September in Saskatchewan brings shorter days and crisp autumn air that signal the start of the dramatically beautiful fall colour season. With so many varied landscapes including aspen parklands, boreal forest, prairie coulees and some one-of-a-kind oddities such as the Cypress Hills, there are almost unlimited places to enjoy the best displays. To help narrow the choices, here are eight areas that stand out as our all-time favourites.
Prince Albert National Park
If we had to pick only one spot for fall colour, this would be it. Almost smack in the middle of Saskatchewan, it offers outstanding diversity since it straddles the transition zone from the aspen parklands in the south to the boreal forest in the north, plus areas of fescue grasslands and plenty of wetlands.
For golden deciduous trees, it’s hard to beat the southern reaches of the park along Highway 263, especially near Sandy Lake. As we head farther north, a higher proportion of evergreen trees make for an attractive mix of green and gold.
A must-see spot is the Height of Land viewing tower where we look over the hills that divide waters flowing south to the Saskatchewan River system and north to the Churchill River. This sweeping scene is at its best in the fall. We are generally used to looking up at trees, but from the viewing tower, we can look down as well for a different perspective of the forest floor as it spins its own special tapestry.
Of the many excellent hiking trails, two in particular stand out. Our favourite fall colour walk is the Spruce River Highlands Trail, an 8-kilometre loop winding through the hills along the Spruce River Valley. The many vantage points look over the forest and valley, and at the far end, we see Anglin Lake in the distance.
The other must-do is the shorter two-kilometre Boundary Bog Trail, named for being near the park’s boundary just inside the eastern entry gate. Largely consisting of a boardwalk, the trail re-opened recently after extensive renovation. It takes us into the heart of a bog, first through a black spruce forest, then through large areas of tamarack trees, their needles changing to deep golden shades in fall. As we near the eye of the bog, the riot of colour also appears on moisture-loving shrubs, grasses, and mosses.
Narrow Hills Provincial Park
We would rank this a close second for fall colours. Since the Narrow Hills are less than 100 kilometres east of Prince Albert National Park, we frequently visit both on the same trip. The area gets its name from the effects of glaciers that pushed the land into long narrow hills. Since the terrain is hillier, it’s easier to get a higher vantage point for photography.
Some highlights include Highway 913 running through the northern part of the park, and the Gem Lakes where hiking trails offer views over the series of small lakes that are beautiful anytime, but breathtaking during the fall.
The top place, however, is the aptly named Narrow Hills Scenic Drive. Starting near the park’s core area at Lower Fishing Lake, it winds up a push moraine for 10 kilometres, ending at a viewpoint over the scenic Grace Lakes. From the hilltop we can best appreciate the wide stretches of seemingly endless forest dotted with lakes, looking its best in the fall.
This route is also called The Road to Love. But before you get too excited about finding romance, keep in mind that it refers to the Village of Love just south of the park. In the early days before the highway was built, this was the route that folks in the Love area used to access lakes in the Narrow Hills.
The Far East
Saskatchewan’s eastern side is more heavily forested than the west, with a higher diversity of tree species. Places such as the Pasquia Hills and Duck Mountain Provincial Park have stands of mountain maple which turn a brilliant red in fall.
The top fall drive in Duck Mountain Provincial Park is Ski Hill Road, starting near the park’s core area and heading south to a winter ski area near Little Boggy Creek. The hilly winding road offers some great views. Another nice fall drive is along Old Park Road in the western part of the park. It used to be the main entrance before Highway 57 was built and is now a little-used scenic backroad.
The Woody Lake Road starts a bit north of Duck Mountain and heads north along Saskatchewan’s eastern border ending on Highway 3 east of Hudson Bay. It passes through the province’s newest park – Porcupine Hills Provincial Park. The series of lakes in this densely forested region makes the area popular for fishing and camping. When we travelled through in the height of the fall colour season, it was not unusual to have a small lakeside campground to ourselves. Don’t miss the short side detour to Spirit Lake, which has some of the top views around.
South Saskatchewan River Valley
While many river valleys can have showy fall displays, South Saskatchewan is the biggest and most diverse with several easy access points. The Estuary Ferry crosses the river just a few kilometres east of the border with Alberta. On the south side of the ferry approach sits Chesterfield Flats, a broad floodplain home to massive cottonwood trees that put on quite a show in fall.
Saskatoon provides the easiest access to the riverbank with walkways on both sides near forested areas with blazing fall displays. Anywhere along the river south of Saskatoon towards Outlook is worth checking out. Also, watch for sandhill cranes staging in the area during fall migration.
For a pleasant fall drive out of Saskatoon, we like to head along little-travelled Fish Creek Road towards Prince Albert, following the river much of the way. The scenery is rewarding in itself, especially along the riverbanks near the St. Laurent ferry and on to St. Louis, but it also offers a chance to connect with history at sites from the 1885 conflict such as Fish Creek and Batoche.
Thickwood Hills
This lesser-known area tends to be off-the-radar for most visitors. The Thickwood Hills are northeast of The Battlefords with a mix of farmland, pasture, several small lakes and wetlands, large patches of aspen forest, and hilly terrain. This mix of landforms can be especially stunning in fall. Our favourite travel route is Highway 378 between The Battlefords and Spiritwood, although you could likely pick a road at random and not be disappointed.
An oddity here is the mysterious Crooked Bush where every trunk, branch and twig of every tree grows twisted and contorted. It too looks at its spooky best in the fall colour season.
Qu’Appelle Valley
Stretching over a third of the way across southern Saskatchewan, this gorgeous river valley is worth visiting anytime. But our favourite season by far is fall when the wooded valley slopes turn gold, contrasting against the grassy hills, lakes and the meandering Qu’Appelle River. In some areas, the valley slopes turn pinky-red from maturing little bluestem grasses.
Top spots include St. Nicholas Kennel Church just east of Craven where the quintessential country church has a backdrop of green and gold. And Lebret, a bit east of Fort Qu’Appelle where we can walk the short trail to the tiny hilltop chapel for a sweeping view of the valley, Mission Lake, and the village with its imposing stone church.
With so many wonderful highlights to enjoy, you might want to plan a longer off-the-beaten-path road trip at this time of year through the Qu’Appelle Valley, which you can learn about in our article about the best off-the-beaten-path road trips in Saskatchewan.
Cypress Hills
The Cypress Hills are an oddity – heavily forested but situated in Saskatchewan’s deep south where open grasslands are the norm. It’s this mix of forest, grasslands, and highlands that make the hills special. With both deciduous and evergreen trees, fall erupts in a tapestry of green and gold, but with a difference – we’ve noticed that many aspen trees take on a deeper orange tinge.
The hilly terrain gives us plenty of chances to enjoy the views from higher vantage points. Another plus is that fall colours tend to linger longer than in the north. One year we found the colours at their peak on Thanksgiving weekend in early October.
Prairie Coulees
We find prairie coulees throughout southern Saskatchewan, but if we had to choose one area to see in the fall it would be Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park. It’s easy to access and has plenty of visitor facilities. Located just north of Swift Current where the South Saskatchewan River widens into Lake Diefenbaker, it shows that the prairie can be every bit as colourful as the forest in fall.
The rolling hills lining the water are mostly natural grasslands, with the valleys and coulees in between containing a variety of shrubs and mixed grasses. These make for a kaleidoscope of shades from bright red to pink, yellow, orange, purple and more. Our main go-to area is around Brunyee Coulee, easily reached by taking the road directly west of the park’s visitor centre.
When to Go and Final Thoughts
Mother Nature decides when to put on a show, so each year could be a bit different. As a general rule, we have found that around the third week in September is usually the most reliable time to take a fall colour trip through much of Saskatchewan. The longer we wait, the more intense the colours become. But the wild card is often wind, something we get a lot of in Saskatchewan. If we wait too long, a strong wind could blow off most of the leaves in a day.
The colours tend to last longer in southern areas such as the Cypress Hills and change faster the farther north we go. Local moisture, frost, and other weather conditions might also make a difference. The approach we take is to start calling parks such as Prince Albert National Park, Cypress Hills, or Duck Mountain around mid-September to see how things are progressing.
A fall colour trip in Saskatchewan allows us to enjoy a wide range of possibilities. We not only have the classic forest scenes that most people think of in fall, but much more in the aspen parklands, river valleys and wetlands, and the southern prairies.
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