Readers’ choice awards: Adventures

We asked you to choose Canada’s ultimate adventure, even though, in a country with so many great outdoor adventures, it seems almost impossible to select just  one as the best. But after the voting was over, one adventure did indeed stand out-canoeing the Nahanni River. It had nearly twice as many votes as the next destination on the list.

Canoeing the Nahanni (NT) 21%
Kayaking with killer whales (BC) 11%
Seeing Churchill’s polar bears (MB) 11%
Kayaking with icebergs (NL) 11%
Trekking on Ellesmere Island (NU) 10%
Climbing Mount Logan (YT) 9%
Riding the Cabot Trail (NS) 6%
Cycling Prince Edward Island 5%
Sea-kayaking the Bay of Fundy (NB) 3%
Canoeing the Clearwater River (SK) 2%

Best hiking

We asked you to choose Canada’s best hiking trail. The result here was fairly lopsided, with the West Coast Trail-along the outer edge of Vancouver Island-getting nearly half the vote. It’s definitely the classic.

West Coast Trail, BC 40%
Bruce Trail, ON 20%
Skyline Trail, AB 16%
East Coast Trail, NL 7%
Chilkoot Trail, YT 5%

“Corner Brook is located in the perfect spot to access all kinds of adventure areas, such as the Humber River and the Lewis Hills. And it has some of the friendliest people in the world, so you will always find someone to guide you in the right direction.” -Alexander Chafe

Best paddling

We asked you to choose Canada’s best place to go canoeing, and perhaps as expected, Ontario’s primo paddling destination-Algonquin-took top spot. But B.C.’s Bowron Lake circuit came in a strong second.

Algonquin Provincial Park, ON 32%
Bowron Lake Provincial Park, BC 21%
Killarney Provincial Park, ON 11%
Prince Albert National Park, SK 8%
Quetico Provincial Park, ON 7%
Kejimkujik National Park, NS 6%
Whiteshell Provincial Park, MB 6%
La Verendrye Wildlife Reserve, QC 3%

Best outdoor town

We asked you to choose Canada’s best outdoor town. This turned out to be a two-horse race, with one of the country’s oldest recreation centres taking on one of the newest. In the end, the town of Banff narrowly defeated Whistler. Meanwhile, both Banff and Whistler’s neighbours-Canmore and Squamish-also made the list.

Banff, AB 30%
Whistler, BC 26%
Whitehorse, YT 8%
Lunenburg, NS 7%
Thunder Bay, ON 4%
Corner Brook, NL 3%
Jasper, AB 3%
Yellowknife, NT 3%
Canmore, AB 2%
Squamish, BC 2%

“For my 40th birthday, I wanted to do something special and hiked the West Coast Trail in Pacific Rim National Park. It is to this day one of the best adventures I have ever encountered.” -Brenda Oosterveen

This article was originally published on October 8, 2010