We're going to chop down a tree in the forest!

For the past few years, Prince Albert National Park has had a “cut your own tree” program where you can go to the park, get a permit, and cut down a blue spruce from the Waskesiu town site fire break. We have been doing this every year since it started, and it is an extremely fun winter activity.

Going up to PANP in the winter is wonderful in itself and we’d still go even without the promise of a free Charlie Brown tree (let’s be real, these trees are not cultivated to be decorative and a bit on the scraggly side). The park is so quiet and empty, but they still keep most of the hiking trails groomed and it’s an awesome time of year for wildlife viewing because there just aren’t that many people around.

(Last year we definitely found the king of the forest while hunting for our tree!)

There is not a ton of choice for accommodations in or around the park, but there is enough to accommodate most price points. If you want to stay in the park, you can get a room or suite at either Waskesiu Lake Lodge (warning – autoplay video with sound) or The Hawood Inn for as little as $80/night, or get a cabin at Lost Creek Resort (again, autoplay warning). Lost Creek is the fanciest and newest of the three options, but is off the main road without a lake view. The Hawood has the only in-park dining in the offseason. We have stayed at both The Hawood and Lost Creek which have both been good – though I would avoid the Hanging Heart Condo at The Hawood in winter because it is far too big to keep warm with the existing heating infrastructure.

(Waskesiu River boardwalk trail)

Another place to stay just outside the park is Elk RidgeResort, which has everything from hotel rooms to large cottages or townhouses. This year we’re staying in a cabin for our second time at Elk Ridge. The pricing is similar to Lost Creek. We prefer cabins to hotel rooms because we can cook a lot of our own meals, and the guaranteed quiet. The restaurant at Elk Ridge is very good (we’ve eaten at least one meal every year there for the last few, and between the two of us only one meal has ever been bad).

(Boundary Bog trail)

Back to chopping down your own tree – I come from a “real Christmas tree” family, where we always had a real tree growing up, but we never went to a tree farm to choose one. We lived close to a mall which either had a tree seller set up in the parking lot, or a cage of trees at the Extra Foods, so we’d walk down to the mall with the toboggan and pull the tree home on the sled. Brahm and I would always get real trees from a greenhouse or tree lot for Christmas for the first few years we were married, but the first time we cut one down in the fire break was kind of magical. It is so much fun to hunt around for the “perfect” tree. In nature, most trees are not nicely symmetrical so it takes a while to find a good one, and then your car will smell amazing all the way home.

I highly recommend this Saskatchewan winter escape! It’s just under a 3 hour drive from Saskatoon, but the northern boreal forest is a completely different landscape, and especially beautiful and rejuvenating in the winter.

(Last year's tree in all its Charlie Brown glory)