Carol Patterson

INSPIRING EVERYDAY EXPLORERS Through wildlife tales and trails

Carol Patterson

Canada number 1 destination for 2017?

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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.

How to sex a marmot from 100 meters

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“Stop!” I screeched at my husband as he scrambled over granite rocks looking for the perfect place to rest. “There’s a marmot right above you!” Colin looked up at golden-mantled ground squirrel and kept walking, knowing he was far enough away not to startle the squirrel.

Hoary Marmot
Hoary Marmots are often heard but seldom seen by hikers at high elevation

 

My mind started its internal commentary. He can’t possibly think that squirrel is the marmot. Why isn’t he listening to me? I tried again. “The marmot is right above you!” I whispered as loudly as I dared, trying to get my camera out before Colin scared the marmot off.

Riders say a horse is dead-sided when it ignores your leg cues. I was watching the human version of this phenomenon as Colin ignored my verbal cues and proceeded to walk within ten meters of the marmot before finally finding the perfect rock for his rest. I clicked off several pictures of the marmot that surprisingly hadn’t moved from his perch and I sprinted up to Colin.

Paintbrush on Stanley Glacier trail
Paintbrush on Stanley Glacier trail

“Did you see THE marmot?” I squealed, “Why didn’t you stop when I told you to?” Colin

The hoary marmot is the largest of North American marmots
The hoary marmot is the largest of North American marmots

looked up and caught the gaze of the dog-sized squirrel looking down at him. “Oh that marmot!” he shrugged, “I never heard you.”

I wasn’t sure I believed him but I’m pretty sure that marmot was a male following the guy code of having each other’s back. I had my picture, Colin got his rest, and the marmot got a little human drama.

 

The hike into Stanley Glacier provides stunning views at all elevations
The hike into Stanley Glacier provides stunning views at all elevations

If you go:

The Stanley Glacier hike in Kootenay National Park is an outing that gives maximum value for your time outdoors. From the time you step out of your car in the crowded parking lot until you crest the rock scree below the receding glacier there are dozens of eye-popping views worthy of an Instagram post. There is also a good chance of seeing hoary marmots, the largest species of North American marmot. It is found above tree line which means you have to work for your sightings but at Stanley Glacier you can reach marmot habitat within a couple of hours.

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/bc/kootenay/activ/randonnee-hike/jour-day.aspx

Making It Easy

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Parks CanadaA large office supply company pioneered the idea of an easy button – one push and all your challenges fade away. What if you could make your trip to Canada’s national parks easier? Banff National Park staff has been trying to simplify outdoor adventures.
Last year Parks Canada launched Equipped Camping sites – a tent with sleeping pads is set up and waiting, removing the need to buy camping gear or stressing over how to assemble tent poles. At Two Jack Lakeside campground in 2013 Parks Canada constructed oTENTiks – sturdy tent/cabin hybrids to keep the rain out and your bones off the ground.

Both initiatives have been popular – the oTENTiks are fully booked most of the summer – and now the Red Chairs are coming to Banff National Park. The idea for the chairs came from Gros Morne National Park where pairs of red Adirondack-style chairs were installed hoping visitors would sit and ponder great views. The chairs were so popular, “there were line-ups to sit in some the chairs,” recalled Greg Danchuk, Visitor Experience Manager at Banff National Park.

Now visitors can relax in the red chairs at several locations in Banff National Park such as the Hoodoos interpretive trail or at the Valleyview picnic area. “We placed them in places that are very easy to get to,” said Danchuk. There are nine pairs of chairs in the park with the possibility of adding more.

Although some people raised concerns initially that the chairs would encourage environmental overuse, Danchuk stresses, “They are not placed in the backcountry or hard-to-find areas. We would also never place them on rehabilitated ground. We will monitor them to see if there are any negative impacts but so far there has been no significant problems.”

From 2006 to 2011 attendance at national parks dropped. Concerned about the decrease, Parks Canada saw attracting new Canadians as a way to rebuild visitation. But with more Canadians living in cities, outdoor skills can be rusty or non-existent. Making it easier for people to experience the outdoors is a strategy being tried by park planners across North America and it seems to be attracting new customers to Banff National Park. “We project a 7% increase in Banff park visitation for the year ending March 31, 2015 and we think some of that increase is from initiatives like oTENTiks, Equipped Campsites and the Red Chairs that make it easier to enjoy nature.”

TWEETABLES

What if you could make your trip to Canada’s national parks easier? Click to Tweet.

Discover how @BanffNP is simplifying outdoor adventures for you and me. Click to Tweet.

Discover how @ParksCanada is attracting new visitors with this unique & easy way to camp. Click to Tweet.