Kootenay National Park
Friday, July 1st, 2011
One of the lesser-known parks in the Canadian Rockies, Kootenay National Park is the home of one of the most enticing visitor amenities in the region. Radium Hot Springs’ large pool allows hundreds of bathers to soak in soothing, warm, mineralized waters whose namesake trace ingredient, radon, is mildly radioactive — though safely so, less than an illuminated watch dial. Because the water is colorless and odorless here, bathers who dislike the sulfur smell at most hot springs embrace these relaxing waters.
Text by Eric Lucas; photo editing by Connie Ricca.
Preserving a spectacular section of Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada’s Inuit territory, Auyuittuq National Park is a remote, windswept, scenic and unpeopled preserve to which a visit is a lifetime adventure for most. Here are steep-walled fjords, forbidding mountain peaks — one was featured in “The Spy Who Loved Me,” and hiking treks only for experienced wilderness travelers. The most popular of these is the 97-kilometer journey through Akshayuk Pass. Mount Thor, near the Akshayuk Valley, has a 1.25-kilometer cliff face, the longest such uninterrupted drop in the world.
It takes two days of driving from Edmonton to reach Wood Buffalo National Park, which straddles Alberta and the Northwest Territories. This peaceful park’s aspen woodlands are home to one of the largest indigenous bison herds on Earth, a wood bison population that has lived and thrived here for thousands of years. That’s the reason this park is on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Bigger than plains bison, wood bison are impressive animals best viewed at a safe distance. Lynx, bears and many migratory birds also are found in the park, which is rarely visited by anyone except nearby residents.
Gwaii Haanas National Park, one of Canada’s great treasures, encompasses the lower portion of Haida , the remote Pacific islands formerly known as the Queen Charlottes. Among the attractions in Gwaii Haanas is SGang G’waay (Anthony Island), a World Heritage-designated historic Haida village today guarded by Haida Watchmen who welcome visitors and explain their rich culture. At nearby Hot Springs Island, adventurers can relax in hot mineral water pooled just above the restless ocean — one of the few such sites on Earth. With no road access and no commercial services, Gwaii Haanas is best visited by using one of the wilderness tour operators licensed to travel in the park.
While the Bay of Fundy is famed for the world’s greatest tidal flux — 17 meters (55.8 feet) — it is also an exceptionally beautiful body of water on the Atlantic coast of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Fundy National Park embraces saltwater shoreline, rocky headlands, inland forest and waterfalls, and a tantalizing array of recreation amenities. There is a heated saltwater swimming pool, a golf course, several lakes, tennis courts, campgrounds and yurts for overnight visitors — even a lawn bowling venue.
