Elk Island National Park

We had driven past the National Park a couple of times on our way out to Vegreville and had seen herds of Bison in the distance through the fences. Bison were right at the top of my list of animals I wanted to see in Canada. I just find them so majestic and stoic. We had planned to go to the National Park on our last trip out to Vegreville, but with the wildfire smoke, visibility was poor and we would hardly see the Bison if they were off in the distance, so had decided against it and planned to return another day.

We hired a car for a few days and an Elk Island Trip was the first thing on the agenda. We made our way to the Park and stopped in at the Visitor Information Centre. You have to pay a Park fee, like when you visit Banff. It cost $16.75 CAD for two adults as the kids were free, which gives you 24 hours access to the park (it actually worked out to be around 30 hours). The people working there were lovely and we told them we wanted to see the Bison and Beavers and they indicated on the map where the most likely areas were to see them.

We headed up the Park and did the short Bison Loop Road, which we had been told was a hot spot, but unfortunately there weren’t any Bison there. We continued up the Park and parked up at Astotin Lake. We were told that Beavers are often around at the Living Waters Boardwalk, which was number 8 on the map, and only a 400m walk, so thought we would give it a go. We had a spot of lunch here as it was such a beautiful day and area. We headed to the Boardwalk and just as we were about to step onto the board walk, the boys spotted a Beaver in the water. We managed to capture it on video and I apologise as the footage is a bit shaky, they can swim really fast!!!

We continued on around the boardwalk and saw some cool birds and ducks. We headed back to the car, but stopped at the playground for the boys to have a play. After spending a little bit of time here, we quickly realised this place was huge and this day visit wouldn’t be enough as there are multiple walks, kayaking on the lake and camping that could be done here. When we come back to this area of Canada again, we fully intend on camping at least a few nights here.

We were also told that the Bison don’t really go up to the north of the park as it is marshy, so we headed back to the south of the park and decided to do a little bit of the Hayburger Trail which indicated you may see some Bison and Moose. This track is a 11.6km loop and takes approx. 3-4 hours. We knew there was no way we would get the kids to do the full trail, so we walked in for half an hour or so and as we didn’t see anything, headed back. To be fair to the kids, it was a very hot day and often on hot days the Bison hide in the trees to escape the heat, as happened the day before according to the Visitor Centre staff.

Was I disappointed? Yes, I really really wanted to see them. But we had not given up hope, as the rest of the afternoon we were visiting a friend in Fort Saskatchewan, which is out towards Elk Island and we vowed to come back to the park on our return to Edmonton that evening.

After dinner we returned and entered the Park from a different direction, coming in from the west entrance. We had only been on the road a couple of minutes before we came around a corner and saw the first Bison eating grass on the side of the road. I honestly couldn’t believe it, from seeing nothing at all through the day to one being right there in front of us. We stopped the car and pulled the cameras out. I was actually shaking, I was super excited to see the Bison, but also kinda terrified as they are huge and they are right there, no fence between you and it. The Bison then started walking up the side of the road, and walked right past us, it was so close, but clearly used to cars as it was not fazed by us being there at all. We were the ones freaking out, not the Bison.

I was happy just seeing the one Bison, but boy, there was more to come. We continued driving down the road, and there to the right was another one eating grass, right beside the road. This one also walked up beside the car. Further down the road, there were four in a field not far off the road. We couldn’t have asked for more, although I did comment that to top it all off, it would be nice to see more of a herd of the Bison, rather than a few individuals. On the way out, we drove the Bison Loop Road again, and there in the distance was the herd I had asked for. In my wildest dreams I never thought I would have seen Bison up this close, so I could not have asked for anything more.