Riding Mountain National Park

The Manitoba Escarpment lifts abruptly out of flat farmland, and on top of it sits Riding Mountain, a park where three ecosystems overlap in a way that happens almost nowhere else: boreal spruce forest, aspen parkland and remnant rough fescue prairie all within a short drive. That mix supports an unusual concentration of wildlife, with one of the densest black bear populations in North America, elk, moose and wolves. A small display herd of plains bison is kept in an enclosure at Lake Audy. Wasagaming on Clear Lake is a 1930s resort townsite of log buildings, including a cinema built entirely of logs, and the lake is the centre of summer life here.

History

Cree and Assiniboine and later Ojibwe peoples have lived here for thousands of years, and the Okanese Band, today's Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation, hunted and fished around Clear Lake. The Hudson's Bay Company traded with Chief Okanase and Chief Keeseekoowenin at Riding Mountain House, Henry Youle Hind surveyed the area in 1858, and in 1895 3,975 square kilometres became a timber reserve; after a meeting at Neepawa on 27 October 1927 voted for a park here rather than in the Whiteshell, it was set aside in 1929, declared Riding Mountain National Park on 30 May 1933 and opened that 26 July (Wikipedia, Riding Mountain National Park).

What's there

• The escarpment - forest rising several hundred metres above the plains.
• The Lake Audy bison - a display herd in a large enclosure.
• Clear Lake and Wasagaming - the 1930s log townsite and beach.
• Three ecosystems - boreal, parkland and fescue prairie in one park.

When to go

June to September is the main season, with the townsite busy in July and August; September brings the elk rut and far fewer people. Winter offers skiing and snowshoeing with most services closed. Ticks are a real consideration in late spring.

Practical notes

Wasagaming in high summer is a busy cottage resort rather than a wilderness experience, and the beach can be crowded. Black bears are genuinely numerous, which requires proper food storage on any backcountry trip. The park is three hours from Winnipeg through farmland with little to break the drive.

Nearby

Winnipeg is three hours southeast; Duck Mountain is to the northwest.

Key facts