Rev Up Those Engines - This Scenic Drive Zooms You Back 65
 Travel Alberta,

In order to see all five United Nations UNESCO World Heritage
Sites, start your scenic drive in the far southwest corner of
Alberta in Waterton Lakes National Park, which became the
world's first International Peace Park in 1932 when it joined
Glacier National Park. It's also a model of environmental
co-operation. Girdled by a chain of deep glacial lakes, this gem
of a park offers an unbelievable variety of high-altitude day
hikes, horseback riding adventures, 1,200 species of plants and
wildlife viewing opportunities (perfect spot for family
vacations).

Take out your driving map and jog north on Highway 6 to Pincher
Creek, then east on Highway 3 to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.
Its bragging rights are well-earned - as it's the largest,
oldest and best preserved of all bison jumps in the world. At the
base is a vast graveyard with thousands of years worth of bones
from butchered bison piled 32 ft. (10 metres) high. The jump
represents an exceptionally ingenious hunting technique used by
Plains Indians up to 10,000 years ago. In recognizing the site's
cultural and historical importance, UNESCO declared the jump a
World Heritage Site in 1981.

Back on Highway 3, steer your scenic drive to Taber, and then
north on Highway 36. From there your Alberta scenic drive takes
you to a lunar world, swollen with coulees and hoodoos and other
mystical things. Dinosaur Provincial Park has some of the most
extensive dinosaur bone fields in the world, now protected under
the UNESCO designation. Daily summer interpretive programs and
digs walk you back through time. If you time it right you might
just be able to sleep under the yawning jaws of a T.rex – yes,
family vacation sleepovers run throughout the summer.

Road Trips Through Banff and Jasper National Parks From there,
head west on Highway 544 and then a short distance south on
Highway 36 before reaching Highway 1 which will take you directly
west to Calgary. Park your scenic drive here for a while or make
a beeline to Banff and Jasper National Parks - two spectacular
Rocky Mountain parks in Alberta that are part of four adjacent
parks which together have been declared a World Heritage Site by
UNESCO. (The other two are Kootenay and Yoho to the west in
British Columbia). You'll see this area is postcard Canada:
snow-capped mountains, thundering waterfalls, cerulean lakes,
glacial spackled peaks, the Columbia Icefield, hoodoos, hiking
trails, Mounties and grand Old World hotels. Numerous types of
lodging mean stays in either Banff or Jasper could range from an
overnight to several weeks. Both Alberta parks are loaded with
opportunities to go hiking, canoe, cycle, camp, golf, play
tennis, go horseback riding or just laze around a steamy hot
pool.

From Jasper, steer your scenic drive from the Rocky Mountains
east on the Yellowhead Highway to Edmonton and call it a grand
road trip, or, devoted UNESCO fans could squeeze in our last
UNESCO site, Wood Buffalo National Park (the second largest
national park in the world).

Long-Haul Road Trippers Head to Wood Buffalo National Park Miles
from nowhere, in the far northeast corner of Alberta, most
tourists either take the scenic drive north through Peace River
country into the Northwest Territories to the park's closest
hub, Fort Smith, or they fly from Edmonton or Calgary. This vast
chunk of lonely boreal forest and shallow lakes is home to the
world's largest free-roaming herd of wood bison (more than 2,100
remain) and is the last natural nesting habitat of the rare
whooping crane (183 individuals were recently counted). It was
for these reasons Wood Buffalo National Park was deemed a UNESCO
site in 1983. Numerous outfitters in Fort Smith offer adventure
and nature-based holidays in the Park.

Total Distance of UNESCO scenic drive: 1181 mi/1890 km




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