Cypress Hills

The Cypress Hills rise to about fourteen hundred and sixty-eight metres, the highest ground in Canada between the Rockies and Labrador, and they were a nunatak: the ice sheets flowed around them and left the top uncovered, so plants and animals survived there that were wiped out elsewhere. Lodgepole pine grows here far from the mountains, along with orchids and species with no other prairie population. The park is an interprovincial one, shared by Alberta and Saskatchewan, and it is a Dark Sky Preserve. Fort Walsh in the Saskatchewan block marks the North-West Mounted Police response to the 1873 massacre of Nakoda people by American wolf hunters.

What you actually see

• The forested plateau - lodgepole pine standing above open prairie.
• The ice age refuge - species surviving where the glaciers went around.
• The dark sky preserve - some of the least light-polluted skies on the prairie.
• Fort Walsh - the NWMP post established after the 1873 massacre.

When to go

May to September for camping and the full park; the plateau holds snow later than the surrounding plains and has a small ski hill in winter. Dark sky viewing is best on moonless autumn nights.

Honest expectations

The park spans two provinces with separate passes and services. Fort Walsh has its own hours and season. The plateau is noticeably cooler and wetter than the prairie below, which surprises visitors.

Nearby

Medicine Hat lies northwest; Maple Creek is northeast in Saskatchewan.