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The 600-kilometre drive across southern Saskatchewan on the Trans-Canada Highway is crushingly boring, and apart from Regina the only town worth a stopover is Moose Jaw , once a Prohibition hangout of American gangsters, including Al Capone. Otherwise the rest of southern Saskatchewan is mostly undulating farmland, broken up by a handful of lakes and rivers, stretches of arid semi-desert and the odd range of wooded hills. In the southeast corner of the province, the lakes, hillocks and aspen, birch and poplar forests of Moose Mountain Provincial Park come complete with campsites, nature trails and a resort village. Further west, just south of Regina and near the US border, it's possible to drive across the Big Muddy Badlands , but these weathered buttes and conical hills are best explored on the tours that leave the tiny town of Coronach throughout the summer. Directly west of here, the Grasslands National Park is still being developed and extended, two separate slices of prairie punctuated by coulees and buttes that add a rare touch of drama to the landscape. Some 200km further, straddling the Alberta border, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park is also well worth a visit, its heavily forested hills and ridges harbouring a restored Mountie outpost, Fort Walsh . Further west, the area to the northwest of the small city of Swift Current is home to the Great Sand Hills , a starkly beautiful desert landscape. Directly south of that is Maple Creek , a quintessentially cowboy town with Hutterite colonies nearby. Apart from the daily bus services along the Trans-Canada, the region's public transport system is abysmal - to see the parks, you'll need a car.
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