If you need some inspiration for travelling, hiking or simply getting outdoors, Kananaskis Country in Alberta, Canada, is it.
In fact, ever since our trip last year, I always find inspiration looking at Canada photos. They don’t have to be mine. Anyone’s. They make my heart ache. This country is just so incredibly beautiful.
So let me make your heart ache too by sharing some photos from Kananaskis Country.
FAR FROM THE MADDENING CROWD IN KANANASKIS COUNTRY
Since Banff National Park turned out way too busy for us, we ended up staying only a couple of nights. Although we missed out on doing much hiking there, and thus seeing some amazing scenery around Banff and Lake Louise, we just couldn’t stand traipsing after 200 other people in single file as we did on our hike to the Plain of Six Glaciers.
So after talking to various Parks Canada rangers and some locals, we decided to head further south and explore Kananaskis Country (or K-Country if you’re a local), just south of Canmore in Alberta. Whilst it is not Rocky Mountains national parks country, Kananaskis is choc-a-bloc with Rocky Mountains provincial parks, all waiting to be explored!
READ MORE: Brief Trip Overview: Kananaskis Country
Kananaskis was the perfect escape from the busyness of Banff. And since we had nothing better to do, we stayed for three nights. While we barely scratched the surface with our five hikes there, what we did see was nothing short of breathtaking, including some amazing wildlife!
The wildlife icing on the cake was spotting two grizzly bears, which we were ridiculously ecstatic about after having managed to completely miss any sightings of them in the Yukon and BC.
READ MORE: Chasing Bears across Canada
Totally not on our radar (we had never heard of the area), far enough away from the major tourist spots to give us a sense of remoteness, and beautifully devoid of tourists in late September, Kananaskis Country was heavenly (apart from the ridiculous cost of campsites).
The only people we met were locals from around Canmore or Calgary, exploring their own stunning backyard. And what a backyard it is!
3 DAYS IN KANANASKIS COUNTRY: A PHOTO SNAPSHOT
We caught a glimpse of grizzly bear a couple of kilometres later but pretty much missed him because I was too taken by this view. *sigh* You can’t have everything.
We had absolutely no idea that we would find a lake at the end of our hike to Rawson Lake, and not one with such crystal clear reflections. You could hardly tell what’s reflection and what’s real
After our hike, the weather couldn’t have been more glorious after two foggy and rainy days.
The husband went on a hike to the Prairie View lookout whilst I stayed behind reading a book in the sun.
6 Comments
chewytravels
10 June 2017 at 4:10 AMI always love your photos!!! Wow you saw grizzlies! I think I would be scared.
I haven’t explored much of my northern neighbors besides seeing Niagara Falls and a little bit of Toronto, but this has got me thinking that I really need to get out there and do some hiking and road tripping!!!
Kati
10 June 2017 at 4:27 PMAh, thanks Chewy! 🙂 We saw the grizzlies from the car so all safe. But I did get out of the car and snuck around it to get a better shot of one of them. They are massive animals and I wouldn’t want to meet one hiking!
Canada is absolutely stunning, I totally fell in love with it. The mountains are incredible, we’ve got nothing like it in Australia and I can’t wait to return and see some more.
chewytravels
13 June 2017 at 10:42 PMStill, that sounds like you were quite close! So amazing that you could encounter them though!
I do love me a good mountain! I may have to start planning a trip since I’m so close anyway. 🙂
Kati
16 June 2017 at 11:30 AMYes, it’s incredibly seeing bears in the wild! I got insanely excited the few times we did come across one. 😀
Sue
8 January 2019 at 3:22 PMThe “goat” is actually a big horned sheep. Mountain goats are white with little black horns.
Kati
8 January 2019 at 4:17 PMHi Sue,
Is it really? Cool!! The hooves looked like goat ones to me (though I must admit I wasn’t thinking of those lovely white fluffy mountain goats, not sure why I wrote that, haha). Thanks for pointing that out.