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Travel to the Canadian Rockies |
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Source: About this
Guidebook
Tips for Travel to Canada |
Two more national parks lie just west of Banff and Jasper, in the province of British Columbia. This side of the Canadian Rockies is much less crowded but is no less impressive. Here Kootenay National Park features hot springs and high concentrations of wildlife, while Yoho National Park is famous for multihued Emerald Lake and the superb hiking country around Lake O'Hara. Together, the four national parks make up a complex geological and natural area that has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. In addition to these four national parks, several other parks also preserve parts of the Canadian Rockies. On the British Columbia side of the divide, Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park is favored by backcountry hikers, while at the northern reach of Jasper National Park lies Mt. Robson Provincial Park, which surrounds and is named for the highest peak of the Canadian Rockies. In southern Alberta, Waterton Lakes National Park is a hidden gem that lacks the crowds of its northern counterparts, and Kananaskis Country is a preserve developed as a four-season, multiuse recreation area. Nearby, nestled among the high peaks of the Bow Valley, is Canmore, Alberta, the largest population center of the Canadian Rockies, and offering numerous opportunities for hiking and rock climbing.
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here,
which early governments had the foresight to protect for all time in a
string of contiguous parks straddling the British Columbia-Alberta border.
Banff and Jasper National Parks, on the east side of the
Continental Divide in the province of Alberta, are the best known of
these. Originally conceived as tourist resorts, the bustling towns of
Banff and Jasper serve millions of visitors annually and boast
championship golf courses, world-class resorts, hundreds of restaurants,
and international shopping.