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Rev Up Those Engines - This Scenic Drive Zooms You Back 65Copyright © 2007-2009 Travel Alberta, All Rights ReservedWritten by: Travel Alberta In order to see all five United Nations UNESCO World Heritage Sites, start your scenic drive in the far southwest corner of Alberta in Waterton Lakes National Park, which became the world's first International Peace Park in 1932 when it joined Glacier National Park. It's also a model of environmental co-operation. Girdled by a chain of deep glacial lakes, this gem of a park offers an unbelievable variety of high-altitude day hikes, horseback riding adventures, 1,200 species of plants and wildlife viewing opportunities (perfect spot for family vacations). Take out your driving map and jog north on Highway 6 to Pincher Creek, then east on Highway 3 to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Its bragging rights are well-earned - as it's the largest, oldest and best preserved of all bison jumps in the world. At the base is a vast graveyard with thousands of years worth of bones from butchered bison piled 32 ft. (10 metres) high. The jump represents an exceptionally ingenious hunting technique used by Plains Indians up to 10,000 years ago. In recognizing the site's cultural and historical importance, UNESCO declared the jump a World Heritage Site in 1981. Back on Highway 3, steer your scenic drive to Taber, and then north on Highway 36. From there your Alberta scenic drive takes you to a lunar world, swollen with coulees and hoodoos and other mystical things. Dinosaur Provincial Park has some of the most extensive dinosaur bone fields in the world, now protected under the UNESCO designation. Daily summer interpretive programs and digs walk you back through time. If you time it right you might just be able to sleep under the yawning jaws of a T.rex – yes, family vacation sleepovers run throughout the summer. Road Trips Through Banff and Jasper National Parks From there, head west on Highway 544 and then a short distance south on Highway 36 before reaching Highway 1 which will take you directly west to Calgary. Park your scenic drive here for a while or make a beeline to Banff and Jasper National Parks - two spectacular Rocky Mountain parks in Alberta that are part of four adjacent parks which together have been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. (The other two are Kootenay and Yoho to the west in British Columbia). You'll see this area is postcard Canada: snow-capped mountains, thundering waterfalls, cerulean lakes, glacial spackled peaks, the Columbia Icefield, hoodoos, hiking trails, Mounties and grand Old World hotels. Numerous types of lodging mean stays in either Banff or Jasper could range from an overnight to several weeks. Both Alberta parks are loaded with opportunities to go hiking, canoe, cycle, camp, golf, play tennis, go horseback riding or just laze around a steamy hot pool. From Jasper, steer your scenic drive from the Rocky Mountains east on the Yellowhead Highway to Edmonton and call it a grand road trip, or, devoted UNESCO fans could squeeze in our last UNESCO site, Wood Buffalo National Park (the second largest national park in the world). Long-Haul Road Trippers Head to Wood Buffalo National Park Miles from nowhere, in the far northeast corner of Alberta, most tourists either take the scenic drive north through Peace River country into the Northwest Territories to the park's closest hub, Fort Smith, or they fly from Edmonton or Calgary. This vast chunk of lonely boreal forest and shallow lakes is home to the world's largest free-roaming herd of wood bison (more than 2,100 remain) and is the last natural nesting habitat of the rare whooping crane (183 individuals were recently counted). It was for these reasons Wood Buffalo National Park was deemed a UNESCO site in 1983. Numerous outfitters in Fort Smith offer adventure and nature-based holidays in the Park. Total Distance of UNESCO scenic drive: 1181 mi/1890 km About The Author:
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