Prince Albert National Park: Saskatchewan's Boreal Wilderness

Prince Albert National Park is Saskatchewan's only true wilderness — 3,800 square kilometres of boreal forest, lakes, and the start of the Canadian Shield, two hours north of Saskatoon. It's where the prairie runs out and the north begins, and it's the province's great outdoors. Here's the guide.

Waskesiu The park's townsite — a 1920s resort village on Waskesiu Lake, with the heritage Waskesiu Golf Course, beach, and the Waskesiu Marina. Base yourself here; it's the hub for everything in the park. Canoe, sail, or swim in the warm lake (it's the warmest water in the boreal in summer).

Grey Owl's cabin The park's most famous story — 'Grey Owl,' the Englishman Archibald Belaney who reinvented himself as an Indigenous conservationist and lived on Ajawaan Lake in the 1930s. The hike or canoe to his cabin (with its beaver lodges) is a pilgrimage; the story is a Canadian classic.

The boreal lakes Kingsmere, Crean, and the backcountry lakes — canoe country, with portages, loons, and the silence of the north. Backcountry camping is the way to see the real park; the trails off the Kingsmere Road take you deep. The Narrows and Bagwa are the classic canoe loop.

Wildlife The park has one of Canada's most visible populations of white pelicans, plus black bears, elk, moose, wolves, and a small herd of free-ranging plains bison in the southwest corner — the last wild herd in Canada. Birding is excellent.

When to go June to September for the full trail and canoe access; July–August for the warm lake swimming; September for fall colour and elk rut; winter for cross-country skiing (the park has 50 km of groomed trails). Black flies are thick in June; bring repellant.

Good to know The park is a 2-hour drive from Saskatoon on Highway 2. You need a Parks Canada pass. And the bison herd roams the southwest — drive the backroads slowly.