GP TOURISM GUIDE BOOK 2017

The park is 20 kilometres east of the Highway 43
interchange, turn north on Township Road 724
Traveling east on the twinned Highway 43, the surrounding prime
agricultural farmland produces plentiful fields of barley, canola, wheat,
and oats. Fields turn bright yellow in July as the County is one of the
largest growing areas of canola Canada Oil. The fields seem endless -
alfalfa, timothy, clover, fescue (top-notch grass) and seed forage crops
providing hay for the dairy and beef farms. Game farms for elk, bison,
llamas and alpacas are also gaining popularity in the region.
Kleskun Hill Park is part of a provincial natural area and is managed by
the County of Grande Prairie and a non-profit museum society. Once
part of a prehistoric river delta, the natural area protects some of the
last remaining native grassland in the Grande Prairie region. Here cactus
grows in the desert-like conditions where remains of prehistoric lakes
and seas are visible in the exposed hills. Kleskun Hill boasts more than
160 flowering plants, as well as a number of birds that are usually found
in the prairies of the south; its soils contain fossils from the marine sea
and dinosaur eras.
Going back in time, pioneers would sometimes use the white mud from
the hills to chink the gaps in their log homes. A clue to early settlement
also lies in the original wagon ruts from the early pioneers who traveled
along the Edson Trail. Today within this natural area there are walking trails,
and 9 unserviced camping sites for visitors to enjoy. The Kleskun Hill
Museum Society has preserved the original East Kleskun school,
teacherage, barn, outbuildings, the first area post office, and a Catholic
Church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Visitors may also view a native burial
ground; evidence of the days of the last territorial disputes between the
Beaver and Cree people.
Photo: Lloyd Dykstra
www.gptourism.ca
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