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Carol Patterson

INSPIRING EVERYDAY EXPLORERS Through wildlife tales and trails

Carol Patterson

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Want to see Sable Island’s wild horses?

July 18, 2018 by CarolPatterson Leave a Comment

Sable Island is one of Canada’s coolest Park Canada sites. It’s hard to reach but for those who make the effort, they will get a few hours with the world’s most isolated wild horses. Learn more in my latest story for Fodors.com here.

Sable Island’s wild horses

Filed Under: Canada Tagged With: adventure, canada, sable island, wild horses

Driving new road to Tuktoyaktuk

July 18, 2018 by CarolPatterson Leave a Comment

Canada has a new road and it leads to the Arctic Ocean (our first). The Inuvik Tuktoyaktuk Highway offers a 138-kilometres for adventurous road trippers.  If you dream of tackling it, learn how in my latest story for Canadian Geographic Travel here.

Canada’s first road to Tuktoyaktuk is open for summer visitors

Filed Under: Canada Tagged With: adventure, canada, NWT, road trips

Canada number 1 destination for 2017?

January 17, 2017 by CarolPatterson 7 Comments

Is Canada number 1 in your travel planning for 2017? The New York Times rated Canada as its number 1 place to travel for this year. Canada is celebrating its 150th birthday and rolling out the red carpet (and the red maple leaf) for visitors coming for the party.

Many cities and towns are planning special celebrations and Parks Canada is offering a free park pass for anyone wanting to visit one of its spectacular 44 national parks or 167 national historic site.  Click here for a free park pass.

Alberta Hiking
Canada offers spectacular hiking for every ability and fitness level

As a travel writer, people often ask me what my favourite travel destination is and many are surprised when I tell them its home. Canada has so much scenic beauty and enough wildlife adventures for a nature nut like me, I can’t help but recommend it for all travellers.

Like hiking but haven’t kept up your fitness program? Try the gondola to Sunshine Meadows in Banff National Park for jaw-dropping views (and wifi) that will have you reaching for your smartphone. Interested in learning more about some of Canada’s earliest settlers or chowing down on tasty seafood? Drop in at Fortess of Louisbourg National Historic Site (bring warm clothes) and step back into the 18th century. Feel the need to unplug? Visit the place some call the quietest prairie in North America at Grasslands National Park in hard-to-pronounce Saskatchewan.

Have you been to Canada yet? Will you add it to your travel plans for this year? Drop me a note and tell me what places you love best or the ones you’d like to visit.

Filed Under: Canada Tagged With: canada, parks canada

Book Review: Discover Canada: 100 Inspiring Outdoor Adventures by Leigh McAdam

March 9, 2016 by CarolPatterson Leave a Comment

Discover CanadaLeigh McAdam encourages people to get out and explore Canada with this guide to self-locomotion. Covering the country from coast to coast and every season she offers choices for hiking, biking, skating, rafting and paddling. Each adventure includes main attractions, time needed, cost, and guided options. This isn’t just a book for daydreaming. McAdam has selected activities and destinations that are affordable for the average traveller. Her difficulty ratings may not match your abilities so read the criteria carefully. If hiking 18 kilometers in a day sounds like more than moderate exercise, peruse the easy options. But get moving. This book will have you hankering for outdoor adventure!
TWEETABLES
Discover Canada: 100 Inspiring Outdoor Adventures. Click to Tweet.

Get outside and explore Canada with this guide to self-locomotion: Click to Tweet.

From coast to coast @hikebiketravel has you covered with her new guide to outdoor adventure: Click to Tweet.

Filed Under: Interesting People Tagged With: adventure travel, biking, canada, hiking, leigh mcadam, paddling, rafting, skating, travel, travel canada

How to find a bison stampede

February 26, 2016 by CarolPatterson Leave a Comment

When I learned to fly, my flight instructor told me flying was boredom 95% of the time and the other 5% delivered sphincter-narrowing excitement. That phrase ran through my head as I searched unsuccessfully for bison in Elk Island National park. With over 460 plains bison in a relatively small park, you might think they would be hard to miss. You would be wrong.
After two hours of driving back and forth on the 18 kilometer road that dissects the park I spotted nary a bison. Or a bird. Or anything moving. It was frustrating because I could tell by the poop scattered everywhere and the tracks in the snow there were bison around. “The best time to sDSC05682ee them is at dawn and dusk,” suggested the Parks Canada visitor center employee. Unfortunately it was mid-morning and I would be long gone by dark.

Daydreaming to take my mind off my lack of photos I crested a small hill and saw several vehicles stopped on the road. “Wildlife!” I thought. I didn’t care if it was a squirrel, by now I was happy to look at anything with fur or feathers to break my wildlife-viewing drought. I coasted to a stop and spotted dozens of brown shaggy behemoths jogging across the frozen grasslands. Bison! They were several hundred meters away – too far to photograph – so I grabbed my video camera to capture the movement.

In the viewfinder I noticed the lead animals turning towards me. At the same time I thought, “they are coming this way” a stampede erupted behind my vehicle. Tons of plain bison thundered across the road, youngsters following moms and spunky teenagers kicking their heels in the air as they went. The snow flew up as they pounded across the plains, steam circling their dark heads. In seconds the reached a large stand of aspen and the forest gobbled them up as if they had never been. My racing heart told me otherwise. I love that 5%!

Watch the action on this video.

Filed Under: Alberta Tagged With: bison, canada, elk island, national parks

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