"Spiritwood - Land of Living Skies - Saskatchewan" kemptonjones's Profile

This is my hometown and my little corner is a hermitage known fondly as Windflower Gore Estate.
A major agricultural service centre, population of 1,000+ Spiritwood is located along Hiway #3, 125 km west of Prince Albert, in beautiful forested and rolling Parklands of northwestern Saskatchewan.
The Mayor is local pharmacist, Gary J. von Howede, B.S.P., R.Ph.
Nestled within a huge ancient glacial bowl of the Laurentian Plateau surrounded by wooded hills, this friendly town is situated on the south shore of Lake Witchekan, a posted migratory bird sanctuary and one of 1,000's of lakes within the province .
With wild game and waterfowl in abundance, Spiritwood lies directly below a major North American migratory bird flyway. Hunters enjoy province-wide Sunday hunting for all game species.
Population is mixed Euro-Canadian with several families of Asian origin, the Phillipines and First Nations with major First Nations Reserves nearby.
First Nations Agency Chiefs Tribal Council (ACTC) maintains a modern headquarters office building here as does the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Provincial Court is held weekly in the Civic Centre.
Scott Moe, MLA (Sask Party) is the elected representative for our provincial constituency of Rosthern-Shellbrook.
Fully serviced, Spiritwood is a family-oriented town, with an 18 hole golf course, award-winning Inn On The 10th B&B, Spiritwood Carlton Inn, Public Health Nurse, Mental Health Nurse, Physio-therapist, Health Canada/Indian Health, GoodHealth Pharmacy, a modern Health Complex (inpatient and emergency services "temporarily" suspended since 2006* due to universal shortage of physicians acceptable to the College of Physicians & Surgeons. The nearest ER is at Shellbrook Health Complex, 81 km away by emergency road ambulance. Nurse Practitioners and one Physician (soon to be two) are currently on staff at Spiritwood Health Complex), Idylwild Seniors Lodge, Pioneer Centre, Canada Post Office, Spiritwood Credit Union, Bank of Nova Scotia, Friday Farmers' Market in season, civic centre, newly constructed Cameron-Bourdages Memorial Arena with artificial ice, a bowling/curling complex, elementary & high schools, veterinarian services/animal health clinic, Spiritwood Stockyards/auctionmart, laundromat, restaurants & licenced dining rooms, confectionery, liquor vendor, SARCAN recycling depot, major fuel stations (gasoline, diesel, propane), grocery supermarkets, Co-Op & retail stores, barber, beauticians, health spas, service clubs, churches of most every denomination.
The Public Library with community access program computers is located in an elegant building on Main Street. Our museum is open during summer. Regional news published weekly by Spiritwood Herald.
Visitors to this gateway to the north can experience a First Nation Pow Wow or Sundance and/or enjoy golf, camping, hunting, fishing, birdwatching, wild mushroom & berry picking nearby.

Our modern newly constructed hospital remains "temporarily" closed since 2006 while a new multi-million dollar integrated hospital & long term care facility will be built in Shellbrook, 83 km from Spiritwood.

There is emergency road ambulance for patients who need it, but for families wanting to visit their loved one at Prince Albert's Victoria Hospital, there's no mode of public transportation available, neither bus, nor train, nor taxi to transport folks to or from Spiritwood, unless of course one is fortunate to be a First Nations person with Medical Taxi service always available.

A Handivan is available to residents of Idywild Lodge.

A grass airstrip is located immediately west of town and the nearest airport with paved runway is north of Spiritwood (TC LID: CJT9) located 2 NM (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) west of Leoville, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Spiritwood on south shore of Lake Witchekan

Lake Witchekan is designated as a Federal migratory waterfowl sanctuary for coots, cormorants, cranes, ducks, geese, grebes, herons, loons, pelicans, swans and other birds. Our community is home to various birds of prey, raptors, song and garden birds...Birdwatchers, bring your cameras and notebooks!...take a quiet stroll to the old wooden bridge at the creek along the westend of town and watch busy beavers at work around their lodge.
The timber wolf is featured as a local symbol of our community status as "gateway to the north". At the intersection of Highway #3 and Main Street stands a statue of a timber wolf atop a white boulder known to First Nations Elders as a "white buffalo", a sacred spiritual symbol. A rock garden surrounds the perimeter at the base of the White Buffalo boulder. On each rock is affixed a bronze memorial plaque to identify family and individual sponsors of this unique monument.

spectacular Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis

Famous for our University of Sasakatchewan synchrotron, the world record whitetail deer, grain, beef cattle, potash, coal, diamonds, gold, uranium, oil, natural gas & soon-to-be developed tar sands. Saskatchewan-Land of Living Skies is blessed by rainbows, dust storms, forest fire smoke, great thunder-head anvil clouds, winter white-outs, tornados, Aurora Borealis, migratory bird flocks, dinosaur finds, wayward weather balloons and magnificent prairie sunsets...Mother Nature's finest hour is at sunset here most evenings...and ...hear coyotes yip yip yipping on moonlit nights...the canopy of stars is extravagantly brilliant at our latitude 53:21:32N...romantic?...this province has probably one of the highest birthrates in Canada...and, no pun intended, the greatest numbers of volunteers per capita in all of the 10 provinces of Canada.
Sadly, we also have the highest incidence of MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS and my dear wife lives with MS.
Saskatchewan is a province with a big heart. . .and notably, a province that remains on Standard Time (CST) year-round.

Call of the Wilderness

Trekking quietly along a snowy bush trail for a late season white tail deer photo shoot here in northern Saskatchewan, nothing else I've ever known can grip your body and soul with the greatest flood of emotions than when the wolf clan howls to establish territorial rights.