Curious about Athabasca Sand Dunes Park

[The Adam Blaster]

I just read an article in "West World" - the CAA produced travel magazine.
(Mostly it seems to be a vehicle to advertise their various insurance policies...)
But, this edition had an article about the Athabasca Sand Dunes park that is north of Ft. Macmurray on the Alberta side, and spreads into a much larger section on the Saskatchewan side.

I'm curious if anyone has ever been to that area, what your experiences were, is there any possibility of traversing a portion of the park by 4x4 vehicle?
In the article it seemed that access was by float plane or ATV due to lack of roads leading into or through the park.
I'm thinking that I could get my Cherokee pretty much anywhere an ATV could go, as long as the path/trail wasn't too narrow.

I have emailed the SK. contact that I found from the official site to see what their response will be to asking about a trip like this, and I'll post up what they send back to me.

[TheOtherSide]

Now you've got me curious... link up a google map link or something...

I'm interested...

[The Adam Blaster]

Well, there are apparently no roads "to" or through the park, so not much shows up. A google image search brings up some great scenery though!
It's a large area of dunes, on the SK side it stretches something like 100 km.
The AB side is considerably smaller, approx. 1.5 x 7 km.
(All that info was from the West World article.)

Because of the unique plant life, it is a conservation area, so any travel within the park would have to avoid the trampling of any plants.
I am trying to find out if passing through the park would even be possible/legal...

They describe the borders of the park (on the AB side anyway) starting about 160 km north/northeast of Ft. Mac along the southern shore of Lake Athabasca.

[Waytec]

In Alberta their always a road or cut line you just my need a very capable off road vehicle to do the trip.

I would be very interested in trying it.

[uriedog]

Lots of muskeg in that area. I worked allot of this winter in Wood Buffalo. About 150km north of Ft Mac. Beautiful area, with loads of wildlife.

[bcghosttowns]

I was there years ago and don't remeber there being any extracuricluar travelling at all.

[The Adam Blaster]

I was there years ago and don't remeber there being any extracuricluar travelling at all.

The article specifically mentioned travel by ATV, but who knows what areas that is permitted...
To be honest, the article was about 3 paragraphs long, not exactly a plethora of detail about the park.

[Jeremy]

I have a feeling that the Sand dunes are protected area. I know the ones in Saskatchewan are.

If you want to drive on Sand dunes drive out to the Oregon coast. You can drive on the dunes (with a sticker and a permit) and also on the beaches. They have the areas set up very well, just make sure you are prepared and know the techniques for getting out of a sand stuck. I think the closest Sand area in Oregon is Sand Lake, the best one is in Florence about 1/2 the way down the cost.

I would not go there just for the sand Dunes as the Oregon cost is amazing! such a beautiful drive and vistas all the way down it.

[The Adam Blaster]

I have a feeling that the Sand dunes are protected area. I know the ones in Saskatchewan are.

If you want to drive on Sand dunes drive out to the Oregon coast.

I think there is definitely some "protected" aspect of the park, but I'm trying to see if a small group could possibly get through some of the red tape and explore the area. I wonder if there is some aspect of volunteering for research that could be done to get me/us on the land.
Go out for a weekend, do a couple of hours of recon. for some organization that is studying the region. The scientific group gets some research done for free, and we get to drive around and explore a truly unique area of Canada! :)
But, it would probably take a significant amount of negotiation, which is what I am up for. ;)

I have been asking around, and it seems like all around the park there is a huge amount of muskeg, so it may e impassable in standard 4x4's. And that may be the reason why the article I read said that access was by float plane, or ATV only.
If that happens to be the case, it would bring a quick halt to any plans for the adventure... :(