The Great Canadian Bucket List — Saskatchewan by Robin Esrock

Author:Robin Esrock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: 2013-09-23T00:00:00+00:00

This is not a desert. The dunes look over a huge freshwater lake, which is fed by streams, steady rains and winter snowmelt. The water table can become high enough to foster productive nurseries for grasses, trees and shrubs, attracting birds, animals and insects. Standing at the top of a thirty-metre-high dune, gazing south, certainly plays tricks on the mind, like finding an outdoor ice hockey rink in central Saudi Arabia. Canada does have true deserts: the semi-arid Osoyoos and the soft sand in the Yukon’s Carcross, recognized by Guinness as the World’s Smallest Desert. Yet the size of Athabasca makes it look like a desert and not a freak of nature.

Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Wilderness Park is protected by legislation, although its way-out-there location is just as effective. The province’s most remote park is only accessible via float plane and boat, and according to the official website, it contains “no communities, permanent residents, services, facilities or roads of any kind.” That last bit is important, in case you expect communities of Ewoks, sky-roads and underground toilets. That being said, the Fond du Lac First Nation have a reserve adjacent to the park, and they use the dunes to hunt, trap and collect medicinal plants, as they always have.

The area is ecologically unusual and extremely fragile, containing three hundred plant species, including ten endangered plants you simply won’t find anywhere else in the world. Hard-core wilderness lovers can fly in and camp in six designated camping areas, packing everything in and out so as not to disturb the natural environment in any way. Float planes deposit visitors at Canterra Lake, or you can boat into Thompson Bay. It’s a day hike to the sand giants that make up the William River dune fields, through subarctic forest and plants adapted to this unique environment. Since no camping is allowed among the dunes themselves, you must return to your campsite, where you can be alone in absolute wilderness, give or take a billion bugs or two. As someone who’s hiked in dunes before, I can assure you the fun wears off just as quickly as your shoes fill with sand. Still, there’s something to be said for climbing a tall, kilometre-long sand dune, and something even more wonderful about doing such a thing in Canada.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.