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Outside Magazine's 2003 Family Travel Guide

Big Fun in America's Parks
Crème de la Canada
Northern Exposure

By Sam Moulton


	Banff National Park's Moraine Lake (Corel)

There's no disputing that Canada is obsessed with parks. In fact, last October the country unveiled plans to add ten new wilderness parks—169 million acres all told, an area larger than Portugal—to its already immense park system in the next five years. Here are the best family outings at our favorite new (and classic) parks.

QUEBEC – Parc National des Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie
Set up base camp at Le Pin Blanc campground, near this two-year-old park along eastern Quebec's Malbaie River. Take the mandatory free shuttle into the park and then herd your group up the wide, mellow trails of the Acropole des Draveurs, a 3,000-foot granite peak that looms above the expansive river valley. Contact: Sçpaq, 866-702-9202, www.sepaq.com

BRITISH COLUMBIA – Gulf Islands National Park Reserve
Only a few hours north of Seattle by car ferry, Gulf Islands National Park Reserve this summer will unite 14 islands and ten square miles of temperate archipelago into one preserve. From Mayne Island, be sure to sea kayak among the sea lions and seals in the Belle Chain Islets. Contact: Mayne Island Kayak and Canoe, 250-539-5599, www.maynekayak.com

QUEBEC – Parc National D'Anticosti
This two-year-old park, which covers 400 square miles of 5,000-square-mile Anticosti Island and its surrounding waters at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, has a summer's worth of caves, canyons, and beached shipwrecks to explore. First stop: 100-foot Vaureal Falls, tumbling from an amphitheater of 130-foot limestone cliffs. Contact: Sçpaq, 418-535-0156, www.sepaq.com

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BRITISH COLUMBIA – Banff National Park
Banff's brawny 11,000-foot peaks and abundant big game—bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and elk—are signature Canadian Rockies. Head to the Columbia Icefield, the largest accumulation of ice and snow south of the Arctic Circle, and hike the tough, three-mile-long Athabasca Glacier (good for teens). Contact: Parks Canada, 403-762-1550, www.parkscanada.gc.ca/banff

ONTARIO – Quetico Provincial Park
With hundreds of pristine, interconnected lakes, northwestern Ontario's million-acre Quetico is a canoeing family's paradise. Drive to the Dawson Trail campground (the park's only campground with water and outhouses; reservations required) and paddle about three miles up French Lake and a stretch of the Pickerel River to the sandy beach of The Pines. Ancient red and white pines still tower over this favorite spot of the voyageurs. Contact: Ontario Parks, 888-668-7275, www.ontarioparks.com

YUKON – Kluane National Park and Reserve
The Kluane's broad valleys, vast icefields, and massive peaks—including 19,545-foot Mount Logan—are Imax in scale. Snag a front-row seat on a 12-day whitewater rafting trip down the Class II-IV lower Alsek-Tatshenshini. Contact: Paddle/Wheel Adventures, 867-634-2683, www.paddlewheeladventures.com; Kluane National Park, 867-634-7250

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