As spring continues to set in throughout Saskatchewan, parks across the province are preparing to welcome guests back for the season. 

The reservation books for seasonal sites opened to the public yesterday, while nightly, Camp-Easy and group campsites started to become available at seven this morning. 

Reservations will continue to open daily until the 26 of April. 

Of the three provincial parks located in the southwest, Buffalo Pound Provincial Park reservations will open on the 25, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park reservations will open on the 26, and reservations for Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park opened this morning. 

Robin Campese, Executive Director of Experience for Sask Parks, said that there are many new features that can be enjoyed on the Sask Parks website as well as around the parks this year. 

“We have something called campsite comparison and so you can compare up to three sites at once,” she said. “And that's really nice, you can bring them up, it will tell you how long they are, what type of barbecue, if they're shade or sun, and then based on those three sites you can sort of make a decision which is quite a handy feature.” 

Other new features on the site include campsite favourites, print-at-home entry, and upgraded maps. 

Along with the upgraded website, visitors will also find many new features dispersed among the parks. 

Two parks in the southwest received significant new features. 

Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park will be debuting a brand-new campground this year called ‘Pine Hill’ that will add a total of 55 new sites to the park. 

Hammock camping will also be making its first appearance this season located at Buffalo Pound Provincial Park. 

“We've purchased the structure that will hang,” Campese said. “You can hang hammocks off them and so it's something crazy and wild to try out with friends if people are interested.” 

Other new features include six new Camp-Easy yurts in various provincial parks and four new day-use pavilions at Blackstrap, Buffalo Pound, Echo Valley and Pike Lake Provincial Parks. 

Campese added that familiar programs will be returning, while visitors will also be able to enjoy new activities such as themed weekends. 

“Our programming’s back, basically full throttle,” she said. “We have more plans than I think we ever have before and so I think that's really exciting because we can gather and do fun things together again. And so, I think that day users and campers will find that there's just a lot going on in our parks this summer.” 

The complete reservation schedule for 2022 is as follows: 

April 19: Saskatchewan Landing, Good Spirit Lake, Candle Lake, Meadow Lake 

April 21: Echo Valley, Douglas, Pike Lake, Narrow Hills, Makwa Lake 

April 22: Rowan's Ravine, Danielson, Greenwater Lake, Great Blue Heron, The Battlefords 

April 25: Moose Mountain, Buffalo Pound, Duck Mountain, Bronson Forest 

April 26: Crooked Lake, Cypress Hills, Blackstrap, Lac La Ronge  

Reservations will begin at 7 a.m. each day. 

Learn more at saskparks.ca

Written by Ally Paige