Jasper National Park has been designated the world’s largest 'Dark Sky Preserve’
Medicine Lake, Alberta - Canada is one of the coolest places for a star search, and it will be for the future, ntopw that Jasper National Park officially as a Dark Sky Preserve In March of 2011 by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC). At more than more than 10,000 square km, Jasper National Park it is the largest wilderness park in the Canadian Rockies and the largest Dark Sky Preserve in the world. The region remains one of the only areas in southwestern Canada with exceptional darkness.
Special parks programming has been created to enhance visitors 'star gazing' experiences, including daytime Sidewalk Astronomy Roves throughout the summer, and fall interpretive highlights including Mysteries of the Night - Out Beyond the Street, Our Solar System, and Galaxies and Nebula programming out at Whistlers Campground. You can get more information at www.JasperDarkSky.org Photo by Lucy Izon
In the News: There will be a special celebration in honor of the new designation this fall - the Dark Skies Star Festival (Oct 21-24, 2011), with events including from wilderness astronomy, night hiking, and special dining and hotel packages. Check in with www.Jasper.travel for more details.
Where: The drive from the town of Jasper to the spectacularily scenic Maligne Lake, includes a great road route for spotting wildlife, from elk and moose to grizzly and black bear. It also takes you past Medicine Lake - another cool site because it drains like a giant bathtub each year. Just several km from Jasper you can also see Pyramid Lake - where we once had a secret military project to build an aircraft carrier out of ice.
Lucy Izon
Canada Cool is produced by award-winning Canadian travel writer & speaker Lucy Izon. Her travel stories & reports have appeared in numerous leading North American publications including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, and Chicken Soup for the Traveler's Soul. Bio page
Canada’s Coolest:
Welcome to a new feature on Canada Cool. I'll be presenting different 'Coolest' lists with my favorites and I encourage you to nominate suggestions from your own experiences. You can Twitter @CanadaCool or email [email protected]. Let me know what makes your suggestion exceptionally cool. Remember, by contributing your comments you are giving Canada Cool permission to quote you. Only a selection of submissions will be included, but all comments and submissions are greatly appreciated!
The first feature is: Canada's Coolest Single Day Scenic Drives
Here are some of my favorites...
The Icefields Parkway, Jasper National Park, Alberta - This 229 km (142 mi) Rocky Mountain route from Banff/Lake Louise to Jasper passes 100 frozen rivers and nudges the base of the Athabasca Glacier - the most accessible glacier in the world. You can stop and explore it. It spills down from the Columbia Icefield, an area of ice so massive that you could fit the entire population of North America on it with each person getting at least a square metre of space.
The Corridor, Algonquin Park, Ontario – this 56-km stretch of Hwy 60 cuts through the southwest section of Algonquin Park. Less than three hours north of Toronto the park is a nature-lover's paradise with 7,725 km of lakes, rivers, forest, trails, camping, comfortable lodges and 2000 km of canoe routes. Offers hiking trails to stop and enjoy, but what makes it really cool is that it’s one of the best places in North America to spot moose (especially in May and June). And, on Thursday nights in August up to 600 cars will gather to listen to wolves howl.
The Cabot Trail, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia – Driving this 303 km (187 mile) route is like riding a roller-coaster: the road snakes around hairpin turns, rises to heights over 365 metres (1200 ft), weaves around headlands revealing spectacular coastal scenery, and plunges down to sea level taking you into the heart of small fishing communities. The most dramatic scenery is between the Cape Breton Highlands National Park entrance near Cheticamp and Pleasant Bay, so go slow. And, plan some flexibility into your schedule, so you can drive it on a clear day.
And here are some of your nominations for 'Canada's Coolest Single Day Scenic Drives'...
More from Canada’s Coolest
'Canada's Coolest' topics we'll be publishing in the future:
- Golf Course Features
- Haunted Hotels
- Hotel Special Services
Send your suggestions to [email protected]
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