Alberta Road Trip

You’ll see a whole lot of Canadian prairie on the drive between Calgary and Edmonton. Sweeping expanses of grass and farmland are occasionally interrupted by ponds, trees and small towns. The sky arching overhead seems part of the landscape. Roughly at the halfway point, the town of Red Deer offers a convenient place to stop and get a bite to eat.

Named for the pass it traverses through the Canadian Rockies, the Yellowhead Highway is pretty flat, straight and unspectacular west of Edmonton. That changes dramatically as you approach Jasper National Park and the once-distant line of mountains begins to dominate the horizon. As you near the town of Jasper, the road curves alongside the Athabasca River.

Icefields Parkway offers a spectacular, scenic journey through the Canadian Rockies but one that won’t give you vertigo. Meandering alongside crystalline rivers and aquamarine lakes, the parkway never soars above the landscape. Rather it’s the craggy snowcapped peaks and glaciers that remain high overhead, easily admired from dozens of turnouts along the way.

Heading east from Banff through the Bow River Valley, you’ll reach Canmore, a picturesque mountain town, which like Banff is a destination for lovers of the outdoors. Beyond Canmore, the landscape flattens out as the breathtaking Canadian Rockies recede in your rearview mirror. It’s prairies and farmland until you reach cosmopolitan Calgary.