“Pop these earmuffs on – you’ll need them,” says the co-pilot of our vintage 1967 Twin Otter floatplane, his voice barely cutting through the roar of the engines. Soaring above endless boreal forest, dramatic canyons and the mist-shrouded cascades of the thundering Virginia Falls, the plane delivers us into the wild heart of the Nahanni National Park Reserve in Canada’s Northwest Territories, setting the stage for an unforgettable journey downstream.
My partner and I are here to embark on a bucket list adventure down the iconic Nahanni River. Our 11-day, 217km guided journey begins at the iconic Virginia Falls and concludes just outside the park at Nahanni Butte. This isn’t a high-adrenaline whitewater journey, but rather a leisurely float down the river’s winding length – an immersive experience that lets you soak in the pristine beauty of the Northwest Territories at a gentle pace. By venturing deep into the park’s five lower canyons and listening as our guides share the area’s Indigenous and Gold Rush-era history, each stop becomes an invitation to connect more deeply with the Nahanni’s winding path and its storied past.
Category: Canada 🇨🇦 (Page 1 of 5)
Be sure to check out the Canada Destination Profile.
Nearly three-quarters (73%) say they would consider travelling specifically to visit a unique business or attraction, and 63% plan to research shops, restaurants, and activities before they go.
“It’s encouraging to hear that Canadians are planning to support local small businesses as part of their vacation plans this summer, as it helps both entrepreneurs and our local economies,” said Julia Kelly, Vice President, Small Business Banking at TD. “It’s particularly welcome news, as many of our small business customers have been concerned about consumer spending slowing down.”
The survey also found strong interest in cottage country travel, especially among younger Canadians. Forty-six percent of Gen Z and 42% of Millennials say they plan to visit cottages this summer. Of those, 96% intend to support local establishments including restaurants, shops, and marinas.
A car that’s been sitting at the bottom of Lake Minnewanka for more than eight decades has been located and photographed by a group of divers.
It’s believed the 1928 Hudson Essex Saloon broke through the ice and sank some 85 years ago and has been sitting 55 metres below the surface ever since at the popular lake in Banff National Park. The lake is a big draw for scuba divers because a dam built in 1940 forever submerged the summer village of Minnewanka Landing.
Three divers from Alberta and B.C. recently made the journey to the lake’s dark and icy depths and took some spectacular pictures of the car.
Calgary’s Alan Keller was interviewed by CBC’s Loren McGinnis.
The Véloroute Gourmande is a 235km paved and gravel cycling trail connecting Montréal and the city of Sherbrooke in southern Québec.
Launched in 2022, the path threads Québec’s bucolic villages and lake-laced landscapes, passing more than 100 culinary stops from Montréal to Sherbrooke.
Much of the trail follows a portion of the Route Verte, whose 5,300km crisscross Québec and comprise the longest network of cycling paths in North America. But aside from its length, the main difference between the two routes is that the Véloroute Gourmande was essentially designed as a slow travel food tour. While pedalling across Québec’s countryside, cyclists can stop to refuel on gravy-slicked French fries, tarts filled with blueberry jam, coffee gussied up with maple syrup or booze flavoured with boreal herbs, forest mushrooms or wildflowers.
The Véloroute’s interactive map features 120 icons – including tiny forks, beer glasses and squat jam jars – that denote places to stop for things like golden panini stuffed with house-cured ham and bloomy rind cheese, dark ale delicately scented with spruce tips or wedges of cheese to squash into one’s panniers and nosh by the side of the road.
Key Findings »
» Canada’s wide network of trails can help revitalize local communities’ economies and support their overall well-being. They offer outdoor tourism, recreation, and transportation space that can be used while respecting new physical distancing requirements.
» Trails provide various economic benefits. Their construction and maintenance increases income and employment in the region where the trail is built and across the country through indirect and induced impacts. Trails attract tourists and local visitors, whose spending in turn leads to other economic impacts. Trails also support local businesses and increase property values around the trail.
» Trails as green infrastructure systems provide many of the benefits of grey infrastructure, such as transportation corridors and outdoor facilities, while having additional advantages of storm-water retention, flood control, carbon reduction, pollution reduction, and preservation of natural ecosystems.
» Trails offer a relatively safe activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Evidence from within and outside Canada indicates trail usage is increasing because it is naturally physically distanced and seen by many as safe.
» By providing safe spaces for users to enjoy physical activity and recreation, trails help to improve not only physical but also mental health. The fact that nature and physical activity have been found to improve mental health has important implications for today’s high levels of pandemic-driven mental stress.
» Evidence also shows that increased physical activity among Canadians could lead to a reduction in many chronic conditions. In Canada, 44 per cent of adults over age 20 have at least one chronic disease. Trails, therefore, could play a significant role to play in improving the health of Canadians and reducing medical costs.
Note » This Conference Board of Canada report was completed with support from Trans Canada Trail.
Snow tires are mandatory from November 1 to April 1.
According to Allegra Zagami, writer for Lonely Planet, on a drive along the Pan American Highway in 2019 »
» 1. Icefields Parkway, Alberta, Canada
The Icefields Parkway, or Canada’s Highway 93, is one of the most scenic drives in the world with over 144 miles (232km) of adventure and overwhelming natural beauty between Banff and Jasper National Parks.
Resources » Parks Canada, Icefields Parkway Continue reading
A morning shot of Fairy Meadows and Nanga Parbat. » Photography by Imrankhakwani
- Mount Everest
» 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level
» Located on the border between Nepal and the autonomous region of Tibet (OpenStreetMap / Google Maps)
» First summitted by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953 - K2
» Also known as Mount Godwin-Austen or Chhogori
» 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level
» Located on the border between China and Pakistan (OpenStreetMap / Google Maps)
» First summitted gy Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni in 1954 - Kangchenjunga
» Located on the border between Nepal and India, approximately 125 kilometres from Everest (OpenStreetMap / Google Maps)
» At elevation of 8,586 metres (28,169 ft), it is the second highest mountain in the Himalayas
» First summitted by Joe Brown and George Brand in 1955 Continue reading
As the last stands of old-growth trees come under threat of logging, climbers in Powell River, British Columbia face an uncertain future of the place that has come to define their lives and legacies.
Presented by Arc’teryx, June 2020
Confronted with the decision to fight for these last ancient trees and potentially lose access or look away as the valley is stripped for timber, On The Verge is a snapshot of outdoors culture in British Columbia. The way we reconcile industries that give us access to the wilderness with the destruction they cause. The desire to protect our backyard but keep it for ourselves at the same time. The importance of these places to the people who have shaped them and been shaped by them in return.
This is an epic adventure, 40 days in the northern reaches of Quebec, travelling with traditional tools including wood-canvas canoes and fire irons for cooking over an open fire. It is a trip filled with unknowns for me, but there is one thing of which I’m sure: the 11 young women I’m travelling with, nine of whom are teenagers, will not see each other at their best. They are bug-bitten, cold and boob-deep in muskeg bog and have to carry an incredibly heavy canoe on their heads.
…
At the heart of this story is a summer camp – but not the kind most people know. This one is called Keewaydin, the second-oldest operating summer camp in North America. Its vision hasn’t changed since it was established in 1893: “a program focused on wilderness canoe tripping, with minimum time spent in base camp”. In its first 105 years only boys got the chance to go tripping, but in the past two decades girls have joined the ranks. I’m interested in how something established more than a century ago to promote manliness and “roughing it in the woods” can be relevant for teenage girls today. I wonder what kind of teenage girl would want to forgo life’s luxuries to spend a summer in the wilderness – but also know that, as a teenager, I probably would have been one of them.
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) on July 10, 2020 at it’s meeting in Paris, designated 15 new Geoparks. There are now 162 designated sites across 44 countries.
UNESCO said »
These sites of exceptional geological and cultural significance showcase the beauty and diversity of planet Earth. Today 162 sites across the world document our planet’s evolution over 4.6 billion years, unlocking our history preserved in the rock record to learn from the past and support local communities.
- Cliffs of Fundy UNESCO Global Geopark in Nova Scotia, Canada (Twitter)
- Discovery UNESCO Global Geopark, Bonavista Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador (Twitter)
- Xiangxi UNESCO Global Geopark, in Hunan Province, China
- Zhangye UNESCO Global Geopark, in Zhangye City, Gansu Province, China
- Lauhanvuori-Hämeenkangas UNESCO Global Geopark in Finland (Twitter)
- Toba Caldera UNESCO Global Geopark, on Sumatra Island, Indonesia
- Rio Coco UNESCO Global Geopark, in Nicaragua
- Estrela UNESCO Global Geopark, in Portugal (Twitter)
- Hantangang UNESCO Global Geopark, in Korea
- Yangan-Tau UNESCO Global Geopark, in Republic of Bashkortostan, Russian Federation
- Djerdap UNESCO Global Geopark, in Serbia
- Granada UNESCO Global Geopark, in Spain (Twitter)
- Maestrazgo UNESCO Global Geopark, in Spain
- The Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark, in England, UK (Twitter)
- Dak Nong UNESCO Global Geopark, in Dak Nong Province, Viet Nam
- Kula-Salihli UNESCO Global Geopark, in the Aegean Region of Turkey (Twitter)
More » UNESCO
More » Wikipedia entry for UNESCO Global Geoparks
