Canada - Saskatchewan - The Story of Grey Owl

On the trail of Canada's first environmentalist

Mar 23, 2007

Grey Owl was an Englishman who wanted to be a North American Indian. Saskatchewan was where he began his journey to becoming a world-famous animal conservationist.

An isolated cabin on the edge of Lake Waskesiu, in Saskatchewan became the home of Archie Belaney, a young Englishman who arrived in Canada in 1907 at the age of seventeen to pursue his dream. He eventually became the Indian he always wanted to be. He wore long braids and buckskin and was known as Grey Owl.

He also became one of the world’s first protectors of the environment, travelling extensively in Europe and North America lecturing on how to preserve the natural world. Thousands queued to hear him speak and he was called to Buckingham Palace to deliver his messageto the King and Queen.

Canada - Saskatchewan - The real Grey Owl

The real Grey Owl was Archibald Belaney, who was born in Hastings, England in 1888. Throughout his schooldays his two great passions were animals and the Indians of North America. He wanted to live in the wilderness, near the Indians, and after being in Canada for a couple of decades of trapping and living rough he met up with a beautiful young Indian woman named Anahareo who could not bear the cruelty of the traps and who eventually turned Archie away from hunting to conservation.

Canada - Saskatchewan - Prince Albert Park

The park covers a million acres and sits on the edge of Canada’s great boreal forest. Here, in an isolated cabin on the edge of a lake is where the man who became world-famous for his animal conservation spent the last seven years of his life writing some of the books that brought him fame

Following the trail of Grey Owl is a true wilderness experience. The park is home to elk, black bear, fox, moose, beaver, deer, badger, plus a flock of rare white pelicans and a colony of double-crested cormorants.

The journey to Grey Owl’s cabin starts at the village of Waskesiu, situated on the lake of the same name and the only community within the park boundaries. Grey Owl lived at Ajawaan Lake more than 60 years ago with Anahareo. He had been looking for the perfect spot to begin his work with the conservation of the beavers who had been hunted almost to extinction for their valuable pelts. He first saw the lake on an early autumn day and knew immediately this is what he sought. Apart from its tranquil beauty, one of its attractions was that it was difficult to reach.

Canada - Saskatchewan - On the Grey Owl Trail

There are two ways to get into Ajawaan: walk the 10 mile trail or go part of the way by canoe and hike the remaining few miles. You can drive the 15 miles from Waskesiu to the end of the road where there’s a parking area.

This is where the hiking trail begins and where, if you are going by canoe, you join the Kingsmere River which runs into Kingsmere Lake. Or you can travel the way Grey Owl did, by canoe.

Canada - Saskatchewan - Peaceful Wilderness

There is an incredible sense of peace and quiet here. You really do feel that you are in a wilderness. It’s about a mile and a half to reach Kingsmere Lake which is eleven miles long straight down the middle. Remember to stick close to the shoreline as these lakes can be whipped up from glassy calm to heaving troughs in a matter of minutes and it doesn’t do to be caught out in the centre.

Canada - Saskatchewan - Grey Owl's Cabin

If you want to walk part of the way along the trail, you can stop at Northend, the last campsite before reaching Grey Owl’s cabin, where you can put up a tent and get the campfire going. If it’s a clear sky, a bedtime treat could be a view of the northern lights sweeping across the sky.

The trail to Grey Owl’s cabin is narrow and soft underfoot with moss and leaves, and has changed little in the 60-odd years since Grey Owl portaged his canoe along here.

The cabin, Beaver Lodge, is situated on the north side of tiny Ajawaan Lake, standing by the water’s edge and surrounded by thick forest. The cabin is made of rounded logs with a traditional caulking of sphagnum moss. Apart from a few wear and tear repairs, it remains much as Grey Owl left it. The cabin is unlocked and unattended and visitors are free to enter and sign the visitors book.

Canada - Saskatchewan - Grey Owl is Unmasked

After his death in 1938 at the age of 50, when it was discovered that Grey Owl was really Archie Belaney from Hastings, England. He was denounced by the press as an imposter but the public did not forget him or his message. They didn’t care that under the buckskin was an Englishman and constantly requested to visit his cabin at Ajawaan . Whatever the man was, the message was real.

Grey Owl, Anahareo and their daughter, Silver Dawn, are buried on a small slope behind the cabin. The three gravestones sit in a pretty clearing surrounded by birch and alder trees and the simple engravings state only their names and dates of birth and death. There is no mention of an Archie Belaney - only Grey Owl.

Further information: cont tact Prince Albert National Park directly at: Information Centre, Prince Albert National Park, Box 100 Waskesiu Lake, Saskatchewan, SOJ 2YO, Canada. Tel: (306)663-4522. Fax: (306)663-5424. E-mail: panp_info@pch.gc.ca

The copyright of the article Canada - Saskatchewan - The Story of Grey Owl in Historical Travel is owned by Cathy Smith. Permission to republish Canada - Saskatchewan - The Story of Grey Owl in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.