Wood Buffalo National Park is larger than Switzerland — 44,807 square kilometres of boreal forest, salt plains, and river delta straddling the Alberta-Northwest Territories border, with the park headquarters right in Fort Smith. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, and the designation is earned: this is one of the last places on earth where you can see everything from free-roaming wood bison (the world's largest wild herd, around 5,000 animals) to wolf packs crossing open meadows to northern lights blazing overhead.
The Peace-Athabasca Delta within the park is one of the world's largest freshwater deltas, a maze of channels and lakes that attracts millions of migratory birds each spring. Whooping cranes — the tallest birds in North America — nest here exclusively in the wild, making Fort Smith the base for one of wildlife conservation's iconic stories. The park also contains the largest dark sky preserve in the world, which combined with its remoteness makes for extraordinary aurora viewing from August through April.
Day visitors can reach Salt Plains Trail (a bizarre, almost Martian salt flat) and Sweetgrass Station without difficulty on the road north of town. For anything deeper into the park, pick up maps and permits at the park office on McDougal Road before you go.