Best National Parks to Visit on your Canadian Road Trip

Banff National Park is one of the best and most famous national parks located in the glorious Canadian Rockies. It is known for its beautiful blue lakes and its tall and impressive snow-capped peaks. it is also known for it gondolas and its skiing. Banff National Park is very popular to foreign and local tourists because of these beautiful features. Due to its popularity Banff has lots of great hiking trails for all levels. It probably has more hiking trails than the other Canadian Rockies national parks.Despite the number of people and the popularity of the park, Banff still has an abundance of wildlife, and some people's primary intention to visit Banff is to see this abundance of wildlife.

One animal that is very abundant in Banff National Park is the elk. The elk in Banff are pretty much everywhere. They are in the town sites, on the trails, and on the roads. They spar and bugle in these areas, unaware of their human onlookers. Banff offers extraordinary elk viewing due to the large population of habituated elk. Bears are also very numerous in Banff. Black bears are very common and can be spotted in lots of different areas. People have reported daily sightings of black bears. Some have even seen two families fight. Grizzly bears are lower in number in Banff National Park and are mainly found in the back country, but still can be seen. Look for these charismatic predators on the Bow Valley Parkway. Wolves are low in number in Banff national Park but they are occasionally spotted on the Bow Valley Parkway.

Jasper National Paris the second most famous and and one of the best national parks in the Canadian Rockies. If you're looking to see the Canadian Rockies with less crowds and more wildlife, Jasper National Park is the place to be. it has the spectacular lakes and beautiful scenery of Banff with less crowds. Jasper also has great ski resorts. It has the turquoise lakes and snow-capped peaks of Banff too. And though Jasper does get a substantial amount of visitors, it has less than Banff. But due to the less number of visitors, Jasper doesn't have as many restraunts or luxury hotels as Banff. And though it has lots of great hikes, it will not have the variety of trails that Banff has. But if your looking for a true wilderness experience, Jasper will deliver. Jasper also edges Banff when it comes to wildlife.

Jasper is the wildlife hot spot of the Canadian Rockies, and is considered by many to have better wildlife viewing than Banfff National Park. Like Banff, Jasper National Park has a ton of elk. And I mean ton. There are probably more elk in Jasper than in Banff. They create jams in the townsite and in the park. They rut, bugle, and mate right in front of people. The elk in Jasper form large herds and are habituated to human presence, allowing for up-close viewing and photography opportunities. Jasper National Park has a very healthy population of bears, particularly black bears,. You have a very high chance of seeing them on the Magline Lake road. Some people have driven this road dozens of times and never not seen a black bear. The black bear and grizzly bear population in Jasper is healthier than the bear populations in Banff. Grizzlies are lower in number than black bears and mainly stick to the back country in Jasper National Park, but they still can be viewed. Wolves are in healthy number in Jasper too.

Waterton Lakes National Park is the less famous but arguably better national park to its sister park, the famous Glacier National Park. Waterton Lakes National Park is known for its very impressive scenery and great boating activities. But one thing Waterton Lakes National Parkis legendary for is for its impressive hies. Waterton has a large variety of trails suited for all levels of hikers. Waterton Lakes has several long steep trails for advanced hikers which draw lots of visitors. Several people go to Waterton Lakes National Park to experience the great hikes. Many of the hikes in Waterton are posted on several hiking magazines because of how good they are. But another draw to Waterton Lakes National Park is its abundant wildlife.

Waterton Lakes National Park has an amazing amount of wildlife, probably more so than its sister park Glacier National Park. There are tons of elk which often wander through town, on roads, and use the trails. Like Glacier National Park, Waterton Lakes National Park has an abundance of mountain goats which can be spotted in lots of places in the park.It also has bighorn sheep which have been spotted in lots of different places like in front of people's cabins and even in the towns. Waterton also has lots of small predators like lynxes and foxes. But one main wildlife highlight in Waterton is black bears. Black Bears are very abundant in Waterton Lakes National Park, miuch more so than Glacier. They can be seen anywhere. Mothers with cubs, mating pairs, and big males can all be seen. People have seen 20+ bears in a single weekend. Some pople average 20+ individual bears in 48 hours. Waterton is a black bear mecca. Wolves, cougars, and grizzlies also exist in high number in Waterton.

Yoho National Park is a gem in the Canadian Rockies. Its gets substantially less visitors than Jasper National Park and Banff National Park and still offers the same (if not better) scenery. Yoho is known for its great hiking trails, beautiful blue lakes, and snow capped peaks. One other great feature of Yoho National Park is the great waterfalls in the park. Yoho National Park has tons of waterfalls which are very sceninc. These waterfalls make Yoho National Park stand out from Banff and Jasper National Park.

Kluane National Park is an amazing gem of a national park located in the Yukon Territory. Kluane National Park is Yukon's flagship park, and not without reason. Kluane has some of the best hiking and backpacking on the globes. There are great hiking trails with beautiful views for all levels. There are really strenuous hikes. Kluane contains Canada's tallest mountain. Kluane also has extraordinary backpacking. There are beautiful backpacking trails and places to camp. The back country in Kluane National Park is always very peaceful and it allows you to get an essence of the while. One other great feature about Kluane National park is the glaciers there. There are several beautiful glaciers, and when you walk among them it feels like you are in prehistoric times. There are several tall glaciers which are very great for landscape photography. And among all these trails, back country, and glaciers, an abundance of animals roam.

Kluane is crawling with mammals. It has a very high mammal density. One mammal that lives here in abundance is the endangered dall sheep. Dall sheep were hunted frequently,, but Kluane National Park remained one of their last refuges. Kluane National Park is rumored to contain the highest density of these magnificent animals on the globes. They are very easy to see. The park provides scopes at areas where sheep are frequently spotted so you can see them up close. Look for them on Sheep Mountain. One animal that also lives in Kluane in abundance is the great grizzly bear. Klaune has a high density due to the abundance of prey and salmon. Grizzlies are very easily viewable in multiple locations across the park. Remember to bring binoculars and telephoto lenses because you will be seeing them from a distance. But if you put in the effort, chances are you will see one of these magnificent animal;s. Kluane also has a healthy population fo black bears which are frequently seen. Kluane National Park contains the largest subspecies of moose on the planet which are easy to see in multiple locations. Kluane National Park also has some caribou. They are not super easy to find, bbut can be viewed. Kluane National Park also contains an abundance of other predators like the elusive wolf, red foxes, lynx etc. The park really is a wildlife mecca.