Moose Jaw, SK Outdoor Activities

Though Boh’s Cycle & Sporting Goods’ staff stocks racks with gear by The North Face, Thule, and Ripzone, their commitment to outdoor adventure extends beyond the shop’s walls. Certified paddling instructors lead introductory canoe and kayaking lessons down Moose Jaw river, imparting water-slicing basics and teaching the correct hand signals for pizza delivery by the local birdlife. Simple kayak and canoe rentals are also available for up to a full day’s worth of tranquil water traversal for the more confident. When embarking on land voyages, customers can peruse the shop’s selection of bikes and parts, or get adjustments from the shop’s mechanics, who can repair and fine-tune road-weary bikes or sharpen skates and repair skis in the winter. Besides bringing together lovers of the outdoors inside the shop, Boh’s crew also runs a running club that converges Tuesdays and Sundays before setting off for hill climbs and speed drills or distance runs.

At Prairie Storm Paintball's staging area, racks of guns and gear stand ready for friendly battles across both indoor and outdoor paintball fields. Indoors, technicolor orbs splatter across wood walls as players hide behind shelter and try to covertly vacuum the drapes. Outdoor fields such as the Barnyard surround paint slingers in open fields and wooded terrain; abandoned vehicles and empty barrels sprinkle the ground at the aptly named Nuke Town field. To round out the battleground offerings, a speedball field offers solid cover instead of the more commonly seen inflatable air bunkers.

The staff equips players with Draxxus paint, which uses vegetable-based ingredients that are friendly to the environment. They also host parties and World War II reenactments.

Of Death Valley Paintball's six outdoor fields, the largest is Area 51.50, named for the replica UFO javelined into the ground. The objective of the game: get a medical kit from a neutral part of the field, get it into an ambulance, then rescue the downed extraterrestrial and escort it back to the ambulance. The play of this field often looks like a shot out of The X-Files, with up to 50 players holding position behind overturned vehicles and stacks of tires.

This specificity of play characterizes each of Death Valley's fields, where the terrain design enhances the combat of the 15- to 30-minute games. For example, the Trench Warfare field's nearly 2,000 feet of dugout sunk 3 feet deep gives ideal concealment for snipers taking a break to plant next season's crop of paintball seeds. In addition to the playing fields, a fully automated target challenges marksmen with 15 pop-up targets that alternate between enemies and civilians. Between games, two on-site propane stations offer fuel for players who bring along their own grillable sustenance, such as hot dogs, hamburgers, or soup-can skewers.