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July 5, 2005

The Ultimate Canadian Roadtrip

Lots of people want to go to vacationing in Alaska - beautiful majestic mountain ranges, wild countryside, eskimos, glaciers, grizzly bears... But it's quite a long flight to get to The Land Of The Midnight Sun. What I don't understand is why more people make a shorter trip to Canada. After all, they have all the same stuff and they're a hell of a lot closer! At worst, Florida and Southern California are about a 24 hour drive from the Mexican-California border to the Canadian border, and most people are significantly closer.

After a quick jaunt into the Canadian Rockies last year, I decided it would be fun to plan the Ultimate Canadian Roadtrip. I use the term "roadtrip" loosely - as I'm willing to use any form of transportation necessary to visit all the most exciting wildernesses. After doing some research, I decided that the most efficient way to see Canada is actually to break up the trip into several smaller trips, using different forms of transport, depending on the area visited. These trips could be done all at once, or singly over the course of a couple of years.

By land, by sea, by air - the Ultimate Canadian Roadtrip (UCR) covers the best of the Canadian national parks and wildernesses. It makes the most of the seasons while stretching the Canadian National Park pass as far as it can go. It's designed with the idea that your time is precious, so you shouldn't be wasting it, but that you're more likely to "experience" things when you're off the beaten path.

The Canadian "Triplets"
Yukon & The Northwest Territories [BLUE]
Queen Charlotte Sound & The Alaskan Inside Passage [RED]
The Canadian Rockies & Prairielands [GREEN]
The Canadian Arctic [YELLOW]
Eastern Provinces & The Gulf Of St. Lawrence [PINK]

I'll be posting specific itineraries and details of this exploration of Canada in the coming weeks. I'll be talking about island hopping by ferry, driving the Alaskan Highway without being eaten by a grizzly, hiring a bush pilot, and more. Hope you enjoy!

Posted by sorsha at July 5, 2005 10:00 AM