Canada Guide
Manitoba and Saskatchewan
Little Manitou Lake
Some 260km west of Yorkton and 120km east of Saskatoon on the Yellowhead Hwy is Little Manitou Lake. Set in a rather arid landscape, it looks just like any other lake, until you submerge yourself in its murky waters – or try to, for it has a saline content three times saltier than ocean water and denser than that of the famous Dead Sea in the Middle East. You couldn't sink if you tried, and you'll inevitably find yourself floating on the surface, feet up. The lake has long been known for its healing properties, even by the Indians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who camped on its shores and called it "lake of the healing waters".
Today, most people head to the tiny, rather ramshackle resort town of Manitou Beach on the lake's south shore to bathe in heated indoor mineral pools. Here you can experience near-weightlessness and sooth any rheumatic or arthritic pains in the heated comfort of Manitou Springs Mineral Spa (daily 9am–10pm; 
306/946-2233, 
www.manitousprings.ca ; $9), one of the largest and oldest mineral spas in Canada. You can also stay and eat in their hotel, whose rates (Price: $81-100) include a swim in the spa.