It’s finally that season again—time to hit the open road. This summer, there is no better place to celebrate the wind in your face and the pavement rushing beneath your two wheels than the fresh air and beautiful landscapes of northern Alberta. Grande Prairie and its surrounding areas have a lot to offer the road biker who’s looking to explore some incredible vistas.
The city of Grande Prairie is a thriving metropolitan hub in Alberta’s far north. If you decide to rest here for a few days, there’s a lot to take in—regardless of your interests. For the culture vulture there’s the Grand Prairie Art Gallery.
“It’s one of the biggest in Alberta. It really is top tier,” said Louise Cote, who works with the Grande Prairie Tourism Association. Open seven days a week and with free admission, the massive gallery is located on on 103rd Avenue.
The Grande Prairie Farmers’ Market, held in a large traditional red-and-white barn on the corner of 101st Avenue and 101st Street, has a great selection of locally produced meats, vegetables, preserves and crafts.
When you’re done with the city and ready to get back on the bike, you have a few amazing route options. Head west on Highway 43, an incredible scenic route, and you’ll head straight through the wild Badlands. This untouched landscape is not only breathtaking, but rare.
“It’s some of the last zero-point-one per cent of uncultivated land in this entire area,” said Cote. “It truly is beautiful to see.”
Heading through the Badlands leads you into the region’s national parks system. Be sure to stop and check out Saskatoon Mountain Viewpoint by taking a right-hand turn off Highway 43 right before the town of Wembley. A well-maintained paved road will take you all the way up, where you can park the bike and walk around. A little bench is installed for you to relax and soak in the views.
Cote describes a little Aboriginal burial ground located near the viewpoint.
“It’s all fully restored, which is great. It’s so interesting to see. And the views are just exceptional.”
From there, keep heading west and you’ll come to the quaint and pretty town of Beaverlodge, where, if you need some laughs, you can take your photo with a 17-foot-tall beaver statue.
If you’re feeling called even farther north, head onto Highway 2 from Grande Prairie, which will take you towards Dunvegan. Here, Highway 2 crosses the mighty Peace River on Alberta’s longest suspension bridge. There’s a little community on the banks of the river at Dunvegan, and an enormous garden, all surrounded by what Cote describes as “a beautiful, rolling landscape. It really is an ideal place to relax.”
If you continue heading up Highway 2, you’ll come to Grimshaw, the community where the MacKenzie Highway starts up towards the Northwest Territories—another wild, beautiful area to take in, much of it still untouched.
Comments