Alberta Road Trip to Saskatechewan Trip Planner
If you think Alberta is boring, you’ve got another thing coming! Hearing from many people how boring parts of Canada are when you road trip across the prairies, I decided to take a look for myself! I had never road tripped in my own country before and thought it would be a good time to wander over to the province of Saskatchewan to see what all the fuss was about! My beautiful sister (@jenna_sirucek) and I were pleasantly surprised and stunned at all the beauty the praries had to offer! (Full disclosure, we pulled over about every half an hour for pictures of the stunning scenery haha!)
You simply need to know the right places to go!
Tip#1 – Take as many back roads as possible!
Our Route
This route is quick and easy! We took many back roads on our way out there, but linked up to the Trans Canada Highway on the way back.
We found a great place in Empress using AirBnB.com! <– Use that link to get $52CAD off your first time using AirBnb, trust me it is totally worth it!!
Worlds Largest T-Rex – Drumheller
Alberta is filled with some of the Guinness World Records Largest ‘things’ including the Largest Canada Goose, Largest Mallard Duck, Largest Bee, Largest Beaver; what more could a girl ask for?!
Seeing as the World’s Largest Dinosaur was just a hop skip and a jump from Calgary, I had to visit it! Sitting off to the right when heading north on of HWY 56 towards the Royal Tyrell Museum is the World’s Largest Man-Made Dinosaur!
The Hoodoos
There are two spots to see the amazing Hoodoos; one of the major spots is Horseshoe Canyon which is south of Drumheller and Hoodoos Trail which is east of Drumheller. Both make for stunning views! Horseshoe Canyon gives you a view from the top of the canyon while Hoodoos Trail gives you a view from the bottom with the option to climb up to the top.
Patricia (Dinosaur National Park)
Declared as a World UNESCO Site; this is a place you have to go! (If you have to choose between Drumheller and Dinosaur Provincial Park… pick Dinosaur Provincial Park! Even though we missed it, it was certainly on our list.) If you want to see Dinosaurs, Dinosaur Provincial Park is the place to go! There are tours where you can see an actual T-Rex head hanging out one side of a hill and his tail out of the other. This archaeological feat would definitely be the most amazing thing to see!
The Badlands
The Badlands created mainly by glacial meltwater, left in it’s trail incredible rock formations made out of sandstone. The Badlands have many tales, such as the reason it was named was because Cowboys and thieves would hideout here! However, this area is most renowned for finding Dinosaur bones (and it is certainly safe from cowboys and thieves now!)
Canola Fields
The wide open space and the natural colours of the blue skies against the canola yellow make you feel like the warmth of the sun is coming from the earth instead of the skies. I know it may not seem like much, but the quiet and the ability to see straight to the horizon always brings me back to center.
Alberta/Saskatchewan Border
We HAD to stop at the Alberta – Saskatchewan border. I had never been to Saskatchewan before, so for me this was a momentous occasion and one more spot to mark off my list! A road trip across Canada is definitely on my list and I hope sometime soon I can complete the journey!
Sunflower Fields
One of my life goals is to watch Sunflowers follow the sun for the day and though I was not able to sit and watch them for the entire day, capturing this photo from a field of sunflowers was definitely a highlight!
The Great Sandhills
The Great Sandhills cover 1900 square kilometers and contains one of the largest ares of active sand dunes in Canada. It is a protected area and depending which way you get there, it may be a bit of a challenge! There is a lack of paved roads and I don’t suggest going after a severe rain or during a potential sand storm as your car may get stuck or damaged on the way there! However, these challenges make it all that much more special because there are not as many people who will regularly venture to this area. These challenges ensures your privacy and seclusion and can give you that picturesque moment!
Town of Empress
We stayed in the smallest town I had ever been to in my whole life! We found it through Airbnb.com; click that link to get $52CAD towards your first stay! It was a town of approx. only 100 people!! It carried with it so much history that I want to go back and explore the area some more!! The closest ‘big town’ is 45 minutes away and only has 500 people. Empress sits in Alberta, but right on the edge of the Saskatchewan border. Empress is next to where the Red Deer River and the Saskatchewan river meet, so it is an amazing spot for birding, fishing and I hear there is some pretty great hikes around. There is also an Native Canadian heritage site that sits on top of the hill, where you can still see Tepee circles to this day! (Caution if you do hike up to see these circles, ensure you have thick soled shoes as it is very easy to step on a cactus or even a snake!)
Medicine Hat – Worlds Tallest Tepee
The last stop on our trip was in a city called Medicine Hat which features the World’s Tallest Tepee! The Saamis Tepee stands 65.5m tall and was built in commemoration of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics and has stood tall ever since!
Photo Assist by Jenna Sirucek
We had a majorly successful road trip; we saw the Largest Dinorsaur, the Tallest Tepee, the Great Sandhills Provincial Park and managed to capture all photos before the skies opened up and rain poured down! Check out our road trip video below: