A TRAVEL GUIDE TO THE CANADIAN ROCKIES & WESTERN CANADA
Welcome to the Canadian Rockies!
My name is Marcel - let me be your virtual guide to the beautiful Canadian Rocky Mountains!
I love sharing great things with our readers and today I would like to share the award-winning video courtesy Travel Alberta! It just won the Diamond Award as the best entry in the Annual Golden City Gate International Film and Media Competition at the International Tourism Fair (ITB) in Berlin...
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Okay, for the next 3 minutes - you are in Alberta!!
but - remember to breathe!
LET'S PLAN YOUR KIND OF VACATION
Having been a tour guide here in the Mountains for many years, I feel the experience of every visitor could be enriched by two key factors:
knowledge and planning.
Maybe you are a do-it-yourself tourist, a backpacker, or an experienced tour-bus passenger. Perhaps you are a senior, a big family or even honeymooners! Do you love wild animals, spas, golf, BIG nature and outdoor activities like mountain biking, hiking, fishing in the summer? In the winter there is skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and of course dogsledding!
Allow me to be your Rocky Mountain Tour Guide and help you out with some invaluable information and a little inspiration as you plan a spectacular and fun-filled trip to the Canadian Rockies!
CANADIAN ROCKIES 101
Now for a little Canadian Rockies 101:
In this area known to the world as the Canadian Rocky Mountains, there are five national parks:
These spectacular four were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks. These parks are home to the famous highlights of the Canadian Rockies that are known around the world: Banff, Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Jasper, Spirit Island, Maligne Lake, and Emerald Lake - along with hundreds of other little gems less well-known but just as stunning!
Many of Canada's most famous glaciers are also found here in Alberta and British Columbia. Just west of Lake Louise, at the junction of the Trans Canada and Highway 93, is the Icefields Parkway.
Considered one of the world's most beautiful scenic drives, this 230 km (142 mi) stretch of highway offers you stunning vistas, vast valleys, towering mountain ranges and over 100 glaciers - all visible from your vehicle.
The crowning jewel of the Icefields Parkway is the Columbia Icefield which is one of the largest accumulations of ice south of the Arctic Circle. The Columbia Icefield feeds five glaciers: Athabasca Glacier, Saskatchewan Glacier, Dome Glacier, Columbia Glacier and Stutfield Glacier.
The Athabasca Glacier is directly accessible from the Icefields Parkway and your glacial experience doesn't have to end there. If you turn into the Columbia Icefield Centre (6676 ft - 2035 m) you can not only learn about the life of a glacier but you can also experience Athabasca Glacier first-hand on an Ice Explorer - a large all-terrain vehicle ideal for snow and ice conditions. (Where else are they using this terra bus? In the Antarctic for transporting scientific personnel!) Don't miss this chance to experience what the last ice-age was like on an Ice Explorer!
Only a few hours away is a natural phenonmenon often overlooked by visitors to the Rockies: Waterton Lakes National Park. Here you'll discover the raw and stark beauty of the most-southern Canadian Rockies.
Together Glacier National Park (USA) and Waterton Lakes National Park (CAN) form another UNESCO World Heritage Site by the name of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. Located in southern Alberta along the US border and northern Montana along the Canadian border, this friendship park is a hiker's paradise and a highlight not to be missed!
Having been a Rocky Mountain Tour Guide here in the Canadian Rockies for many years, I've been told that my love of the Rockies is evident the moment I begin to talk about the mountains I call home.
I hope you find this to be true when finding your way through my information website on these ancient towering figures we call the Canadian Rocky Mountains.