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Most first-time visitors race straight up to Banff, ignoring the verdant foothill region southwest of Calgary. Kananaskis Country , a protected area created out of existing provincial parks to take pressure off Banff, remains almost the exclusive preserve of locals, most of whom come for skiing. Kananaskis embraces a huge tract of the Rockies and has all the mountain scenery and outdoor-pursuit possibilities of the parks, without the people or the commercialism. It is, however, an area without real focus, much of it remote wilderness; nothing in the way of public transport moves out here, and the only fixed accommodation is in expensive, modern lodges - though it's idyllic camping country. Minor roads from Calgary lead to such smaller foothill areas of the east as Bragg Creek, but the most obvious approach is to take Hwy 40, a major turn off the Trans-Canada Highway, which bisects Kananaskis's high-mountain country from north to south and provides the ribbon to which most of the trails, campsites and scattered service centres cling. About 3km down the highway is the Barrier Lake Information Centre (daily 9am-5pm), where you can get a full breakdown on outdoor activities. Another 40km south of the centre is a short spur off Hwy 40 to Upper Kananaskis Lake, probably the biggest concentration of accessible boating, fishing, camping and hiking possibilities in the region. Popular short hikes include the Expedition Trail (2.4km); it and many others are detailed in the definitive Kananaskis Country Trail Guide by Gillean Daffern, which is widely available in Calgary.
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