Ghost Town, Saskatchewan: Chinook, Alberta: Photo Essay

Just like Saskatchewan, Alberta has ghost towns if you can find them

Obsessing over finding ghost towns changes everything.

Every road trip destination is destined to become less important. Suddenly, you eye up every grid that leads to nowhere and small towns that resemble bombed out barns. Cross country adventures now take hours longer to complete.

Ghost towns are total heritage treasure; find the right one and rotting wood and forgotten belongings are your reward.

On a recent trek to Calgary – our ill-fated Sled Island Festival road trip – we turned off at the town of Chinook, Alberta. Lots of abandoned houses, foreboding broken windows and askew doors and wrecks seeped in prairies dust.

It was eerie enough until we realized there was a guy on the roof of the quonset we were photographing. And that’s the point when you cut your losses and get the hell out of town.

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– Words by Chris Morin, photos by Ryan Smith.

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