Bear Paw Meanderings

If during August you want to walk on the wild side, why not visit our giant neighbor to the north, Canada and explore the Cypress Hills?

These days you will need a passport to get across the border and back into Montana as well. You can get an inexpensive and faster passport that lets you just into Canada and Mexico.

I don’t know that there are any true cypress trees in Cypress Park which would be your destination. Just like I know that there are no true maple trees in the town of Maple Creek. It seems that the lowly box elder tree is called a maple tree up north and yes, what we call box elder bugs are called maple bugs up there.

But I digress.

The best way I can describe the Cypress Hills is that after going north into Alberta or Saskatchewan going up the Wildhorse Trail or the Willow Creek road north of Havre, a traveler will soon enough come to a long heavily wooded ridge. That long ridge is what is called the Cypress Hills. It is extremely beautiful and unlike all the mountain ranges of Montana it is not high at all but very beautiful.

There are two recreation areas. On the west or Alberta end of the Cypress Hills is Elkwater Park which is a beautiful lake setting with cabins, lots of places for RV’s, lots of walking trails and just an enormous amount of beauty. Getting there it is like driving and driving and driving on the prairie, then all of a sudden going over a little hill and you are in this thick forest with a lovely lake. It is amazing to say the least.

On the Saskatchewan end of the Cypress Hills is a more civilized resort type of atmosphere just a few miles out of Maple Creek. There is a large resort, a very good restaurant and plenty of organized activities to do all summer long and into the fall.

You will see lots of “Night Skies” activities this time of year along with plenty of bird watching and it is said that the Cypress Hills are a bird lover’s paradise.

While there, don’t miss taking a morning to drive into Medicine Hat. That town is so not Montana. It is very European almost. Don’t miss the Hudson Bay Store for all sorts of things that cannot be found easily in Montana. Plenty of great Oriental restaurants in Medicine Hat as well.

This is a good two or three day trip and will leave you wanting to come back soon for even more. The Cypress Hills do that to you.