Sure, you’ve heard of Niagara Falls, the Bay of Fundy, Banff National Park, and Whistler – but this vast country holds dozens of other incredible natural wonders.
Read on with tripatlas.com/new as we take you through seven incredible natural wonders in Canada that you’ve likely never heard of.
7) Orca Whale Capital of the World, British Columbia
One of the best places to see orca whales in the world is in the waters off the coast of British Columbia, along the Johnstone Strait between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland. From April through to October, Orcas gather in family pods along the strait to rub their bellies on the rocks along the shore and can often be seen leaping up, over the water and spyhopping.
6) Basin Head, Prince Edward Island
Here on Prince Edward Island’s eastern shore, the white beaches are no regular sands – in fact, they “sing.” Called the “singing sands,” pressure made on the sand by walking or stomping creates “squeaking” or “meowing.” There’s no agreed-upon explanation but it’s believed that the sands have a high silicon or quartz content which causes friction to create the “singing” effect.
5) Hoodoos of Drumheller, Alberta
Although the most popular in the area, northeast of Calgary is the world’s largest dinosaur – a 26-foot fiberglass statute along Highway 9 – the natural wonder of Drumheller are its hoodoo rock formations. Standing at 5 to 7 feet tall, these sandstone pillars were once large rocks that have been sanded down over millions of years. The indigenous people of the area, Blackfoot and Cree, believed that the hoodoos were giants that would come alive at night to protect the community. Drumheller’s hoodoos are one of the most popular hoodoo attractions in the world, along with those in Cappadocia, Turkey and Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, United States.
4) Della Falls, British Columbia
There’s more to waterfalls in Canada in Niagara Falls. The highest waterfall in the country is the remote Della Falls, located high in the mountains of Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. Accessible only by hiking or by a floatplane, the waterfall’s source is Della Lake, a glacial lake at 1080-metres above sea level, and cascades down three drops – making it 8 times higher than Niagara.
3) Pingualuit Crater, Quebec
Roswell, New Mexico may be known as one of centers of alien activity in North America – but one of the best preserved meteorite crash sites in the world is located in northern Quebec’s Pingualuit National Park. Created approx 1.4 million years ago, the large 3.4km-wide crater is now a 252-meter-deep lake, one of the freshest lakes in the world. In fact, it was once known as the “Crystal Eye of Nunavik” by the Inuit people for its incredibly clear water. From the air and space (and even on Google Maps), the lake’s near-perfect circle is used as a landmark for navigation.
2) Mount Thor, Nunavut
Located in Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island in Nunavut, Mount Thor (also known as Thor Peak) is a mountain with the world’s greatest vertical drop at 1,250-metres (4100 feet) and at an angle of 105 degrees. Known by climbers as the world’s largest cliff-face, Mount Thor is the ultimate test for hardcore mountain climbers and took a team 33 days to scale it in 1985. The nearby Penny ice cap in Auyuittuq is also considered the only remaining ice formation from the last ice age – and the entire area is surrounded by fjords. This is as remote yet as inspiring as it gets in Canada.
1) Smoking Hills, Northwest Territories
Nicknamed “Hell on Earth,” this remote area of the Northwest Territories is like stepping into Mordor from J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series. Located on the coast of the Beaufort Sea, the Smoking Hills is a 30km stretch of continuously smoking mountains and is one of the most deadly places on earth. The smoke is a deadly mixture of sulphur dioxide and toxic metals and no unassisted living thing can survive here.