This Epic Road Trip in the Canadian Rockies Is Peak Winter Travel

On par with the azure domes of Santorini or the striped umbrellas that adorn the Amalfi Coast, the immediately recognizable turquoise alpine lakes of Alberta are undoubtedly Instagram-famous. While springtime in the Western province is indeed gorgeous, rare praises are sung of the winter months, when the region really unfolds, feeling somehow like a secret. The throngs of tourists are nowhere to be found, and traversing the frozen glacial lakes in Banff National Park on Nordic skis as snow gently falls feels like living in a snow globe. It’s quiet—peaceful, even—the ideal time to take a road trip through the quaint mountain towns in the Canadian Rockies.

Alberta’s world-class alpine skiing at mountain resorts like Lake Louise, Mount Norquay, and Banff Sunshine hardly needs an introduction. But there’s also excellent snowshoeing, cross-country, and ice hiking to be explored. Even if you’re not much of an outdoor enthusiast, there’s plenty to explore in this unique corner of Canada.

In the spirit of going off the beaten path, we started our all-out Alberta road trip in Edmonton, a less expected jumping-off point than Calgary, known worldwide for its annual rodeo festival, the Calgary Stampede. Edmonton is a hub for music, the arts, and great food, and being Canada’s most northerly major city, there’s a whopping 18 hours of daylight in the summertime, meaning the hours to explore are nearly endless.

Edmonton

Edmontonians pride themselves on being punk rock compared to their Canadian counterparts, and it tracks when considering the countless indie craft breweries, vintage stores, hyperlocal  eateries, and speakeasies on offer. That’s not to say it’s rough around the edges, though, especially when it comes to accommodations. The chateau-style Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, originally opened in 1915, offers unparalleled views of North America’s largest expanse of urban parkland and luxe rooms to boot. It’s a perfect spot to rest your head after a night out at Woodwork, a restaurant focused on wood-fired cooking and barrel-aged spirits, or a tour of the late-night Neon Sign Museum, an outdoor collection that’s open 24/7 and doesn’t require admission.

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The area surrounding Edmonton is considered to be the agricultural heart of the country, and there’s a movement to uplift prairie cuisine taking hold in the city. It’s on full display at RGE RD, named after the range roads that mark the sprawling ranchlands outside city limits. Here, chef Blair Lebsack and wife Caitlin Fulton have evolved their long-table field dinners into a full-service fine dining restaurant showcasing all that Western Canada has to offer. Their showstopping nose-to-tail butcher shop, located next door to the restaurant, offers primal cuts from family-owned regenerative farming operations, as well as grab-and-go items like sausage rolls, charcuterie, and sandwiches. We also score some house-made bison jerky for snacking on during a drive across the prairieland en route to our next stop, Métis Crossing.

Métis Crossing

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About an hour and a half northeast of Edmonton is Métis Crossing, a hub for guided cultural interpretive experiences that share the distinct Indigenous story of the Métis—a post-contact tribe that resulted from European fur traders and local Indigenous peoples blending to form their own language, culture, and traditions. Sitting on 512 acres of land near Smoky Lake, the property comprises river lot titles from the original Métis settlers to the region in the late 1800s. Today, the Crossing is home to a tribally-owned and operated lodge that includes sky-viewing domes, a cultural center, hiking trails, and a buffalo ranch.

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After we drop our bags off in our geodesic domes, we head out to the paddocks with Shirley Pallister, a cultural experience provider at Métis Crossing, to scope out the herd, which includes the magnificent white buffalo roaming the expanse of land.

“Buffalo don’t belong squished in tight quarters, and neither do we,” says Pallister, causing me to pause and reflect on life back home and how this place satisfies a deep craving for wide, open spaces.

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After enjoying a sunset walk on the expansive grounds, we spend the evening talking story with Pallister. Though the passing blizzard meant that we didn’t have the typically stunning view of the night sky (it’s a prime destination for northern lights viewing in the spring), we were able to learn Métis origin stories of the stars and constellations—a guiding light from ancestors that has served as a method of timekeeping, navigation, and understanding when to plant, hunt, and work the land.

Jasper National Park

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After a breakfast of traditional Bannock bread, bison, and Saskatoon berry pemmican, we set out to Jasper National Park. Fresh snow dusts the Rockies, and the towering mountains provide a perfect foil to the open road. We pull off at vistas without seeing another car for what seems like hours, enjoying the place to ourselves.

There’s no line to enter the National Park, and we breeze right in to convene at Sixth Bridge at Snake Indian River to meet Cree Knowledge Keeper Matricia Brown of Warrior Women, a company she owns with her daughter Mackenzie. The two have formed a collective that offers a variety of experiences for travelers to engage with, from fireside chats to beading classes to today’s activity—a plant medicine walk.

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To many, the winter is a time of dormancy, but as we stroll along the riverbed, life slowly reveals itself through Brown’s keen ancestral knowledge, which allows her to see the flowers, trees, shrubs, and plants as food and medicine. Even now, there’s plenty to harvest, like fir and spruce sap, bearberries, juniper berries, birch bark, and old man’s beard lichen that can be used for making healing salves, tisane, and mineral salts. (It’s worth noting that because of Treaty 8, Brown can harvest plants within the national park; guests cannot legally forage without a tribal guide.)

We crush up some of the juniper berries in our hands and inhale the aroma. It’s fresh, crisp, and enlivening. She explains that they’re full of vitamin C and were once used to treat scurvy. Aside from making gin, they also have unique culinary uses, too.

“I actually warm them up and put them with a bit of maple syrup and use it as a glaze on my salmon,” says Brown.

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Birch bark has anti-inflammatory properties. Bearberries (also known as kinnikinnick) have been used to treat kidney issues. Willow tea, naturally loaded with salicylic acid, is a pain reliever similar to aspirin. As we harvest, we’re reminded of how much of what we know as modern medicine is actually mimicking the healing properties of nature.

“We don’t honor the spirit when we make medicine like aspirin. It doesn’t have spirit with it. But when you drink willow tea that you’ve harvested, sure, there’s salicylic acid in it. But you have to consider other parts of the structure of that tree that make it whole, otherwise, we’re taking the spirit out of it,” she says. “We can’t just assume that that one single part is the most important part of the willow.”

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After preparing healing Epsom salts with our gathered goodies, we head on to Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, a luxe mountain resort situated right on the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Brown works closely with the hotel on its cultural programming, which includes an opportunity for guests to gather tisane ingredients to enjoy while relaxing in the property’s brand-new barrel sauna overlooking Lac Beauvert.

In a not-so-wellness-oriented move, I order a cozy Canadian meal of poutine and an old fashioned at the hotel’s restaurant, The Great Hall, to top off the night. And yes, it was worth it.

Banff and Lake Louise

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The final leg of our road trip is the drive from Jasper to Banff along what’s undoubtedly one of the world’s most scenic byways, Icefields Parkway. And it turns out, ending the trip with a bang in Banff and Lake Louise is absolutely a pro move. After days in quiet mountain towns, the bustle is welcomed. Checking into Moose Hotel, whose amenities include two spectacular rooftop hot pools with views of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, we quickly drop our bags in search of some action. (You can take the girl out of L.A.…)

The blizzard socking in our views of Lake Louise ends up being the perfect excuse to call it a day and grab beers at Three Bears Brewery before doing some serious damage shopping for vintage finds at The Last Temptation. Then, we head to dinner at Hello Sunshine, a retro-inspired Japanese joint known for its groovy dining room and excellent sushi. All of it is great, but the star of the show is, no surprise, the locally sourced beef tataki, a clever twist on the dish made with garlic ponzu, Manchego cheese, and garlic chips. Looking around at the ultra-hip après crowd, it became clear that Alberta has officially arrived.

Note: Although the Sunset team traversed the Icefields Parkway without incident, we do urge caution when undertaking a winter road trip on this stretch, especially if you do not have experience driving on snow. Always check conditions before setting out, and between November 1 and April 1, make sure you are equipped with either snow tires or chains—it’s the law.