National parks offer natural allure
Updated: 2016-09-28 08:56
By Erik Nilsson(China Daily)
|
|||||||||
Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park, a well-known alpine park in the Kootenay area of British Columbia. Provided To China Daily |
Polar bears. Niagara Falls. Aurora borealis.
Amazing animals, wondrous waters and surreal skies.
Indeed, Canada's natural wonders are luring a growing number of Chinese.
China Daily explores Canada's most-visited national parks.
Mount Revelstoke
Ents would feel small among the towering trees of Earth's only inland cedar rainforest. Revelstoke's trees, in turn, would perhaps feel only slightly younger than their Middle Earth ancestors.
Comparatively, humans feel like little babies.
There's good reason the park hosts an Amazing Trees Tour.
That said, over half of the terrain punches above the tree line, and a tenth is permanently frozen.
The Columbia Mountains' jut generates three ecosystems: "rainforest, snow forest and no forest."
These wonders aside, the fireworks display of bursting blossoms during summer served as the initial motivation for its national park designation.
Kootenay
Topography chops forests and grasslands into looming mountains and lunging valleys, vacillating between snowcaps and hot springs. Waterfalls spurt from peaks to fill rivers that massage the mountains' feet.
Geology and zoology conspired to forge Kootenay's Burgess Shale, one of the world's most significant fossil deposits.
Today, the area hosts such wildlife as the "two-headed" rubber boa. It's not a real hydra - rather, its knobbed tail resembles a snout used as a weapon to club small animals as well as to bluff. Some have reportedly faked strikes with their tails.
Wapusk
The park's name is Cree for "white bear". About a thousand polar bears descend upon one of the world's chief maternity-den areas around November.
It's one of the best places to see cubs.
The world's largest land predators gnaw on ring seals while they wait for winter icecaps to form.
Wapusk hosts 40 mammal species, including lemmings, arctic foxes and a herd of 3,000 caribou.
Over 1,000 plant varieties survive despite the icy climate. The subarctic forest's ancient trees are about as high as a human, and roaring northerlies blast their branches to stretch southward. Helicopter rides offer elevated views of the terrain.
Pacific Rim
Surfing and Nuu-chah-nulth culture lure explorers to Pacific Rim National Park.
Its Long Beach Challenge Route isn't exactly a walk on the beach in the typical sense. It's a 9.5-kilometer trek - or jog - along oceanfront landscapes. Cards record and post participants' times on interactive displays.
Even more challenging is the 75-km West Coast Trail that traces a path blazed by shipwreck survivors through ancient forests and vast beaches. It takes experienced hikers about a week.
Related Stories
Maple magic 2016-09-28 07:57
National Day tourism to set new records 2016-09-28 07:38
Top 10 overseas destinations to travel in October 2016-09-27 14:41
Crescent Lake: Green eye of the desert 2016-09-23 16:17
China and Spain come together for tourism 2016-09-23 14:11
Today's Top News
British royal couple continue their charmed tour in Canada
Russia unveils Syria truce deal with US
Poll suggests Clinton winner of 1st presidential debate
Top official: China goes beyond its own interests
Russian ice creams hot in China
Renminbi use surges in London in spite of Brexit
The meeting of Two Pagodas in Kew Gardens
Kids in tow, Prince William starts Canadian tour
Hot Topics
Lunar probe , China growth forecasts, Emission rules get tougher, China seen through 'colored lens', International board,
Editor's Picks
Hollywood snaps up rock star's dog film |
Chinese people welcome dispossessed |
The can-do generation to the fore |
Riding the wave |
Leisure giants buoy cruise market |
She followed her heart |