 Nestled on a mountain plateau just 214 km from Jasper National Park, Grande Cache is famous for their sparkling lakes, rivers, green valleys and mountain peeks. The Bighorn Highway 40 provides a paved corridor connecting Hinton, Alberta with Mile Zero of the Alaskan Highway at Dawson Creek, British Columbia. This is the shortest, most scenic route to Alaska from the United States.Grande Cache is the gateway to Willmore Wilderness Park, known for their hiking trails, alpine flowers, big game and many waterways. There are no motorized vehicles allowed in this park to preserve nature, but hiking and horseback riding keep visitors from all over the world wanting to return.
An extraordinarily high density of animals makes Elk Island one of the best places in Alberta for year-round wildlife watching. More than 100 kilometres of trails for hiking and skiing extend throughout this fenced wilderness of lakes, spruce bogs, low forested hills and meadows. Five hundred plains bison, 400 wood bison, 400 moose and 1600 wapiti range throughout the park. Coyotes are often seen along the roadside. The park is also home to over 2000 beavers. In the transitional aspen forest, 228 bird species have been recorded, including red-eyed vireos, least flycatchers, song sparrows, northern saw-whet and great horned owls.
At Astotin Lake, the interpretive Lakeview Trail and Living Waters boardwalk follow the water's edge, where you may glimpse double-crested cormorants, great blue herons, and black-crowned night-herons. In summer, the red-necked grebe with its loud, wailing call is the most prominent waterfowl bird to be seen. The lake is one of the few places outside the mountains where Barrow's goldeneyes nest.
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