquillity and beauty of the Grasslands National Park and the experiences we had at The Crossing at Grasslands accommodation.
Whilst The Grasslands National Park could now be my favourite option for recharging my batteries and taking a break from the ‘hectic pace and ordinariness of everyday life’, for some very lucky people, the Grasslands IS their everyday life. How wonderful!
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