Hello Canada! Heading out to Calgary in the summer and going up to Jasper and a few other places for a trip.

Couple questions for you all

1. Any must see places?
2. Any places to avoid
3. Where can i rent a 4runner?!!

Eh!
Maybe I will ramble about things you might already know but there it is;

We are at the foothill (30 miles) of the Canadian Rockies hence the mountains are amazing but attracts lots of tourists. Similar to US National Park. Hence, I have a tendency to stay out of Banff National Park all together.

We do have some Public Land Use Zones (PLUZ); if you google you can easily find maps for Alberta PLUZ. Around Calgary, you need to pay attention to GHOST, Kananaskis, Livingstone and McLean Creek Off Hwy Vehicle area. The maps tells you about motor vehicle access, disperse camping, etc.

The Forestry Trunk road is fun to drive (road 40) and extand to approx 600 miles. I never done the portion form Nordegg to Jasper but this is on my list (see GHOST PLUZ map). Of course, you can break the Banff National Park rule and make your way back from Jasper using Hwy 93. Ride it early morning and traffic is better but the scnenery is just amazing.

If you are into hiking, backpacking, rock climbing or mountain biking this part of the country is word class.

As to lease a 4Runner, I am afraid this is nearly impossible from the Avis and the likes. You can rent Jeeps which would be great for everything but McLean Creek (you need more than stock there!)

Hope this gets you started. Feel free to ask more specific questions
Cheers

I would just drive the 4Runner. Hopefully, we will do it in a couple years: Banff, Jasper, and the entire area.

I wish... I want to .... It would take 4 days at least to do that... We have demanding jobs and kids in school , not ideal.