Customer Reviews

Moon Handbooks Alberta: Including Banff, Jasper, and the Canadian Rockies

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This is an amazing, thorough guide book to Alberta.
Alberta is the heart of western Canada, a place filled with natural wonders and enough adventures to last a lifetime. The unforgetable scene as the first flush of light hits Lake Louise. The thrill of uncovering dinosaur bones. The excitement of a small-town rodeo. Soaking up big-city culture. Marveling at the infrastructure around the world's largest known deposit of oil. Watching the northern lights sparkle across the winter sky. These and hundreds of other reasons make a vacation or permenant move to the prosperous province of Alberta an easy decision.

Sandwiched between the mountains of BC to the west and the prairies of Saskatchewan to the east, the landscape of Alberta encompasses a little of everything. The best known features are the mountains of the Canadian Rockies, which are filled with photogenic lakes and natural wonders made accessible by a well maintained highway network.
While the beauty of Alberta's defined landscapes is undeniable, so is the value of what lies beneath them-a supply of oil and gas that shapes the economy and has created a boomtown mentality not dissimilar to gold rushes of days gone by. The most important reserve is the Athabasca Oil Sands of northern Alberta, the world's single biggest oil reserve. At the reserve itself is the city of Fort McMurray, where the population has increased 2,000 percent in the last 30 years, but the wealth filters down to the the rest of the province, most notable to the two largest cities, Edmonton and Calgary.
Throughout the province, outdoor adventures, wide-open spaces, and accessible wilderness beckon, and big-city culture awaits when you come down from the hills. So whether your interests lean toward high peaks or high tea, you are sure to find plenty to suit you in Alberta.
*Edmonton
*Jasper
*Banff
*Calgary
*Drumheller
*Medicine Hat
*Cardston
*Waterton lakes NP
*Crowsnest Park
*Canmore
*Red Deer
*Fort Mcmurray
*The land
*fauna
*Flora
*Economy and government
*The wonderful, friendly people!!!!!

User-friendly. If interested in the Rockies I'd suggest to go for the specific Canadian Rockies edition.

I have several Moon Handbooks, and they are meant for backpackers and hikers. For that group, these Guides are very good. For others, like me, older and now reasonably handicapped, other guides are better.