Turtle Mountain Provincial Park, Provincial park in southwestern Manitoba, Canada
Turtle Mountain Provincial Park is a 186-square-kilometre protected area in southwestern Manitoba, adjacent to the Canada–United States border and the International Peace Garden. It lies on the Turtle Mountain plateau at an elevation of 245 metres, with hummocky terrain left by glacial deposits and over 200 lakes and wetlands. The forest is mainly trembling aspen, with balsam poplar and bur oak, and holds Manitoba's largest oak trees.
After the last ice age, this area became Manitoba's first inhabited location, as shown by stone tools that have been discovered. The region was an important living space for early peoples over thousands of years.
The Métis of the Red River Colony called the plateau Tête de Tortue, seeing in its conical mound the shape of a turtle's head. They hunted here each year between 1810 and 1870, and after the buffalo hunt ended many built homesteads inside what is now the park. The Dunseith Trail was the first route across the mountain, and a site at Oskar Lake was used by Cree hunters more than 400 years ago.
Adam Lake Campground offers basic tent sites and sites with electrical hookups, while Max Lake and William Lake have basic overnight facilities. Visitors should check what services are available before visiting to plan accordingly.
Most of the park's water bodies are less than 15 feet (about 4.6 metres) deep, so fish populations often decline in winter when oxygen runs low under the ice. The lakes hold rainbow and brown trout. The park also has the largest oak trees in Manitoba, survivors of a fire in the early 20th century.
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