The heartland of Alberta, where pioneers settled and made way for what is now the connected highways between the prairies and the rockies.

Start out on the Cowboy Trail heading north out of Calgary and experience the essence of Alberta’s ranch land through rolling foothills up to Rocky Mountain House.

Connecting Rocky Mountain House to the east with the Icefields Parkway, the David Thompson Highway is a direct route into the heart of the Rockies’ high scenic drama.

The foothills west of Rocky give way quickly to the hard-rock Mountains, which rise quickly in the west. The road is swallowed along the way, until you realize there are mountains ahead, behind, and all around you. The sense is of a massive, natural fortress that you’ve slipped inside.