LaPrairieaire Activities
Following your introduction to the property by your host and tour guide, you are free to explore and make new discoveries. Due to the fragile nature of native grasslands, access to LaPrairieaire lands are pedestrian only. It is a recognized fact that vehicle tracks, including bicycle take 8 years to heal.
Hiking
Following an introduction to your chosen camping property, you will be free to explore the property at your leisure - picnicking, berry picking, or photographing the local vistas.
The Village of Donalda also offers a marked hiking trail into the Meeting Creek badlands.
Bird Watching
Each Victoria Day weekend, the Red Deer River Naturalists converge on the Battle River Valley at Ferry Point Landing to spend two days observing local birds and plant life. Geologically, the area exhibits a landscape characteristic of melting glaciers, with potholes which now serve as excellent habitat for diverse waterfowl. The subsequent erosion of deep valleys by another glacial event, the breaching of glacial Lake Edmonton, has left a unique undisturbed habitat where prairie plants and grasses flourish.
Horseback Camps
In 2017, LaPrairieaire hosted Calgary based Eagle Feather Riding to a week-long horse camp on the 48o acre Red Willow Creek property. The RWC property is ideally suited to horse camps with two adjoining holding corrals for overnight stays. LaPrairieaire Home Base also offers an excellent staging area to the Ferry Point property 2 miles away.
Day riding is available, starting at $25/pp. Pricing for horseback camps and overnight rides available on request.
Canoeing
Canoeing the 8 mile stretch of the Battle River from Hwy 56 to Ferry Point Landing is a trip into the past. In the late 19th century early settlers would board a paddle wheel steamer upstream loaded with their possessions and building materials, landing at Ferry Point where they would disembark and disperse to the chosen homestead.
Local Villages
The village of Donalda, famous for its museum housing one of the largest collection of oil lamps in the world and the Donalda Creamery, designated a Provincial Historic Site, is located 10.5 miles S of LaPrairieaire homebase. In addition to the museum, the restored Imperial Bank of Canada is home to the Donalda Gallery for the Arts. Dino`s Bar & Grill and Coulee Trading add to the character of Donalda`s original main street.
Meeting Creek located 10.5 miles SW , in the Meeting Creek Valley, boasts two historic grain elevators, a train station which is open for tours by appointment, and a "Linear Park" along the abandoned rail bed.
Golf
A number of local golf courses will challenge all levels of play. Coal Creek, pictured above, famous for its black sand traps is 60 kms North, and was home to the 2017 Alberta Junior Championships.
Pheasant Back Golf Club at Stettler is an challenging 18 hole track with water coming into play on 16 of 18 holes.
Silver Creek on Hwy 21 N of New Norway offers 27 holes of challenging play.
Railway Tours
Friends of the Battle River Railway, headquarters in Forestburg, Alberta, is a fully functioning short rail line with a super fun twist. Exchanging the usual boxcars for a beautiful vintage passenger car, The Friends of the Battle River Railway are delighted to offer a number of theme based, day exursions throughout the year. Each unique theme is carefully tailored to provide fun filled and a memorable experience for those with a hankering to ride the rails.
Gravel Biking
When glacial Lake Edmonton drained in a matter of weeks 11,000 years ago, it eroded a myriad of valleys and coulees into the sandstone bedrock leaving gravel roads that follow both natural terrain, range and township roads and 15 kms of abandoned Canadian Northern railbed that parallels the Meeting Creek valley.
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Stay tuned for route maps offering varying scenery, terrain and distance.