Akamina Parkway

Turnouts and Pullouts

There several points of interest along the Akamina Parkway, such as the Discovery Well National Historical Site, Oil City and Little Prairie, as well as several trailheads to some extremely popular hikes in Waterton Lakes National Park.

Discovery Well National Historical Site (5.5 Miles)
Drilled in 1902, the Discovery Well National Historic Site is where the first producing oil well in Western Canada was discovered.  John Lineham is given credit for drilling this historic well, and he struck oil 1,020 feet below the surface of the ground.  The well was producing 300 barrels per day, but due to equipment failure and a dramatic drop in oil production just prior to the failure, this well was abandoned and further explorations yielded nothing useful, and when oil was discovered in the Turner Valley Field in 1914, the search for oil in the Waterton Lakes National Park area ended.

Oil City (5.6 Miles)
All that remains of a small town that was anticipating an oil boom in the Cameron Valley is the foundation of a hotel that was never built. There is a plaque that commemorates this small boom town that went bust.

Nordic Skiing and Snowshoeing (7.5 Miles)
In late fall, the Akamina Parkway is closed at Little Prairie, which is 7.5 miles from the beginning of the Akamina Parkway at Highway 5, or 1.9 miles before Cameron Lake.  The road beyond this closure is then used by Nordic skiers or snowshoers for the entire winter season.

Access to Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park of British Columbia (8.7 Miles)
The most common access to the Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park of British Columbia is found just before you reach Cameron Lake, at the Akamina Pass Trailhead.