Cardinal River Road — Cadomin to Mountain Park Ghost Town (Alberta)

Mountain Park was once Alberta’s highest incorporated town — a full coal-mining community perched above 5,500 feet in the Rockies — and it was abandoned so completely by the 1950s that the provincial government literally bulldozed it. The Cardinal River Road west out of Cadomin follows the Cardinal River drainage through dense lodgepole and open avalanche chutes, climbing steadily toward the ghost town site. Foundation outlines, rusted machinery, and the old cemetery are still findable for anyone willing to poke around in the willows. The drive itself is honest backcountry: single-lane dirt and gravel, soft shoulders, and a handful of wet crossings where seasonal drainages spill across the road bed.

High-clearance 4WD is the realistic minimum — a lifted truck or purpose-built rig handles it with confidence, but stock SUVs can get caught out by the soft sections and steep sidehills after rain. The Coal Branch region has no fuel between Edson and Hinton, so plan accordingly. Cadomin itself has no services worth relying on. Best window is late June through early October before early mountain snowfall closes the upper sections. Dispersed camping is legal throughout the forestry land corridor. No permits needed. Cell service is nonexistent from Cadomin west.