Saskatchewan’s Southwest Region offers a rare opportunity to travel back through time as you follow in the footsteps of some of the most fascinating visitors this province has ever known.

Relive the rich history of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) with a visit to Fort Walsh National Historic Site, located 55 kms southwest of Maple Creek (306-662-3590). Visit the place where Chief Sitting Bull and Major James Walsh shared an historic peace-pipe ceremony, or poke around an authentically restored fort. Learn first-hand what life was like for members of the North West Mounted Police, predecessors of the RCMP, who lived and worked on the prairie frontier in 1870s.

For a taste of pre-history in Saskatchewan, a visit to Eastend is a must. Located 160 kms southwest of Swift Current), Eastend is home to ‘Scotty’, a 65-million-year-old tyrannosaurus rex skeleton - one of most complete T-rex remains ever unearthed. The marvelous new T-rex Discovery Centre is Scotty's "must see" home.

Take a guided tour through the Big Muddy Badlands, a fascinating tract of hills, buttes, cliffs and caves that once served as the northernmost station on Butch Cassidy’s Outlaw Trail, which wound south through the U.S. and into Mexico.

Visit Wood Mountain Post Provincial Historical Park (200 kms southwest of Regina, 306-266-4322) and learn of Chief Sitting Bull’s people, who sought refuge in the area after defeating General Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Take in the action at Canada’s oldest, continuously-running rodeo during the Wood Mountain Stampede (mid July, 306-266-4615) or experience the charm of the Old West at the Wood Mountain Cowboy Poetry Gathering (July, 306-266-4750).

Explore the rich history of Moose Jaw (pop. 33,803), the quaintly-named home of Canada’s world-famous Snowbirds aerobatics team. The Snowbirds are feature performers at the annual Saskatchewan Air Show in July (306-694-2601).

And take a walking tour of the city’s downtown (306-692-4471), and then explore the "Tunnels of Moose Jaw", said to have been used by the likes of Al Capone during the liquor-smuggling days of Prohibition.

The Southwest Region also offers a stunning variety of natural wonders, from the pristine prairie landscape found in Grasslands National Park (150 kms south of Swift Current, 306-298-2257), to the pine-covered highlands of the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park (27 kms south of Maple Creek), to the desert-like sand dunes of the Great Sand Hills (135 kms northwest of Swift Current). The hills represent one Saskatchewan’s most fascinating, yet unheralded, landscapes. Wildlife in the southwest ranges from burrowing owls, prairie dogs and swift fox to bald eagles, moose, deer and elk.

At the end of a long and busy day, there’s nothing like a soak in the warm, rejuvenating, mineral-rich waters of Moose Jaw’s Temple Gardens Mineral Spa. The popular resort is a good example of "what all the fuss is about" in southwest Saskatchewan, a captivating and diverse region to experience.

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