The correct name for the animals is “bison,” but the park’s official name hasn’t been changed yet.
This park was established in 1922 to protect the seriously dwindling bison herds but also became invaluable to protecting the whooping cranes, as well.
At just under 45,000 km², Wood Buffalo is the largest national park in Canada and the second largest in the world. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2013, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada designated it as the world’s largest dark sky preserve to protect the habitat of bats and other night-time animals and also to ensure the visibility of the Aurora Borealis.
There’s lots of hiking and camping, including back country camping sites and many kilometres of day hiking trails available.
Happy Sunday.
In the Net! - Pictures and Stories of Life 
Nice post
Thanks
Thank you. 🙂
I don’t know if Wood Bison would have the same ring. Always wanted to visit this park. Thanks for sharing Lynette. Allan
Yes, very true, but I’m sure we will get used to it. My understanding is that the name will change in the next year or two, and will probably be in the Cree and Chipewyan Dene languages. Cheers.
Thank goodness all this territory has been preserved and protected.
I couldn’t agree more! There have been some attempts to get variances for logging, but so far, the park protocols have held.
Good info and a beautiful scene in your photo.
Thank you, Anneli. That photo was taken from a very popular viewing point in the park.
Very nice!
Well, that is up there! I had to look up the location, as I’d not heard of this park before.
Yes, but by Northwest Territories standards, it’s south! There’s a lot of country up here. Cheers.
Looks beautiful! I love the name “wood buffalo.” I won’t be able to stop saying it today. (LOL)
Hahaha. 🙂 Have fun. The park was actually developed to protect the plains bison, but they interbred with the wood bison, so the name isn’t particularly accurate as the animals there (and there are lots of them) are actually hybridised.
I live through hikers on youtube. Watch their videos often. Many hike in Canada. But I do find hikes all over the world. Most are photographers, and like you, I’m a fan of photography.
I’m not a great person to hike with because I dawdle and stop to take pictures of all kinds of things. I’m really a poor pace-setter (or pace-joiner, more accurately). But isn’t that part of what hiking is all about? Stopping to admire and enjoy? That’s what I think, anyway. 🙂
I enjoy hiking but I can’t do it as often due to health issues nowadays. But yes, I always stop for photos on the occasion that I’m healthy enough to get out there. My dogs have always had to wait for me to keep moving forward. Much of the time now, I live through the photography of the youtube hikers. BTW, if you want to see some beautiful film photography, check out Kraig Adams channel on youtube. He’s my favorite.
I’m so sorry to hear about your health issues, Lori. I hope these are temporary and will be resolved soon for you. I hate having health issues. I was recently diagnosed with kidney disease and in the last few months have radically changed my diet (I’m a vegetarian now; who knew that would happen? Not me!) and undertaken a number of other protocols. It’s under control but I will have to stay vigilant (I retire in a year, so that will help).
In less than two days I am headed home to Penticton for holidays, and it’s a great hiking/walking area with beautiful views. Thank you for the Kraig Adams tip. 🙂 I’ll look at his videos.
Oh boy. That’s scary with the kidney issue. My bro was having kidney trouble and it turned out it was from the statin he was taking.
I’m glad you found something to help you. I’m sure it was difficult to change your diet, but great that it’s working for your health.
I struggle with chronic pain, and it’s getting worse as I age. There are days I can’t move. Long story, but I have a theory as to why I ended up with early onset osteoarthritis.
Enjoy your time in Penticton. Hope you can get out to enjoy the beautiful views.
Oh my, Lori. I’m so sorry to hear that you’re in such pain. I hope you’re successful in finding ways of managing it. An acquaintance has it and I know she goes for bi-weekly treatments (I don’t know what those entail although she gets a shot of some kind) to aide her mobility.
My kidney issues are symptom-less (it’s known as a “silent killer” – lovely description), so I feel fine and will be out hiking soon. The form I have is apparently hereditary, but all kinds of things can exacerbate it. Tomatoes, for instance! So strange.
Thank you. I hope you can try to stay positive; health discoveries are being made all the time. 💛
🙏💗🌷
Sounds like a park that I would enjoy. If only it weren’t so far away. We were actually in Elk Island National Park yesterday and attended a ranger program on bison and learned a bit about the wood bison in Wood Buffalo National Park.
I haven’t been there (however I’ve seen it many times from the air), so I’m looking forward to your post about it!
Visiting the Northwest Territories means taking sufficient time to see some of the other parks too, (such as Nahanni) as it is far. Edmonton is about a 13-14 hour drive from Wood Buffalo.
Good to know. We’ve been thinking about taking a road trip through Yukon and the NWT at some point. I’d also love to visit Alaska.
Here are a couple of articles about northern parks. https://spectacularnwt.com/story/pick-your-park-guide-to-nwts-national-parks
http://www.national-parks-canada.com/yukon/
Nahanni and Kluane are totally amazing. I loved my visits.
Thanks for sharing. Even getting to some of these parks sounds like an adventure. I like how most of the ones in NWT requires you to charter a plane.
You’re right that it’s an adventure getting to them, but that’s all part of it. The costs are relative as a 10-day trip to Ireland would probably be more (if you could get there with our current flight and airport issues. Yikes. But a UK friend has told me that their travel issues are worse … ugh.)