Riding Mountain National Park

Manitoba’s first national park achieved this status in 1930. It had previously been set aside as a forest reserve, amid the rapid deforestation of the surrounding area.

The area of the Riding Mountains was held in great reverence by Native tribes, some of whom considered the mountain to be haunted. A traditional Anishinabe camp at Lake Katherine celebrates the culture and lifestyle of some of the first people to inhabit the area.

The park is home to areas of open meadows to boreal forest, aspen parkland, and deciduous forest, beside the escarpment from which the park received its name. An abundance of wildlife can be found here, including deer, moose, elk, black bears, wolves, beavers, and great gray owls. A small bison herd is kept at Lake Audy.

The park offers unique experiences for families, photographers, birders and wildlife enthusiasts. Campgrounds can be found throughout the park, and an extensive trail system offers a variety of scenic routes for hiking, cycling, horseback riding and cross-country skiing.

Turtle Mountain Provincial Park

This is Southwest Manitoba’s last true wilderness area full of wildlife, waterfowl, birds, lakes and bush trails. The park offers a wealth of recreational activities from skiing, skating, tobogganing, and snowmobiling in the winter to biking, hiking and canoeing in the summer. Open year round. Visitors will need a park pass in the summer and a Sno-Pass in the winter.

Spruce Woods Provincial Park

This is a unique prairie desert environment, and the only location in the world where such wildlife as the western plains hognose snake and northern prairie skink may be found. An interpretive trail leads through rolling hills of native grass prairie, lush plants of white spruce and deciduous forest, and eerie springfed ponds such as the Devil’s punchbowl. The park features camping facilities, a beach, many km of cycling, horseback and hiking trails, and interpretive programs and shows throughout the summer. For the winter enthusiast, the park is home to an extensive system of cross-country ski and snowmobile trails as well as an outdoor skating oval, rink and toboggan hill.

For more information on Southwest Manitoba’s National and Provincial Parks, please refer to Manitoba’s Great Southwest Travel Guide.