Alberta Road Trip
Cathy
Back from Alberta

From hiking up mountains and exploring valleys to feeding cows and riding horses, we've had a whirlwind of adventures on our road trip to Alberta. With Canada's landscape ranging in such beauty, we focused most of our time exploring the outdoors and caught a few glimpses of wildlife. We visited incredibly blue lakes, relaxed in a hot spring and watched cows block the road we were driving on. 

Back from Alberta

caves

,

Petroglyphs and Warsaw Caves

,
Petroglyphs and Warsaw Caves

Even though the rain clouds followed us all day, we weren't going to let it stop us from enjoying the outdoors. Our first adventure of the day was Petroglyphs Provincial Park in Woodview, Ontario. This historical park holds the largest collection of ancient First Nation petroglyphs (rock carvings) in Ontario.

From displays, posters and videos, the park's visitor centre offers information about the petroglyphs and their spiritual meaning. After learning about the petroglyphs, you can head over to the protective building to view the cave drawings. From carvings of turtles to bears and thunderbird to boats, every petroglyph tells a different spiritual story. It's quite an interesting experience learn about this spiritual place.

,

Exploring Scenic Caves in Collingwood

,

A last-minute decision led us to head up North to Collingwood. From treetop canopy walks and ziplining, to caves and caverns, Scenic Caves offers a variety of activities for the adventurous soul. Since we have treetop trekked and ziplined before, we opted for the self-guided tour of the caves, caverns and suspension bridge. 

As Southern Ontario's longest suspension bridge, I thought it was rather underwhelming. When you walk to the other side of the bridge, you reach a dead end with a few picnic tables and boards of information about the suspension bridge. You need to head back if you want to participate in other activities.  However, the view was lovely since it overlooks the Georgian Bay.

Hiking through the caves and caverns was much more exciting. There's an easy trail to follow to visit the caves and caverns. They made it very safe by installing platforms and bars to hold onto for the rocky areas. You get spectacular lookouts from the edge of the limestone cliffs, a shady hike beneath the canopy of sugar maples and red oak as well as a chance to explore a labyrinth of caves and crevices. 

Things to know: 

  • Summer hours: 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
  • Admission for caves and suspension bridge: $25.50 (total with tax) for adults
  • The hike takes about two hours
  • There are zipline packages and adventure tour packages available (reservations required)
  • It's very family friendly with activities like mini golf, gemstone mining and a children's adventure playground (which I was too old to go into) 
  • Tractor and wagon rides are provided to the suspension bridge area as an alternative to hiking
  • Check out their FAQs and website for more information! 

Happy Adventuring!