Southern Alberta has some incredibly unique and interesting places to take your ATV this summer. You can trek through beautiful trails as you look at historical sights and maybe even get spooked by the ghosts of Lille along the way. Two of these great places also happen to not be too far from one another, so take a weekend, get on your bikes and make it a double whammy of adventure.
Dakota Plane Crash Trail: Coleman
The town of Coleman is situated very close to a 1946 plane crash site where a Douglas DC-3 crash-landed, taking the lives of all seven crewmen aboard at the time. The site is now marked as a heritage site. You can take your quad all the way up the nine-kilometre trail that consists of a fairly moderate though occasionally challenging terrain, but in order to be respectful to the site it is recommended that riders keep their ATVs off the actual site itself and instead park and walk to it.
The trail is accessible from York Creek Road south of Coleman.
Indian Graves Lookout: Longview
Just off Alberta Highway 532 you can find a remote trail that will take you through 45 kilometres of varied terrain that consists of easy to moderately difficult terrain. This trail is located just south of the town of Longview.
This ride will take you to the Indian Graves Lookout, where some incredible vistas can be seen. The trek isn’t overly difficult and the trail proves rather easy to follow as it moves through the forests of southern Alberta. Once you get to the top, you will not be disappointed by the incredible views of the snow-capped mountain peaks.
Ghost town of Lille
The remains of what once was the mining town of Lille are certainly a place that you will want to stop at on any trip around the Crowsnest Pass area. Situated just outside of Blairmore, this ghost town has only the foundations of what once were local stores and hotels, long-abandoned houses and even remnants of old ovens. The town has been out of commission since 1912 when the local mine failed, leaving the town to flounder.
As you adventure through the crumbling rocks of used-to-be walls and wander through the no-longer streets of Lille, it can certainly leave anyone feeling kind of like our favourite fedora-wearing, butt-kicking archaeology professor. Now, who would want to miss out on that?
Comments