1000 Kilometers – Tips on Driving the Road from Vancouver to Calgary

March 29, 2010

It’s mid afternoon as I leave Vancouver and head east to Calgary. I have a solid 10 hours of driving on a combination of two and four lane highways, and that’s if the mountain passes cooperate. That’s the equivalent of driving from London, England through France and Switzerland to the outskirts of northern Rome in Italy, yet in Canada the drive represents only 15% of the distance across the country.

4526888274 827064a0de 1000 Kilometers Tips on Driving the Road from Vancouver to Calgary

It’s a struggle for the first hour to get the speedometer consistently above 70km/hour. Once past Abbotsford it’s clear sailing. The road takes me through the fertile Fraser Valley past Chilliwack, famous for its corn in the summer and into Hope. Hope is surrounded by mountains and notorious for trapping any passing precipitation. I find it to be a depressing place and can’t get out of there fast enough.

My chosen route from Hope is the most direct of the three options. I’m heading east on the Trans Canada Highway through Revelstoke. I could head north and then east from Kamloops and drive the famous Icefields Parkway between Jasper and Banff, or alternatively I could head south and east from Hope and travel through the wine country of the Okanagan. I chose the fastest route. The northern route would add 2 1/2 hours and the southern route would add 3 hours.

Calgary to Vancouver Drive 2010 029 1000 Kilometers Tips on Driving the Road from Vancouver to Calgary

The highway around Roger's Pass

From Hope I head up the Coquihalla Highway. It has the well earned reputation of being a treacherous highway in winter conditions – which unfortunately can occur anytime between September and April. Today I was lucky. The temperature at the pass was O C, 13 degrees lower than my home in Vancouver, and it was snowing lightly, but not accumulating. Once over the pass I breathe a sigh of relief. Only one more pass to go.

2360094176 6c18b4b940 1000 Kilometers Tips on Driving the Road from Vancouver to Calgary

The miles fly by until I hit two lanes only out of Kamloops. I had naively expected four lanes through to Calgary. It is surprisingly scenic east of Kamloops especially as you near Salmon Arm. Pretty views of Shuswap Lake greet you for the better part of an hour. Shuswap Lake is British Columbia’s answer to Arizona’s Lake Powell, a house boaters paradise.

If you’re somebody who likes to break a drive into manageable chunks then Salmon Arm would be a good place to stop. It’s scenic and has loads of accommodation options. It’s also the halfway point. Other alternatives for a night are Revelstoke, an hour away or Golden 2 1/2 hours away, both of which entail non stop mountain driving.

Continuing east takes you back into the mountains and into unpredictable weather. Revelstoke is the next town, famous for it’s steep skiing.  It’s also famous for trapping people for days at a time when the highways in and out get hit by avalanches. You’ve been warned.

Crossing Rogers Pass was a breeze on Friday and in less than an hour I was in Golden. The time change from Pacific to Mountain happens at the top of Roger’s Pass so by the time you reach Golden you’ll need to  move your clock ahead an hour.

It’s 3 hours from Golden to Calgary and two of those hours are on beautiful highways through Yoho and Banff National Park. Pass into Alberta just past the town of Field. At the first gas station you’ll notice an immediate decrease in gas prices and you might save as much as $0.16/liter.

Trailheads for hiking and crosscountry skiing can be accessed at points along the highway through Yoho and Banff National Parks. Some of the world’s best and most scenic trails are off of these trailheads. Yoho National Park is much quieter than Banff but offers the same inspiring scenery.

3910425461 96e4ecacc5 1000 Kilometers Tips on Driving the Road from Vancouver to Calgary

Continue past turnoffs for Lake Louise, Banff and finally Canmore, the largest town before Calgary. It’s not long past Canmore that the burbs of Calgary come into view. They’ve been expanding at an alarming rate but that’s another story.

Leigh McAdam

www.hikebiketravel.com

You might also like:

9 Surprisingly Great Things to do in the Calgary Area
The Magical Magdalen Islands of Quebec
Travel Photo Thursday: The Eastern Townships

Posted by Hike Bike Travel | Filed Under British Columbia, Canada 

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