Best canadian travel guides according to redditors
We found 71 Reddit comments discussing the best canadian travel guides. We ranked the 38 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 71 Reddit comments discussing the best canadian travel guides. We ranked the 38 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Penguin onesie - $55.89 and she promises a terrible dancing video if she gets it.
Calligraphy kit - $33.99
Penguin-opoly - $24.99
Poster - $19.99
There's $20 leftover for the small things on her list. I thought the necklace would work but it goes over with S/H. gah.
Edit: She commented that she wants this book which we could add onto these items.
Just want to vote for this book so hopefully I can get some ideas of new things to try this summer/spring (besides being a dancing penguin)
Best to start with a book like this one.
Timing is important, so see: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/north-america/travel-tips-and-articles/when-is-the-best-time-to-visit-us-and-canadas-national-parks/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d277f5eb
Here is an interactive map with park ratings, links, and photos.
Look beyond national parks to other federal public lands, state parks, and Native American parks.
You should buy an annual park pass if you're going to visit several parks.
There's really nothing too complicated about it. I assume you'll just be day-hiking, so just do some reading on bear safety, put some food, warmer clothes, and bear spray in your backpack, and start walking! Most official trails are well marked and difficult to get lost on. Hiking boots are nice, but absolutely not necessary.
These books are excellent resources and will tell you the basics, as well as the goods on all the trails:
Classic Hikes in the Canadian Rockies - Graeme Pole
Canadian Rockies Trail Guide - Brian Patton & Bart Robinson
You could also join the Alpine Club of Canada. They do a lot of organized trips, with a focus on mountaineering and climbing. There is also an Edmonton Hiking group on meetup.com that does lots of walks in the River Valley with the occasional planned trip to the mountains.
Note that most trails will be snow covered until later than you might think (late June/early July) - check here for trail reports for the mountain parks.
If you need anything else, please feel free to PM me.
There are already some really good ideas on this list.
For some MB heritage stuff check out:
You may want to look into Bartley Kives' book Daytrippers guide to Manitoba. (http://www.amazon.ca/Daytrippers-Guide-Manitoba-Exploring-Undiscovered/dp/1926531019)
This is a book about 36 hour intineraries for 125 cities in Europe. I have the U.S. one and it's awesome.
https://www.amazon.com/New-York-Times-Hours-Europe/dp/3836540487/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VM583Z63K6QQHHTDW1F5
The National Park Service has websites for each park, with information on planning your visit. For example, here's the one for Grand Canyon NP.
Guidebooks would also help, such as Lonely Planet Western USA and The Complete Guide to the National Parks of the West
I'll also reiterate that the US is massive compared to European countries. California alone is twice the size of Great Britain.
Have fun! Definitely don't turn around before you get to Atigun pass (if you aren't going all the way), it's only a few hours past Coldfoot. There is something awe inspiring about the land once you get past the trees, you can literally park your car and walk hundreds or thousands of miles in any direction before you see a person. On our way up we saw a moose, prints from about six different bears, more caribou than we could count, bald eagles, and met a wolf in the middle of the road who chased us for half a mile. The drive up to Deadhorse and back is the reason I'm planning a move out to Alaska in May. If you do end up going all the way, be aware that if you want to swim in the Arctic ocean (you do) you need to sign up 24 hours in advance and provide information for a background check (you have to go through the oil fields). You can also go on a wildlife tour, rumor has it you can occasionally see a polar bear.
A few other things: you can get gas at the Yukon camp, in Coldfoot, and in Deadhorse. Definitely bring at least 5 gallons with you and have at least one spare tire for each vehicle and a patch kit. Most people will tell you to bring two full spare tires. If you don't feel like buying one for a rental car we were able to talk American Tire & Auto into renting us a tire for a grand total of $15. Bring plenty of food and ammo, and buy some swag at the Yukon Camp and Coldfoot. Breakfast in Coldfoot is amazing as well.
Also, this can't be said enough, get the milepost!
If you go, you need to get a copy of the Milepost (https://amzn.com/1892154358), which will give you info on gas, food, and accommodation. Don't expect to pull up Google Maps on your phone to find the next gas station. Even in the summer months (I've done it) these facilities can be far apart, and if you let that gas station go because you've still got half a tank, you need to know where the next one is.
Outside of the summer season, many of these places close up tight for winter, making the distances between even greater.
Camping: Depends on what you mean. If you're the kind of person who wants to pack everything you need for a week into a backpack and walk off into the wilderness, then you will be utterly amazed at the opportunities Central Alaska offers. Camp just about anywhere you want. The area abounds with inviting-looking hills. Pick one that isn't too near town & go for it.
On the other end of the scale, if you like numbered campsites, picnic tables, fire pits, and outhouses, then you can start by driving 40 miles east of town on Chena Hot Springs Road to Granite Tors Campground. There are a couple of nice trails nearby. 10 miles more down the road is Angel Rocks, a nice day hike around interesting rock formations that a reasonably fit family can take. Various longer trails are in the area as well.
Regardless, get yourself a copy of a book called Milepost. It lists every major road in Alaska, and everything there is to see on each road. It's very comprehensive. You can buy it in Fairbanks in gas stations, grocery stores, etc. (or here). A new version is published each year.
Get yourself a copy of this:
Handbook of the Canadian Rockies
Though this one does cover a lot more than just the geology..
I live in Anchorage and have only been here a year, so it's difficult for me to give advice about the rest of Alaska. I can second what the poster above said about checking out Seward and the Sealife Center, and I highly recommend you pick up a copy of The Milepost for your trip. Look around in /r/Anchorage if you plan to be in the area, there have been lots of similar questions asked there with a lot of good info in the replies! :)
This book by Ron Brown is great! "Top 150 Unusual Things To See In Ontario" https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/1770857109/ref=pd_aw_sim_sbs_14_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TP5QBJBK4ZAPZ4XMZP5Q
https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Canadian-Rockies-Ben-Gadd/dp/0969263112 A monster of a book, but it's an amazing resource. At the end of June, you will still run into snow at higher elevations, like passes. I'm not sure how backcounty you are planning on going, but unbridged rivers can also be a major issue at this point in the season. Lots of melting snow means fast, cold, deep, murky water.
When it comes to booking backcountry sites, the good ones tend to book up quickly. They key is to look for the "undesirable" ones. These are the ones that are not on a well-known loop and are a LONG day's hike to get to. For example, Flint's Park. If you go even further, random camping is permitted.
Buy bear spray, know how to use it. Learn how to look for signs of bears. Digs, poop, prints, etc. Announce your presence, especially one moving from one area to another. Crossing water, moving from forest to meadow or vice versa. Cook and store food/smelly things in an area separate from where you camp.
Passports make the boarder crossings easier.
No guns in the vehicle transiting thru CAN.
A current issue of Milepost will tell you what businesses are still open and when. They drive the AlCan every year and call out just about every culvert and crick.
https://www.amazon.com/MILEPOST-2018-Alaska-Travel-Planner/dp/1892154374/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520835866&sr=8-1&keywords=milepost+alaska+2018
Shop for Jade in Cache Creek.
http://jadeshop.ca/
Darn, looks like the teepee camping is no longer available.
https://www.historichatcreek.ca/
Make sure you set aside a couple of hours to stop at Laird hot springs for a soak in the woods.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/liard_rv_hs/
Aquire your hometowns' city signs and nail 'em up at the Sign Post Forest at Watson Lake, Yukon Territory
Parks Canada reservations system for your camping nights:
https://reservation.pc.gc.ca/ParksCanada
My favorite is https://www.amazon.ca/Handbook-Canadian-Rockies-Ben-Gadd/dp/0969263112
It has very detailed writing of the geological history, ecology and zoology of the Canadian rockies.
This will be your friend. I'll leave a more detailed response to others because I haven't been up here too long myself yet, but the Milepost is a wealth of info and a great guide to have for the kind of trip you're hoping for. Good luck with planning, Alaska is an amazing place!
This is the must get book I mentioned. It’s WELL worth it.
The MILEPOST 2018: Alaska Travel Planner https://www.amazon.com/dp/1892154374/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_GUTXBbHX016PP
If you come to Banff National Park I would recommend grabbing this book. https://www.amazon.ca/Canadian-Rockies-Trail-Guide-Patton/dp/0981149189
Lot's of amazing day and multi-day. Their are so many hiking trails in the area, but most people will stick to the major ones.
I did the drive in late winter (March) from Connecticut in 2004. The hotels were very inexpensive since it was off-season. Went to portage Glacier and I was the only person there. Got stuck in Anchorage during a snow storm and went to the zoo and I was just about the only person there too. Fun trip.
Buy the current Milepost guide off Amazon and spend some time flipping through it.
The Alaska Highway is all paved except any short sections they are working on. You don't need a second spare tire or anything like that. I'd recommend a tire patch kit and a small 12v compressor. Also bring a spare headlamp bulb if you have halogens, some wiper fluid, and maybe a spare set of wiper blades in the trunk. Towing for breakdowns is super expensive so amp-up your roadside assistance plan and make sure it works in Canada. The distance from the last dealerships in Dawson Creek to the next ones in Whitehorse is ~900 miles.
The road is good with wide margins all the way to Whitehorse. Expect to see a lot of wildlife. If you're traveling alone bring some sort of tripod so you can take an occasional self-portrait with the timer function on your camera.
I smell a cheechako. :)
Ive been gone from Alaska for a number of years now. But even back in the 70s we drove between haines (north of Juneau) to Anchorage and back several times in a VW squareback. So it isnt quite the Lewis and Clark trek you might imagine. And RVs were very very common in the summer up there by the 80s.
But since Ive been away so long all my detailed knowledge is surely out of date. One thing we did keep handy was The Milepost.
It gave details on services available on every highway.
https://www.amazon.com/MILEPOST-2017-Kristine-Valencia/dp/1892154366
If you are budget minded, you could find a used copy thats a year or two old.
If you arent well versed in firearms use and safety, you are better off without it. You are more likely to hurt yourself or just piss the bear off. Bear Spray and adhering to bear country camping rules are probably a better bet.
Campsites are often wherever there is enough room to pull off the road
All of the parks in alaska are worth visiting. many are larger than entire states in the lower 48
Ferries - are you meaning the Alaska Marine Highway? (I cant imagine that by the route you are going) Or are you imagining a ferry to get into fairbanks? If you mean river crossings - there might be some that im not aware of. I would think that river crossing ferries are either running several times a day or...not at all
Stocking up - pretty much everything will be more expensive. But most things are available.
In general I would say: Pack patience and good humor. Be ready to adjust your plans. Be ready to improvise repairs and help yourself out (if something goes awry with your vehicle, for example) Be ready to cheerfully help others.
Buy a milepost
Montreal: The Unknown City. Sadly I've never seen it in a local bookstore, but your local library might have it?
Buy the Milepost book
The MILEPOST 2019: Alaska Travel Planner https://www.amazon.com/dp/1892154382/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_NBZXCbSC732AJ
Pick up Kristian Gravenor's book and/or read his blog, where there are several years of stories about bizarre things and happenings in Montreal.
From Sea to Sea begins in Vancouver where the author finds his feet and becomes a hockey fan in a backpackers hostel before moving to the suburbs and making friends for life. But life is expensive and the author is obliged to work interesting jobs to pay the rent before embarking on the adventure of a lifetime!
Encounter bears in Whistler and elks in Jasper. Hike in the national parks of the snow covered Canadian Rockies. Visit Edmonton, the heart of the Canadian oil industry. Look down on Toronto, Canada's largest city from one of the worlds tallest buildings. Get wet at Niagara Falls. Immerse yourself in French-Canadian culture in Montreal. Watch rivers flow backwards in New Brunswick and then end your trip in the port city of Halifax where thousands of European immigrants became Canadian.
From Sea to Sea: A Year of Work and Travel in Canada is a travelogue of a year spent living. An informative guide to the history of some of Canada's major cities and tourist attractions.....and also Moncton, New Brunswick.
From Sea to Sea: A Year of Work and Travel in Canada is not the typical sex, drugs and backpacking book. Join the author as he takes you inside his Canadian adventure. Beginning in Vancouver where he found his feet and became a hockey fan in a backpackers hostel before moving to the suburbs and making friends for life. But life is expensive and the author is obliged to work interesting jobs to pay the rent before embarking on the adventure of a lifetime!
Encounter bears in Whistler and elks in Jasper. Hike in the national parks of the snow covered Canadian Rockies. Visit Edmonton, the heart of the Canadian oil industry. Look down on Toronto, Canada's largest city from one of the worlds tallest buildings. Get wet at Niagara Falls. Immerse yourself in French-Canadian culture in Montreal. Watch rivers flow backwards in New Brunswick and then end your trip in the port city of Halifax where thousands of European immigrants became Canadian.
From Sea to Sea: A Year of Work and Travel in Canada is a travelogue of a year spent living. An informative guide to the history of some of Canada's major cities and tourist attractions.....and also Moncton, New Brunswick.
A story of bears, beers, hockey, hard work, love, friendship, maple syrup and what can happen when you take a chance on an adventure. If you've ever thought about visiting Canada then this is a book for you.
Amazon.co.uk link Amazon.de link
Day trips from Halifax http://www.amazon.ca/Day-Trips-Halifax-Jon-Tattrie/dp/1927097444
Fantastic question u/ardnassac115, and I'm glad you asked it. For some background on me, I'm 25 and used to work full-time in a pretty serious career before deciding to return to graduate school full-time. This lined up for me, and is probably one of the few times in my life I'll be able to do something this long and live-changing. When in my life will I have the holy trinity of time, energy, and money again? I had budgeted through grad school to 1.) make sure I could go through grad school without working, and 2.) make sure I had enough leftover to do something like this before returning to work. I still live at home and my major monthly expenses are student loans, car payment/insurance, and a cell phone bill. I budgeted to make sure the cost of this trip, in addition to those expenses, could be covered while I was gone before returning to work. I hope that answers your question regarding saving up.
Planning the trip was difficult at first, but became easier over time. I've never done anything like this in my life and I had no idea what I was doing. The most important thing is to first decide how long you want the trip to be. Everything else comes afterwards. I decided 6 weeks because it'd be enough to see a lot while not killing me financially. Next, I knew I wanted to see national parks, but had no idea how. This helped me immensely. It's an "optimal route" to see all the national parks in the lower 48 states (note there have been two new NP additions since: Gateway Arch NP and Indiana Dunes NP). In what I'm sure is a cardinal sin of this sub, I took the fastest, most direct routes in the interest of time rather than looking for scenic routes most of the time. I cared more about time in the parks than pretty views from my car (although there were many). If you look at the order of my route and the route through that link, you'll notice it's very similar. After, I just started researching parks and seeing which ones I want to see the most, and which ones I could skip for now or save for the future. Once I had that down, I opened up an excel sheet and google maps and started actually mapping each day, how long the drives would be between destinations, what I wanted to do, where I'd sleep each night, and how long I'd spend at each destination. How long was decided during the research part on the parks I decided to see on this trip. For example, parks like Rocky Mountan, Zion, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon all got 2 essentially full days because they were so big that I didn't think I could do all the things I wanted to do in a single day. Parks like Badlands, Great Sand Dunes, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Carlsbad Caverns, Gateway Arch, and Cuyahoga Valley I knew could be done in a single, very packed day. To preface that, I'm in shape and did a lot of hiking at a pretty unhealthy (read: fast) pace, allowing me to do a multitude of trails each day to get everything. I'm not going to lie, it took me a ton of effort to route my trip and make sure it was within the time frame. I essentially made an itinerary for myself. It's not as rigid as I'm making it sound, as the only thing really holding me to schedule was reserving campsites or AirBnBs. Otherwise I'd be able to do that research a few nights prior and alter as I needed. On the flip side, when it's 7PM and you don't know where you're sleeping that night, that can be a scary thing if you're not used to it.
I want to emphasize my planning of each day at parks too. I touched on that above, but this blog, where the authors spent 52 weeks doing all 59 (at the time) national parks for the centennial in 2016, was extremely helpful. The pictures, descriptions, and other info were so valuable. My friend's dad caught wind I was doing this trip and lent me three national park guides: Fodors, National Geographic, and Lonely Planet. These were the most important for actually planning my days in parks, with Fodors being by far the most useful, National Geographic also being good, and honestly not much help from Lonely Planet. Just an FYI, the links are for the exact copies I used, but there are newer versions available that you should get if you look into it. A note on this - it saved me a tremendous amount of valuable time when I got to parks to already know exactly what I wanted to do. If I had extra time and could do stuff I didn't know about, that was great! But on packed days it helps to know where things are in each park and how reasonable your "want to do" adventures are for the time frame.
For road trip prep I had to buy or borrow some things I didn't have and got the rest from my house: sleeping bag, sleeping pad, bed comforter, tarp, tent, knife, bear spray, pepper spray, a road atlas, a lantern, an abundance of snacks (clif bars, larabars, peanut butter crackers, etc), national park passport, a good cooler for water/food, camp stove and bowls, matches, paper towels, hand sanitizer, and some other things that I'm surely not remembering. A good, solid backpack and some good water bottles are necessary. Multi-tools are useful. Don't forget some engine coolant and wiper fluid just in case. Don't forget to stop for an oil change if your trip is long enough. For clothing I put a suitcase in the back seat of my car and lived out of that between laundry. Also had a box with some of the above items in it along with toiletries and other essentials like baby wipes, phone charger, electric razor and charger, nail clippers, sandwich baggies, and a few other things.
Woooo, that was a long winded post! There is so much to think about and plan when doing something like this, and I'd be lying if I said a great deal of work didn't go into my plan. If this trip had been shorter, a lot of this wouldn't be necessary. Six weeks though, that's a long time away from home, completely on my own. Having never done something even close to this, I felt I needed to do a lot of this prep work to make sure this went as smoothly as possible. It did go very smoothly too, but I attribute a lot of that to planning. I hope that this essay response helps you understand the pre-trip process I went through a bit better. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have!
There are zero natural hot spring locations that you can comfortably day-trip from Calgary.
Alberta does not have much in the way of hot springs. There are the couple around Banff, none of which have much water, and none in which you can soak, and there's the Mist Mountain warm spring, which has a wee tiny pool-ish.
The Rocky Mountain geology is simply not conducive to the formation of hot springs. You need to go further, into the Columbia, Kootenay, and Purcell for that.
Cross into BC, and it's hotsprings everywhere. You have your classic Radium, Ainsworth and such pool facilities, a few middle-ground like Lussier Hot Springs which are semi-built, but not turned into a swimming pool, and piles of even more obscure ones with varying amounts of build-up, some of which you must hike to.
Pick up Hot Springs of Western Canada from MEC or the public library for a solid overview.
I don't know the ones up north well I am just speaking about ones I have visited personally. I have this book and it does list quite a few up north.
it's a weekly NYT column.
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-York-Times-Weekends/dp/3836526395
It's in the book!
Montreal: The Unknown City
Discovered this through Reddit actually. Totally amazing book.
This book is full of such cool information.
Yeah, you should not be walking into the backcountry randomly - those are the people who get carried out - sometimes alive, sometimes not.
Grab a trail guide (I've used Brian Patton's guide for decades), and plan a modest overnighter. Aim for 10-12km each way, and figure out what you need to take. Expect that you'll get terrible weather, understand that carrying 50lb on your back is going to crush you when climbing hills, and imagine cooking over a tiny burner with half-numb hands. I'd say get a book on hiking as well - The Complete Walker used to be fantastic, but I'm sure there are others out there.
Maybe as a run-up, do a few day trips. Head up to a pass and back down, something under 20km round trip. With a day-pack, you'll get an appreciation for how long that is, at least. And you'll also get to see just how gorgeous the high country is.
There are a few in and around Nakusp. It's worth picking up this book for some hidden gems!
I found a 1976 version at a book store in Kelowna a decade or so ago, and spent a couple summers hunting them down. It's a great book, and there are some wicked spots around!
Good luck.