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Few North American landscapes come as loaded with expectation as the Canadian Rockies , so it's a relief to find that the superlatives are scarcely able to do credit to the region's immensity of forests, lakes, rivers and snowcapped mountains. Although most visitors confine themselves to visiting just a handful of national parks , the range spans almost 1500km as far as the Yukon border, forming the vast watershed of the Continental Divide, which separates rivers flowing to the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic oceans. Landscapes on such a scale make a nonsense of artificial borderlines, and the major parks are national creations that span both Alberta and British Columbia. Four of the parks - Banff, Jasper, Yoho and Kootenay - share common boundaries, and receive the attention of most of the millions of annual visitors to the Rockies. There's not a great deal to choose between the parks in terms of scenery - they're all fairly sensational - and planning an itinerary that allows you to fit them all in comfortably is just about impossible. Most visitors start with Banff National Park , then follow the otherworldly Icefields Parkway north to the larger and much less busy Jasper National Park . From there it makes sense to continue west to Mount Robson Provincial Park , which protects the highest and most dramatic peak in the Canadian Rockies. Thereafter you're committed to leaving the Rockies unless you double back from Jasper to Banff - no hardship, given the scenery - to pick up the Trans-Canada Highway through the smaller Yoho , Glacier and Revelstoke national parks. Finally, Kootenay National Park is more easily explored than its neighbours, though you'll have to backtrack towards Banff or loop down from Yoho to pick up the road that provides its only access. The more peripheral, but no less impressive Waterton Lakes National Park, hugging the US border . Though you can get to all the parks by bus , travelling by car or bike is the obvious way to get the most out of the region. Once there, you'd be foolish not to tackle some of the 3000km of trails that crisscross the mountains, the vast majority of which are well worn and well signed. We've highlighted the best short walks and day-hikes in each area, and you can get more details from the excellent park visitor centres , which sell 1:50,000 topographical maps and usually offer small reference libraries of trail books; The Canadian Rockies Trail Guide , by Brian Patton and Bart Robinson, is invaluable for serious hiking or backpacking. Other activities - fishing, skiing, canoeing, white-water rafting, cycling, horse riding, climbing and so on - are comprehensively dealt with in visitor centres, and you can easily rent equipment or sign up for organized tours in the bigger towns. A word of warning: don't underestimate the Rockies. Despite the impression created by the summer throngs in centres like Banff and Lake Louise, excellent roads and sleek park facilities, the vast proportion of parkland is wilderness and should be respected and treated as such.
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