Great Sandhills

The Great Sandhills cover about nineteen hundred square kilometres of southwestern Saskatchewan, sand left by glacial meltwater and reworked by wind, most of it now held down by grass and shrub but with substantial areas of bare active dune still shifting. The largest reach around thirty metres. This is not a park: it is grazing land, and the dunes sit among working ranches, with access by permission and unmarked gravel roads. Mule deer, pronghorn and a large population of Ord's kangaroo rat live here, the last a nocturnal species at its northern limit. An interpretive centre at Sceptre explains the geology and the ranching.

What you actually see

• The active dunes - bare sand up to about thirty metres, still moving.
• The grassland mosaic - stabilised dunes under prairie grass and shrub.
• The wildlife - mule deer, pronghorn and nocturnal kangaroo rats.
• The ranch setting - dunes inside working grazing land, not a park.

When to go

May to September; low sun morning and evening shows the dune forms best. Summer heat is severe with no shade. Roads become impassable clay after rain.

Honest expectations

This is private and leased grazing land, and access depends on respecting gates and stock. Roads are unmarked gravel and getting lost is easy. There are no facilities, water or signage at the dunes.

Nearby

Sceptre has the interpretive centre; Swift Current lies southeast.