Kleskun Hills Adventure

Yesterday I was able to take the grade 4's on a field trip to a local historic site, Kleskun Hills. This is one of the handful of amazing hills that can be hiked or climbed.

Kleskun Hills is a beautiful natural area just east of GP. It is the northernmost badland in Alberta. The area used to be covered in volcanoes thousands of years ago and the hills are covered in volcanic ash and clay. This ash and clay is called bentonite. It shifts under foot when dry and is very slippery when wet! The word kleskun means 'white mud' in the Beaver Indian language. The land is untouched natural grassland and many unique and beautiful plants can be found there, including wild onions and cactus.

*There will be a quiz on this info at the end of this post!

We walked the trail past the cacti and we climbed up to the stone marking the highest point. They ran, I walked. I really like being the leader but I couldn't hold them back for another second!


There are many historic buildings including a church, teacherage, general store, and traditional home. One of my favorites was the schoolhouse. Ray, the tour guide for our group, went to school in this schoolhouse from the time he started school till he finished. He explained that the littlest kids sat in the left row (the right desks in the pic) and as the students got older they moved closer to the windows, and come to think of it, the wood stove as well. Poor little kids! He showed us how the boys and girls entered in the same door but had different cloak rooms to hang up their cloaks. He showed us the old water cooler (someone had to bring water every morning as the water would freeze every night) and told us that one of the older boys got paid $2 to start and stoke the fire every morning. He also showed us where he was standing when he got the strap for throwing a ball and breaking the window! Ouch!



After we checked out the Blacksmith shop we went into this beautiful red barn. It was full of treasures and the kids had a great time exploring and looking at all of the 'old fashioned' things.

There are many great places for family photos and for an amazing summer adventure. I have scheduled a visit to Kleskun hills on our summer calendar -- in pen!

Anybody want to join us?

Quiz: What is another name for 'white mud'?