7 underrated Canadian national parks to visit this year

The geysers of Yellowstone, the sandstone cliffs of Zion and the waterfalls of Yosemite are some of the natural wonders that may put these U.S. national parks at the top of your travel bucket list. Unfortunately, these parks are also on everyone else's radar.

Nothing ruins the serenity of a canyon sunrise or mountaintop view like jostling elbows with chattering onlookers. And who wouldn't rather see a bear, bison, moose or elk without having to cringe at the bad behavior of misguided wildlife fans?

Plus, America's national parks are harder to visit than ever, due to funding cuts that have closed campgrounds, slashed staffing and forced reductions in programming like ranger talks and stargazing events.

If you head north, you'll find Canada has added several new national parks and conservation areas over the past few years and even launched an initiative that makes all Canadian national parks free through Sept. 2.

While some of the most well-known sites in the Canadian national park system — like Jasper and Banff — also attract millions of visitors annually, there are dozens of other, less-crowded Canadian national parks to explore.

Here are seven of the best Canadian national parks for travelers looking north for their next adventure.

Mount Revelstoke and Glacier national parks, British Columbia

The Meadows in the Sky Parkway at Mount Revelstoke National Park is one of the most spectacular driving routes in all of Canada's national parks. It winds through 16 miles of temperate rainforest and alpine tundra. In late summer, you'll also drive by vast meadows awash in wildflowers and dense stands of huckleberries, where you can spot black bears feasting on their favorite buffet. You might even spot one of the park's elusive grizzly bears.

From the road's end just below the summit, park at Balsam Lake and hike the last half-mile through washes of lupine, paintbrush and glacier lilies. At the top, check out the Fire Lookout, a designated federal heritage building dating from 1927.

Venture into the deep shade of an old-growth forest on the 0.6-mile Giant Cedars Boardwalk, which brings you within touching distance of massive trees up to 1,000 years old while protecting their roots and the fragile ecosystem surrounding them. For a longer hike, take the Jade Lakes Trail, an 8-mile round-trip hike, that skirts three glacier-sculpted lakes where you might spot caribou grazing in the valleys and mountain goats picking their way delicately across steep rock faces.

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Glacier National Park (of Canada) is so close to Revelstoke that they're often lumped together. Its location near the Alberta provincial border means this park offers many of the same features as better-known Banff and Jasper national parks — just without the lines of cars vying for spots at every photo stop.

Highlights include the Meeting of the Waters trail to the confluence of White Oak Creek and the Clear Fork River, and the boardwalk through the dense rainforest of Hemlock Grove. The short trail down to torrential Bear Creek Falls looks deceptively easy, but with 300 feet of elevation loss and gain in half a mile, it's a steep, but highly worthwhile, climb back up.

TPG tip: Though there are several Best Western and Wyndham properties in the area where you can use points, the Copper Horse Lodge (from $209 per night), at the base of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, provides a more authentic experience. It also offers easy access to the resort's gondola and downtown Golden, a cluster of brightly painted restaurants, shops and galleries on the banks of the Columbia River. The lodge's Jeffrey Room restaurant serves Latin American-inspired specialties like empanadas and guava chicken.

Riding Mountain and Wapusk national parks, Manitoba

Watch buffalo grazing prairie grasslands, look for wolves in dense lowland forest, hike the park's 250 miles of trails and swim at the sandy beaches lining Clear Lake in southern Manitoba's Riding Mountain National Park. Visiting the park's buffalo herd feels like you're on safari, as you drive the rough track through the Lake Audy bison enclosure. The 2.1-mile trail to Kinosao Lake loops through shady forests to the shores of the pine-fringed lake, popular for fishing. You may see a moose or a black bear hiking the wildlife-rich Brule Trail, so carry bear spray.

It's possible to add polar bears, beluga whales, wolves and moose to your wildlife itinerary by joining a Big Five Safari with Frontiers North Adventures, which includes both Riding Mountain National Park and the Churchill Wildlife Management Area adjacent to Wapusk National Park in northern Manitoba. The park itself is available primarily to researchers, as it was created to protect areas where polar bear mothers den down for the winter to have their cubs; it's only possible to enter on a park-approved guided tour with Watchee Expeditions or see it from above on a private aerial tour with Prairie Helicopters.

However, you're most likely to see a polar bear from one of Frontiers North Adventures' Tundra Buggies, engineered to cross the icy and watery terrain to get within good viewing distance in safety. The gateway town of Churchill calls itself the Polar Bear Capital of the World with good reason; it's on the shores of Hudson Bay, which is one of the few places in the bears' range where the ice melts completely, bringing them ashore for a good part of the year. The trip also includes a chance to frolic with beluga whales, which come to raise their pups in the Churchill River estuary.

TPG tip: Outside of the capital of Winnipeg, points hotels in Manitoba are few and far between, but this is a trip worth spending cash for. Bordering Riding Mountain National Park, Elkhorn Resort Spa and Conference Centre offers accommodations, from standard rooms (from $265 per night) to A-frame cabins that accommodate families and groups. Like all Churchill hotels, the comfortable and well-equipped Seaport Hotel (from $165 per night) essentially functions as a base camp for wildlife expeditions.

Kluane National Park and Reserve, Yukon

As if 17 out of 20 of Canada's tallest mountains — including Mount Logan, the country's tallest peak at 19,551 feet — weren't enough of a lure, Kluane National Park and Reserve also protects the biggest nonpolar ice field in the world, a legacy of the last ice age.

Wildlife abounds in this remote swath of southwestern Yukon, from curve-horned Dall sheep, caribou and mountain goats to wolves, grizzlies and black bears. You'll have your best chance of spotting a grizzly along riverbanks, where they fish for salmon, and in the lush valleys during berry season.

Kathleen Lake is a must-stop along the Alaska Highway, or you can look down on it from the 6-mile King's Throne Trail, which climbs steeply from the lake to offer sweeping views from above as it ascends to a glacial cirque, or bowl, that does indeed feel like a royal perch. Serious backcountry hikers take the 14-mile Aay Chu (formerly Slim's River) West Trail for close-up views of the Kaskawulsh Glacier. (Always check for bear warnings during their most active season between April and October.)

Both the glacier-fed Tatshenshini and Alsek rivers are popular for white water rafting, and navigating these stretches of Class III and IV rapids gives a sense of the scale of this park, which extends for almost 8,500 square miles.

TPG tip: In this remote corner of Canada, you won't find any points hotels, but one of the closest stays to the park, Mount Logan Ecolodge (from $330, including full breakfast, per night), offers lodge rooms with expansive views of the mountains. It also offers more unusual accommodation options like a yurt, a barrel-shaped mini cabin called a pod and a log cabin abandoned by gold miners. You can also book stays that include lunch, dinner and guided expeditions.

Yoho National Park, British Columbia

The Cree used the word "yoho," meaning wondrous, to describe Takakkaw Falls, which thunders almost 900 feet and is fed by the runoff from Daly Glacier. Equally deserving of the name, Yoho National Park protects that waterfall and 507 square miles of glacier-frosted peaks, impossibly blue alpine lakes and fossil beds containing discoveries so significant they changed our view of evolution.

Paleontologists and rockhounds know the park as the home of the Burgess Shale, where 508 million years ago, a receding sea left behind the unusually detailed imprints of trilobites and other prehistoric creatures. The discoveries at two sites, Walcott Quarry and Mount Stephen, played such a significant role in scientific understanding that they earned UNESCO World Heritage status. You can play spot-the-fossil yourself by hiking to Mount Stephen's trilobite beds to hunt for the outlines of tiny aquatic arthropods that flourished before mountains uplifted the seabed.

It's an easy 2.8-mile out-and-back to massive Wapta Falls, a crashing wall of water almost 1,000 feet wide. The trail takes you first to a lookout point above the falls, then follows switchbacks to the base, where the water hits the rock with so much force you can feel the vibrations under your feet.

You'll find one of the park's best photo ops at Natural Bridge, where the Kicking Horse River passes under an arch of rock.

TPG tip: Since Yoho borders Glacier National Park of Canada, you can also stay in Golden, British Columbia, on a trip here. But for a truly immersive — and offline — experience, check in to the Emerald Lake Lodge (from $692 per night), which has no cell service or TVs. Its gargantuan stone fireplace and hand-cut log construction give it the lodgepole ambience of the great national park lodges of the U.S., but your chances of booking a room are exponentially better.

Fundy National Park, New Brunswick

Note: Due to extreme wildfire danger, all trails, backcountry and forested areas (including backcountry camping) are closed in Fundy National Park as of Aug. 14. The visitor center, front-country camping, day-use areas, lakes and water-based activities remain open.

About 250 miles northeast of Maine's Acadia National Park, you'll find a surprisingly similar — and equally spectacular — stretch of island-strewn coastline in Fundy National Park, where colorful fishing boats bob offshore and thick pine forests crowd the steep shoreline. You'll feel the ambience, especially in the town of Alma at the entrance to the park, where seaside shacks serve chowder, lobster rolls and other classic seaboard fare.

Almost absurdly compact at 80 square miles, Fundy packs a lot of punch with more than 250 waterfalls and the historic Fundy Footpath, which traces 40 miles of coastline. The Bay of Fundy is renowned for having the world's highest tides, with ranges up to 40 feet. Experience the dramatic changes at Point Wolfe Beach or feel them on a rafting trip on the Shubenacadie River, where waves from surging tides create white water conditions.

Unusual in a national park but perhaps a legacy of the region's Scottish heritage, Fundy includes a 9-hole golf course, challenging with coastal and forest terrain.

TPG tip: You can use your points at the Hilton Saint John (from $85 or 30,000 Hilton Honors points per night), about 1 1/2 hours away from the national park. But for unmatchable views of the bay, choose Alma Shore Lane Suites and Cottages (from $190 per night). Nab one of the picnic tables or shelter on the covered patio and enjoy fresh-from-the-sea snow crab, lobster, battered haddock and other local specialities at the Alma Lobster Shop Restaurant and Market adjacent to the hotel.

Related reading:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders: Register to earn a 5,000-point Aeroplan flight reward
• Air Canada's Aeroplan program: The ultimate guide to earning and redeeming points
• Giant sequoias and red rock canyons: 7 state parks with national park-worthy wonders and smaller crowds
• How to save money on a national park trip this year with points and miles