Métis attraction that shares a love of the outdoors continues to grow and thrive

It started as a simple dream to share a family’s love of the outdoors with others. And now, almost half-a-dozen years later, The Woods Experience Ltd. is a thriving Métis business located in Yellowhead County in central Alberta.

The business is co-owned by four people—Kendra Dudzic and her husband Jesse, his mother Wendy Poseluzny and stepfather Gary Poseluzny.

“We've been building this little dream of ours for the last five years,” said Kendra Dudzic. 

“In 2021 we sort of planted a little seed of our business and we put in a lot of hard work and sweat equity and have kind of grown beyond what we really imagined.”

The Woods Experience is set amongst 80 acres of northern boreal forest and offers a variety of outdoor experiences, including tipi and cabin stays, wilderness spa packages, and workshops and events. It even has a trading post called Native Wild.

The family purchased the land in 2020.

“We took a huge leap of faith by buying this land,” Dudzic said. “We knew that we loved to live off the land and we liked to be outdoors. So, it was a passion of ours to own land and so we had it and we were just really enjoying it.

“The land that we bought needed extensive cleanup. At the very beginning stages we were cleaning up old junkyards, and we were literally vacuuming the grass because there was broken glass and it was just a mess. That's kind of how we started and without the business in mind.”

It didn’t take long though for an entrepreneurial spirit to kick in.

“As we worked, we decided that we had something so beautiful and we wanted to share it with others,” Dudzic said.

The plan was to have some tipis on the property and allow others in the surrounding communities to share them.

“That's kind of how we started,” she said. “We didn't really have any money to do it.”

In order to raise some cash, family members bought a load of logs and started cutting them into firewood. They would then travel to area campgrounds and post online to sell the wood to make some money.

Once they started making some money, the family decided to build a cabin. They received a Travel Alberta grant and combined it with the firewood money raised for the construction.

“It all snowballed from there,” Dudzic said. 

The first cabin was completed in 2022, but because of area wildfires, its official opening was delayed until August 2023.

As part of the country’s National Tourism Week, Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) announced on April 22 that The Woods experience received about $185,000 in funding to build a second wilderness spa, as well as two new cabins.

All four co-owners of The Woods Experience have maintained their regular jobs. Kendra is a nurse. Her husband works at a nearby plant that makes fertilizer. Gary works for a construction company, while wife Wendy owns a business called Native Wild.

“We’re pretty unique in the way that we all pitch in,” Dudzic said.

She said the company has received plenty of support along the way.

“It was risky to start the business,” Dudzic said. “But we just stumbled upon Indigenous Tourism Alberta and they really helped propel us forward and remove some barriers right in the early stages of building our business. And then, from there, further doors opened and we built partnerships with Travel Alberta and PrairiesCan. The rest is kind of history.”

The Woods Experience is now a booming business that will operate five cabins in the very near future, once the two under construction are finalized. The second wilderness spa is expected to open in June.

“We see it continuing to grow,” Dudzic said. “We also are really excited to be able to offer some more of our Indigenous programming.” 

With its latest funding, owners were able to expand their gathering centre. This facility hosts the workshops where visitors can make their own moccasins or traditional medicine bags.

“We're really excited this summer to roll out more programming and really fall back into why we started,” Dudzic said. “We've been so busy building and growing and now we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel where we can sit back and put on all those programs that we've been excited about.”

The Woods Experience is open year-round.

“Native Wild Trading Post is the first thing guests see when they arrive,” Dudzic said. “It's like an 1800-style trading post that's filled with different fur products.”

Wendy makes many of the products for sale, including handmade fur garments. She also does custom work and makes jackets, pillows and blankets.

More information about The Woods Experience is available at https://atthewoods.ca/