Taking a road trip to Canadian Rockies next August. I am looking for the best route from Fergus Falls, MN. I have used google maps and found these routes to be the same time and nearly the same distance, with the Canadian route being just a bit shorter, but same time. I am trying to decide on the best option. We have never been in any of these areas before, so I don't know what to expect scenery or town wise.

#1 Fergus Falls - Glendive MT - Medicine Hat - Canmore
#2 Fergus Falls - Glendive MT - Shelby MT - Canmore
#3 Fergus Falls - Glendive MT - Lethbridge AB - Canmore
#4 Fergus Falls - Estevan SK - Medicine Hat AB - Canmore

Our objective is to take the most scenic route, split up the days with hotels stops about 6-8 hrs a day.
Of course we would also like to have decent options on hotels and food. Any comments on the routes or other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Given that Canmore is on the eastern edge of the Rockies, I would imagine that the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota is one one scenic stop in the plains.

Thanks so much for your suggestion. I will take a look at this.

Whichever way you go, you have the option of returning via one of the others.

I'm not sure the difference between your routes 2 & 3. Both *seem* to me to go Glendive to Shelby to cross border at Sweet Grass to Lethbridge.

Here are some possibilities:

If you take your #1 or #4, when you are just east of Calgary you could make a short detour to Drumheller to visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology ... It absolutely has one of the very best curated museum displays of dinosaurs and fossils anywhere ... and has interesting field work and Hodoos nearby. I'm not normally a big fan of things like that, but I absolutely love it.
http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/ and https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...r_Alberta.html

If you take your #2 or #3, just west of Lethbridge, near Fort MacLeod you could take a short detour to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump UNESCO World Heritage Site ... it has a great visitor center explaining the life of the plains indians ... and the countryside there is a bit interesting.
http://history.alberta.ca/headsmashedin/ and https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...d_Alberta.html and http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/158/

If you take your route 2 or 3 I would highly recommend a drive that is one of my favorites (not good in winter).
Go west of Lethbridge & Fort MacLeod to Alberta Hwy 22, thence to hwy. 40 through the Kananaskis direct to Canmore. (missing the traffic of Calgary.) It's visually stunning instead of the boring & heavily-trafficked Hwy 2. It starts in traditional cattle country, trought foothills, then into the mountains near Banff. ittle traffic, a good road, and interesting sights.
http://www.thecowboytrail.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AU8LB9cxb0 and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3zoUYuhobg and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ymD4ElCyeU and https://www.albertaparks.ca/kananaskis-country/ and https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...y_Alberta.html

I don't know how much time you'll have, but in SW Alberta you will be quite close to Waterton-Glacier National Park (also a UNESCO World Heritage site) http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/wat...cul/inter.aspx and https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...k_Montana.html

Don't forget that everyone in the car will need passports to get into Canada and again back into the states.

August will be peak tourist season in the Canadian Rockies. You need to make reservations in the rockies well ahead of time.

elbegewa, thanks for your help. These look like great suggestions. I like the idea of taking hwy 22 and bypassing Calgary.

The reason I was routing from Fergus Falls is because we were going to try and stop in to visit friends there. We are actually starting the trek from Nashville Tn, so we may just skip the Fergus Falls visit and take another route, using a more southerly route until we head into Montana. From what I gather, the northern route Hwy 2 along North Dakota and Montana are quite boring.

I would welcome any ideas on the best routing starting out from Nashville TN to Canmore AB but will repost with that topic and tag those states that might be on another route.

Thanks again for the replies.

A more southerly route could be planned to include the Badlands NP in South Dakota and Yellowstone.