by Heather Egger
What we’ve got here is a season-by-season guide to exploring national and provincial parks all around Edmonton. All through the turning seasons, you’ll find nature, fresh air and wildlife – and if it’s February, you might also find a Viking warrior in a tutu! [Image credit: iStock.com/wwing]
Drive slowly through Elk Island National Park, 40 km east of the city, and watch for the free-roaming herds of bison that live here year-round. Enjoy the fall colours from a canoe on the cool water – maybe you’ll spot trumpeter swans, Canada geese and pelicans. Gaze up at the protected dark skies and ribbons of green aurora that become active in the fall. Then come back in the snow for a guided tour – your guides will bring all the snowshoes, a heated tent, maple snow taffy fixings and the toboggan.
Expert wildlife watchers will tell you to go early in the morning to watch the deer, coyotes, porcupines and black bears wake up in Miquelon Lake Provincial Park. Listen to the morning songs of two hundred species of birds as the sun peeks up over the far-off horizon. This important bird area and breeding ground is less than an hour from Edmonton and on two migratory flyways. Cool autumn nights call for comfort in a fully furnished yurt with luxuries such as a refrigerator, BBQ and queen-sized beds (available until end of September).
Jasper is a laid-back mountain town that welcomes friendly travellers from all over the globe. Families love Marmot Basin for the high-speed quad chair, snow school, terrain park and dry champagne powder. But winter in Jasper makes me pine for the log cabins, fireplaces and the lively brewpub in the heart of the town. Ice adventurers will appreciate hiking the frozen trail at Athabasca Falls or strapping on cleats for a Maligne Canyon ice walk.
In the dead of winter, just outside the city, Viking snow warriors gather for the annual Canadian Birkie ski marathon. The race stems from an ancient Nordic legend that reaches back to civil war in the year 1206 – when two birch-bark-clad rescuers braved 55 km of vicious cold and two mountain ranges to save an infant prince. In February, Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area provides the deep cold and a legendary cross-country trail system for a reenactment – skiers bring their own metal-hewn horned helmets and tutus.
Starting in May, just when spring is springing, the comfort camping yurts at Pigeon Lake Provincial Park open for the season. Stay cozy in a heated, fully powered canvas building with a fridge, beds, BBQ and private deck on the water. Bring your license and sit fishin’ for walleye, northern pike and lake whitefish.
Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park, just west of St Albert, celebrates one of Alberta’s most beloved citizens. Mother, author, businesswoman and Lieutenant Governor, Lois Hole was known as the “Queen of Hugs” because she hugged everybody all the time. What a lovely legacy in itself. In her park, it’s quiet all winter, but in spring, this freshwater wetland bursts into life. The wind moves through cattails and bulrushes in the shallow edge of Big Lake, orchids and ferns peep up among the grasses. Butterflies float in open meadows. And see over there? A beaver dam! Spring here is a hug for your soul.
Both my summer ideas are about having fun in the water. Head less than an hour west to popular Wabamun Lake Provincial Park. Fish for large northern pike in the cool lake or play on the beaches at Seba and Moonlight Bay. Keep going on the Yellowhead Highway another half hour to float the afternoon away on a rippling river. In your bobbing inner tube, you gently drift under tall rail bridges and steep striped cliffs on a 3.5-hour journey to Pembina River Provincial Park. June to September, a local tour company rents tubes and runs a shuttle back to your car.
Our natural spaces are perfect places to watch time flow. Herds of bison roam free among trembling fall colours and mountains sparkle with snow through the winter. See spring burst into life in a pond and bob happily down the river on a long summer afternoon. Witness the wonder of nature in a park.
