Sleep under the stars with the wolves at the new Nordic attraction

A resort in Timmins is offering a brand new experience that has people screaming with excitement.

Guests at Cedar Meadows Resort can now spend the night sleeping under the stars while getting up close and personal with the resident wolf pack.

Bookings for the Sleeping With Wolves experience opened in January, but the idea has been around for 12 years. Richard Lafleur, owner of Cedar Meadows, says the concept first came about after an attempt to bring sled dogs to the resort didn’t quite work out. The dogs and their nocturnal howling initially garnered some noise complaints from hotel guests.

“But then someone came in and asked if they could have a camera in the back because they liked to hear the wolves at night,” Lafleur says. “I thought, oh, that’s funny. We can turn this negative into a positive.”

Lafleur says there are plenty of other businesses around the world that offer similar experiences — the original idea to sleep under the stars in a glass cabin came to Lafleur from a business in Iceland. But he wanted to put a twist on the concept to make it unique.

“It’s an idea that’s been developing for about 12 years. I was originally going to do a regular roof with glass walls, but this takes it to another level,” says Lafleur.

“It’s the same idea, but I’m the only one doing ‘Slept Under the Stars with the Wolves.’ We’re the only place in the world doing that right now,” he says.

There were many obstacles along the way.

The COVID-19 pandemic has blocked the shipping of construction materials, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has meant that the special glass used in the cabins, which would have come from a supplier in Poland, is not going anywhere. They managed to find a new supplier for the glass, which contains a copper film to keep the cabins at a comfortable temperature, in Quebec.

“You’ll never freeze here, guaranteed,” says Lafleur.

There are five cabins that overlook the 10-acre enclosure that is home to the 11-wolf pack. Each cabin sleeps four comfortably with a queen bed and sofa bed, bathroom and kitchenette. The bedroom has three glass walls and a glass ceiling, which offers spectacular views of the sky and the surrounding nature.

“It’s an experience to wake up to the sun in the morning. People say we should raise the curtains, but I’m not going to do that because it defeats the purpose. It’s an experience they’re selling, and that experience is sleeping outdoors with the wolves,” says Lafleur.

“People from the big city come here and are amazed because they are not used to seeing the stars at night. I had some Ukrainians a few weeks ago who have been living in Toronto for almost a year, and in Ukraine they were living in a city. When I brought them to their cabin late at night, they sat for 10 minutes just looking at the stars. They have it where I’m from, but if you don’t go outside the city, you never see the sky like that,” he says.

“It’s something to see for someone who has never seen the stars like this.”

While city dwellers can enjoy the novelty of seeing a clear night sky, the experience has something to offer anyone who is curious about wolves and would like to observe the animals in the wild.

“We’re getting people from all over Canada right now, and some even from the United States. We had an influencer here a few days ago with about eight million followers and with the internet, if you get in the right crowd and that’s what they’re looking for, they’ll travel,” says Lafleur.

To learn more or book a cabin, visit the official website.