Gridlock on the TransCanada Highway.

Yesterday, August 4th, I drove my son and a couple of his friends to Grindrod, BC in our Ford Festiva. The drive out was great; we made really good time,didn't use much fuel and enjoyed the great driving weather and relatively light traffic. From our home in Calgary to our friend's in Grindrod is a 500km westward run that passes through Banff, Yoho, Glacier and Mount Revelstoke National Parks and over the Rogers Pass.

Castle Mountain near the intersection of the Trans Canada Highway and Highway 93

I was really looking forward to the run home that afternoon as there are quite a few stretches that are a lot of fun to drive, and by fun I mean twisty two lane. I was also planning to take a short detour at Golden to drive up the Kicking Horse Trail, one of the roads I mentioned in one of my "favorite drive" posts. Before I continue with the story I must say that I had noticed that the eastbound traffic was a little on the heavy side. With it being the Monday of a long weekend I wasn't surprised but as you will see it turned out to be quite a bit worse than I first thought.

After depositing the boys at the designated spot I began my return trip. The first leg from our friend's Grindrod home to Sicamous is about 34km on twisty two lane  BC Highway 97A that hugs the shore of Mara Lake for about half of that distance. Highway 97A is the northeastern branch of the highway that runs from the US border just south of Osooyos BC, through the Okanagan Valley and joins the TransCanada Highway at Sicamous. I wasn't too surprised then to see a bit of a back up in Sicamous with all the holiday traffic. I filled up the Festiva's tiny (38L) fuel tank, registering a satisfactory 5.7L/100km, and then headed out eastbound on the main highway. 

Here's where things began to fall apart. The heavy traffic I'd noticed on the way in was now heavier and slower. It took ninety minutes of stop and go to reach Revelstoke BC, only 75km away! Average speed.... 50km/h! 

I stopped in Revelstoke and revisited the Nomad Food Co. on Victoria Ave where Sharon and I had dined on our June road trip. The place was hopping and the food was awesome; you should try their crispy chicken burger. I stayed in Revelstoke for about an hour and then hit the highway again. The first 25km or so were great, even with the expected heavy holiday traffic. Things came to a stop, literally, 28km out, right by the Skunk Cabbage Boardwalk with stopped vehicles as far as one could see up the road. From there it was stop and go again for the remaining 120km to Golden. I left Revelstoke at 6:00pm MST and arrived in Golden at 8:50pm MDT. Average speed....52km/h!

Stopped at the Skunk Cabbage Boardwalk turn-off

Golden was just crawling with hot, tired travelers trying to get gas or coffee. Once I had my coffee and a box of TimBits I returned to the highway for the last leg home. By now it's just after 9:00pm and I'm ready for home so I didn't make the little detour I had planned. After the first 20 minutes or so I reached the Kicking Horse Rest Area and the base of Ten Mile Hill where there is a long stretch of four lane divided highway. By this point the traffic was able to spread out a bit and I made the remainder of the trip home in relatively good time arriving just before midnight. Fuel consumption also suffered, the return trip worked out to 7.1L/100km.

A few observations:

1. BC Highways and the federal government desperately need to finish twinning the Trans-Canada Highway!

2. I don't mind being in heavy highway traffic when it is moving consistently at or close to the speed limit. That wasn't happening on this drive.

3. I was pleasantly surprised at the road manners of almost all the drivers caught in this situation. There are quite a number of passing lanes along the way and invariably everyone would just stay in their place in line, probably recognizing the futility of rushing ahead by about five or six car lengths only to end up stopped.

4. The car behaved well, the A/C worked when called upon, got to listen to some great tunes and the weather was nice enough that I could have the windows open most of the time.

I will be going to pick up the boys tomorrow, August 6, and my guess is the drive will be a lot more enjoyable. Maybe I'll make that detour on the way after all!

Another road trip report.... this time not mine.

One of the blogs I follow is Subcompact Culture. Andy and his wife, Mercedes, recently took a road trip from their home in Portland, through Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alberta and BC. Follow this link to read of their adventures.

From www.subcompactculture.com

Sharon and I have driven portions of their route, albeit not in one trip, and can attest to the reports of great roads, great scenery and great food. 

On a technical note... Andy did a single post for the entire road trip whereas I have tended to do day by day postings. This begs the question: which do you prefer, a single post for entire trip or day by day postings? Please let me know by way of a comment.

Enjoy!

Going-to-the-Sun road trip day one

MONDAY AUGUST 20th, 2012

The primary purpose of this relatively short road trip was to drive the famed Going-to-the-Sun Road in Montana's Glacier National Park. It's a stretch of road that I have wanted to drive for quite some time and it was well worth the wait.

The first part of our journey took us down familiar roads south from Calgary to Nanton on Highway 2, the major north/south route in Alberta. We headed west from Nanton along highway 533 to join up with Highway 22, also known as the Cowboy Trail, at Chain Lakes Provincial Park. From there we continued south to Highway 3, the Crowsnest Highway and then west again to Crowsnest Lake Bible Camp where we dropped off our daughter for 10 days. After a short visit we turned east on Highway 3 back through Crowsnest Pass where we ran into some heavy rain and then south through Pincher Creek towards the Canada/US border along Highway 6.

The scenic drive from Pincher Creek to the border.

 

















We crossed into the US at Chief Mountain Border Crossing. This is one of the smaller crossings that's only open from mid-May to the end of September. 

Chief Mountain and its namesake border crossing from the Canadian side.

Once across the border we were welcomed to Montana and then proceeded to St Mary, the eastern gateway to Glacier National Park.

Welcome to Montana

Map of the Going-to-the-Sun Road

At the Glacier Park visitor center

We spent some time at the visitor center gathering up some info on the drive and possible stops along the way. The first of our stops in the park was at Sunrift Gorge. After finding a parking spot we took a very short trail to see the gorge which looks as if someone just took a very long knife and cut a swath into the rock to allow the creek through.

At Sunrift Gorge

I and E at Sunrift Gorge

E, me and I at Sunrift.

At Sunrift

Next stop... St Mary Falls. Only a short drive further up the road we stopped to take the short hike up to these spectacular falls!

On the road between Sunrift Gorge and St Mary Falls

E leading the way up to the falls

Me and my growing boys!

Sharon at St Mary Falls

While on our way to and from the falls we heard a lot of thunder but were spared any rain... until we headed off to our next stop, Logan Pass Visitor Center. Here's were the road started to get interesting with some drop-offs to the left and rock faces on the right. Throw in a tunnel and a waterfall and we are now getting a taste of what's to come!

Between St Mary Falls and Logan Pass

Between St Mary Falls and Logan Pass

Coming out of the East Tunnel.

As you can see in the pictures it started to rain, in some spots quite heavily, as we made our way up to the Logan Pass visitor center. This made the drive even more interesting! I initially missed the turnoff to the visitor center so I did a quick u-turn and found the entrance. Parked the car close to one of Glacier National Park's "red jammer" tour busses.

Hard to choose from so many awesome views.

A Logan Pass Visitor center with a "red-jammer"

The Hidden Lake trailhead.

After a tour of the visitor center we continued our westward trek. First around the Oberlin Bend, across the Triple Arches, then the Big Bend past the Weeping Wall to the Bird Woman Falls Overlook.

We're going down there? Just before the Oberlin Bend.

Just wide enough.

Aim carefully.

Drop off just past the Triple Arches.

 

At the Bird Woman Falls Overlook

E. enjoying the view

We were all getting a bit hungry so our next stop would be Avalanche Creek Picnic area. After the Bird Woman Falls Overlook we went around "The Loop", the only switchback on the entire route! After that the road drops into the tress and follows McDonald Creek.

The West Tunnel just below "The Loop"

On the way down.

I. on the shores of McDonald Creek after our picnic supper.

Almost down... as is the sun.

We finished our meal and continued along the shores of Lake McDonald as the sun set behind the mountains. The end of this spectacular 50 mile drive came too soon as we passed through the gates of the west entrance to Glacier National Park. The rest of the day's drive was fairly typical Montana highway fare as we made our way to our hotel in Columbia Falls.

To close off this post I will say that we will be back! The driving was a lot of fun and the views simply stunning. There is so much along the route we would like to do so rather than say good-bye I will close off with see you later.

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 2!

Heading out on another road trip

We're heading off on a short road trip tomorrow, Monday August 20th! This one will be relatively short at only 1200km. The primary target is the "Going to the Sun" highway in Montana's Glacier National Park which is a drive I've wanted to do for quite a while.

First stop will be Crowsnest Pass then we'll be backtracking a bit to Pincher Creek. We will then cross the border and head to St Mary MT on the eastern edge of Glacier. Our first overnight will be in Columbia Falls MT on the western border.

Day two will find us in Kalispell MT then up to Cranbrook BC for our second overnight. From there we'll be heading north to Radium Hot Springs then home early on Wednesday afternoon.

It won't be quite as cramped in the car for this trip as only our two youngest will be with us for the bulk of the trip.



View Larger Map

 Looking forward to this one as the weather is supposed to be very nice! Watch for updates and photos over the next few days!

CLICK HERE FOR DAY ONE