canada route help: great lakes - banff?
 

Hey all. I shall be doing my first beeeeeeg loaded tour this summer, yahoo....


The current plan is Tampa, St. Augustine, Great Lakes area, Banff/Jasper, bounce off the Pacific somewhere then finish in Portland. I will be leaving May 8th.


Any good route suggestions through Canada?


Thanks!!


Matt B.

BIG tour!!

Two of us went up the east coast last spring, from Ft. Myers to Richmond, VA. I live near Clearwater and got a ride down to Port Charlotte where we picked up the Adventure Cycling maps for the east coast. Florida is tough. Not many good roads and some REALLY bad and aggressive drivers. Look into buying that one state route.

Did Lake Superior couple of years ago. Left out of Duluth. Great ride untill we left Thunder Bay heading up Canada's 11. Trucks were terrible. They gave us room when they could, but if they couldn't....they didn't. I took 5oo pics or more on the ride around the lake, but have only two of that day....the start and the end in Nipigon. It got better when the trucks veered off on 17 west. But then that would be the way you would want to go. The Canada we saw was just outstanding, however.

All I got. Have a great time.

As for good route suggestions through Canada, one would need more specifics to suggest anything. First and foremost, which Great Lake are you talking about? Canadian options North of Lake Huron and Superior are fairly limited, and there is only one road between Nipigon and Thunder Bay, as well as around Kenora (North West Ontario).

In the Prairies, however, there is a lot of choice and anything could be better than the Trans Canada, so then it depends what you like, if there are middle points you want to visit, places you want to avoid, etc.

Regards,

Tentatively, I'd be rounding Lake Superior east to west, then Thunder Bay towards Winnipeg, then west/northish on/around 16 to Riding Mtn Natl., Edmonton, Saskatoon, Jasper. I have no specific inclination towards any of the cities here, they just kinda seem to be on the way. I've toured a bit with a band around eastern Canada but never been west of St. Catherines, so I've no idea what's out there. Pretty much my biggest reason for going. = )

I've heard a number of horror stories about that Thunder Bay stretch beowoulfe mentioned, but on my map it seems more or less unavoidable...

And beyond that for places to see and avoid, I have no idea. I'll be quite self-supported and will have time to be somewhat liesurely, but won't have the most amazing budget in the world. I'll be using a BOB trailer, and so could likely go a few days without a pit stop if I planned it properly.


Cheers...

Matt B.

Matt,

There is a forum member who goes by 'Roughstuff' and he has created a website about his two-wheeled world travels. He has cycled the Banff-Jasper route you are thinking about doing (see link - http://www.cyclingscholar.com/cyclinks.html ) and I'm sure if you email him, he can offer some valuable advice. Another forum member I haven't seen here in a while, Inoplanetyanin, cycled north from Los Angeles and across Canada to Ontario. I'm not sure where he's at now, but do a search for his posts here and you will find pics and info from his travels west to east.

Although I live in Calgary, I have never ridden east, so I cannot offer you any help in that regard. The only thing I can say is to expect a headwind on the journey west across the prairies. I would also recommend you stay on a northwesterly course (Saskatoon to Edmonton). You will encounter more hills this direction but also more trees and scenery as opposed to the flat monotany of southern saskatchewan.

Attached is a link with some info (weather, summit and city elevations in the Rockies, and accommodations) you may find useful.
http://www.canadianrockies.net/weather.html

I hope this helps! :)

Mmmm, yeah, helps. Especially the precipitation and the UV bit. Rains every other day, sun is up til eleven... yummmm....


Here it just looks like I could take 16 almost the whole way across, assuming I'd be camping pretty much wherever. There's exactly zero campgrounds on 16 for all of Saskatchewan, and then Alberta has two within forty miles. = )


Great sig, btw.


Cheers...

Matt b.

I did something similar last summer. Toured from home (Minneapolis), up thru Duluth, up the north shore of Lake Superior to Thunder Bay, and then west on 11. The only part I thought was bad was 11/17 before the turn-off for 17. After that traffic was light.

Careful about Hwy 16
 

Hwy 16 is a fairly major hwy so you might want to stick to one of the secondary routes. At least around Edmonton it is a fast 4-6 lane road that I wouldn't recommend riding on for any length of time.

You could visit http://www.adamk.ca (Adamhas a report of a cross-country tour), http://www.cs.unca.edu/~boyd/touring/tour01/tour.htm (Mark Boyd did a good part in his cross U.S. tour through Canada), and http://www.crazyguyonabike.com.

If I look at the Eastern side, you could add some Canadian content by cycling on the Canadian side of Lake Huron. Entering in Canada at Sarnia or via one of the two ferries between Windsor and Sarnia, you could either cycle through Parry Sound (highway 69 has lots of traffic, but you could use the local (old) highway most of the time, or through the Bruce peninsula and Manitoulin Island. Both are very scenic... and very different.

From either place, highway 17 West becomes your only choice through Sault Sainte Marie, Nipigon and Thunder Bay. The North-Eastern side of Lake Superior is very rugged, has lots of steep hills and little population. I think that stretch is one of the best with regards to scenery.
The road becomes more "ordinary" and also more rolling at Nipigon.

From Thunder Bay to Kakabeka Falls (sp), you have a choice between highways 102 and 17. I would suggest you stick to 17, first to visit the Southern part of Thunder Bay, then because highway 102 is a narrow, winding roller-coaster road with a heavy truck load, whereas highway 17 is flatter and has four lanes. But there are a few local roads parallel to highway 17 that you might take. BTW, either road is a real uphill all the way from Thunder Bay to Kakabeka Falls, though highway 17 is more gradual.

Kakabeka falls is worth a stop.

West of Kakabeka Falls, you have 2 options:
- Highway 17 saves 80-100 km, has services, but also lots of traffic; it's rolling terrain and there are a few good hills but nothing nasty. No real sight.
- Highway 11 has very little traffic (1 car/truck 5 minutes) and could be qualified as "gently rolling". The only service point is in Atikokan (sp.) which is 4 km off road. There are a couple of nice vistas along the way, and the last 20 km just East of Fort Frances are superb. Highway 71 or 72 going North to Kenora has also a few very nice vistas... and a few hills.

- Near Kenora, highway 17 has recently been rerouted around town That highway is a spectacular engineering success but has a few nightmarish hills. The old highway 17 goes into Kenora (actually 10-20 km East and West) and has superb vistas alongside Lake of the Woods... plus services.

- If you take the Southern route (#11), you might decide to continue West to Rainy River and cross into U.S. in Baudette (Minnesota). You would cut the corner of Minnesota and reenter Canada in Manitoba. I think Mark Boyd (see above) used that route.

Now one general word about Ontario. Highway 17 has lots of traffic. It is a 2-lane highway with quite a few passing lanes; it's also overloaded with traffic and people don't like to wait, stop when they are tired, etc. because they fear they will have to work their way yet another time to pass all those slowpokes. Lanes are wide -- typical interstate width (i.e. 1-ft wider than your typical 2-lane highway) -- but Ontario doesn't believe in paved shoulders. So you will see a few paved shoulders in some sections that have been widened to 4 lanes and in some steep hills to prevent erosion. Lines of sight are generally good, so visible clothing and gear (ex.: lots of reflectorized stuff on panniers) help people see you from further away. You will have lots of trucks, cars, RVs (watch those mirrors). In other words, it's not relaxed cycling and it's not suitable for children, but I have cycled from Ottawa to Manitoulin island (further East on highway 17 -- same traffic) and I liked it anyway. On the plus side, Canadian cars have daytime running lights, so you'll see them quicker in your rearview mirror (a must, I think, on that kind of highway).

**********
When you enter into Manitoba, I would recommend using highway 44 through the White Shell park, then highway 15 and into Winnipeg. The first section is in the last remnants of the Canadian shield and paving is horrendous but after that you'll be OK. And no traffic at all.


***********

West of Winnipeg, I'd say "go local". The more North you go, the more humidity you'll get, whereas Southern Saskatchewan and South-Eastern Alberta are very dry. Must sees are the Qu'Appelle valley (Saskatchewan, Norht-East of Regina) and Drumheller (Alberta).

As for the Jasper-Banff road, it's superb. If you have the choice, though, the Calgary-Banff approach is superb (the way mountains appear in front of you is gorgeous) whereas the Edmonton-Jasper approach is more ordinary. Between Calgary and Banff, use highway 1A.

Options in British Columbia include highway 3 (few services, easier with regards to hills), highway 1 (most spectacular, most rugged, most hilly...), highway 99 (few services, as spectacular; narrow, and no traffic from Lilloet to Whistler, but lots of traffic afterwards). If you are fed up with hills, yet another option would be highway 16 to Prince Rubert and a boat to Vancouver or U.S. See AdamK for lots of input.
Generally in B.C., you'll get lots of traffic (few back roads), but paved shoulders on most busy roads.


As for services, it's not too bad. Except on highway 11 in Ontario and on highway 99 in B.C. (AdamK warns about remote sections), you should be able to find food and other supplies at least once or twice daily. Strangely enough, the worst place for food is presently in the Prairies (between Winnipeg and Calgary/Edmonton). Prairies are loosing a lot of their population, villages are shrinking and many of the smaller villages have lost their last grocery store and sometimes even their last convenience store.

Michel, that was spectacular.


= )



matt b.

In Saskatchewan the Qu'Appelle valley, is a good place to get out of the flat scenery. It goes roughly parallel and slightly to the N of the T-Can. You approach it with a view as far as the eye can see, then suddenly this valley appears before you. A road winds along the bottom with pleasant scenery and you will be out of the wind.

East to West . . . right into the prevailing winds! Wouldn't be my first choice of a direction, but who knows, you might luck out and there'll be east winds. Of course if there are east winds there will also likely be storms . . . bring rain gear!

As for more specifics . . .

When you get into Manitoba, if you're coming from Kenora, you'll have a rather rough, deserted road along Hwy 1 to Winnipeg (lots of traffic, not so many places for supplies etc.). I'd avoid that if I were you. If you head up along Hwy 44 during the summer, expect a lot of traffic - not so safe. You're best route would probably be to come from Minnesota, and approach Winnipeg from the south. Those roads aren't too bad - just stay off of Hwy 59 and Hwy 75 - they're pretty busy.

Once you start heading west from Winnipeg, take Hwy 26 out to Portage La Prairie - the road can be a little bit rough in places, but at least there isn't much traffic so it's not bad. Plus it curves, and there's a tree break along the river so that'll block some of the wind.

I'm not sure what Hwy 16 is like - I haven't been on it in years - but I'm willing to bet that there is no shoulder. You won't have much luck finding a paved shoulder on Hwy 1 either. Some of the other roads heading west might be a better choice. They won't have shoulders either, but at least they won't have as much traffic. If Hwy 16 doesn't have too much traffic, it might not be too bad.

Be prepared around Minnedosa - there's a bit of a surprise hill there.

Good luck!!

Thanks!! Keep em coming, everyone!!


= )


Machka: I am now leaning towards bouncing back into Minnesota for a bitas you mentioned... I'm still thinking of this trip in terms of bodies of water and omitting the Mississippi might anger whatever Tour Deity might be monitoring me....


I'm not even that intent on Winnipeg, might just skip it altogether and get up to Riding Mtn by way of Portage or Brandon after finishing up in Minnesota.


Cheers....


Matt B.

The Kenora area/Lake of the Woods area is worth considering and if you look closely at a map of that region, you will find a few windy twisty roads. A good route from the Ontario/Manitoba border is up through the White Shell Provincial Park up though Lac de Bonnet/Winnipeg River to Pine Falls and on to Grand Beach then down to Selkirk. If you are into lakes, you could look into the area just north of Pine Falls towards Manigotagagan/Winipogow (it may still be gravel). There is/was a ferry over to Black Island, Hecla Island and Grindstone Provincial Parks (the old Republic of New Iceland) if no ferry you may be able to arrange a ride over with a local. From here head through the Inter Lake region over to Riding Mountain. Send me a PM when you are near Manitoba and I may be able to find more information for you.

When passing through Alberta, before hitting the Rockies, consider going to Sylvan Lake, which is just outside of Red Deer. I am fairly sure you can use this as a jumping off point to the Rockies, and there is a lot less traffic here than the route out of Calgary.

After your long slog through the prairies, Sylvan Lake will be like a breath of fresh air. It's a beautiful town on a beautiful lake. There are cheap hotels and camping opportunities in or around the town. A geologist I spoke to from the area told me that nobody is really sure how the lake was formed. It would be the perfect place for a rest day before heading to the mountains.

Thanks yet again, everyone. This is good stuff.


I'm likely dropping the Mississippi. I'll get it another time.


Another route I'm kinda piecing together would be trying to cross Lake Winnipeg as Gordon P mentioned (or at least getting up to the Hecla) then over Lake Manitoba, across the prairies (somehow) to Glacier Nat'l, then north towards Jasper and...? Might meander down towards Vancouver Island, or might head up near Alaska and ferry to Bear Cove/Port Hardy, then south.


Assuming the winds are generally west to east, does anyone know if this has much affect in travelling north/south along the Rockies?


Jeez. Fourteen weeks out, I'm already getting chills from this. WAAAAAY better than Christmas. Good lord.


cheers...

matt b.

Winds:

I'm aware that on the West Coast,winds are generally from the North, so travelling from Canada to Mexico makes sense. I have no idea if the pattern is similar between mountain ranges.

As for West to East winds, they do exist, especially in the Prairies. But you may get quite a few days with Easterly winds or crosswinds anyways. As you are going West, I would favour getting up and rolling as early as possible, resting/visiting in the afternoon and rolling again after supper. Winds are generally picking up mid morning and at their strongest in the afternoon, and motorised tourists typically get on the road around 9-10 a.m. In early July, you will have sunlight from 5:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Regards,

From Jasper you could also head towards the west coast on the Yellow Head #16 Highway to Prince Rupert, cross over to the Queen Charlotte Islands, and take the ferry to Vancouver Island. Also, the Gulf Islands off of Vancouver Island are nice to cycle.

Northern Park Tour, about 500-600 kilometres, this route as outlined in Elliott Katz’s book, it goes from Riding Mountain National Park up to Flin Flon via Cranberry Portage, Swan River and The Pas. There should be lots of wildlife and the terrain will be “parkland” and will hit Duck Mountain Provincial Park, Mount Baldy (831-metre), Porcupine Provincial Forest, Hart Mountain, Clearwater Provincial Park and Grass River Provincial Park.

Here are some helpful books.

Bibliography:
Marr, Ruth - Manitoba Outdoor Adventure Guide: Cycling, Fifth House Publishers (1989)

Petty, Wayne – Cycling Back Road Manitoba, Publishers Off The Front (2000)

Katz, Elliott – The Complete Guide to Bicycling in Canada, Doubleday Canada Limited, Toronto, Ontario (1987)

If you do hit sylvan lake from there all you need to do is take Hwy 22 right to Chochrane and jump onto 1A from there into banff. Should be a nice ride

Matthew-You mention Riding Mountain National Park in your post. I have a restaurant 3 K. south of the south of there on Hwy. #10. When you come through, your meal is taken care of. The central trail in RMNP runs from the centre of the park ( near Hwy#10) to the eastern end. I will be using it much more this summer, as I have recently converted one of my bikes to a fixed/cross format. This might be an interesting option for you instead of #45 or #16 to the west. It would bring you close to Rossburn area, near the Sask. border. I regret to say I have not as yet taken this route, since I have been riding solely on pavement for the last 10 years, but I understand that the surface is good to ride on, and there would be many camping options. Let me know when you are coming through, and I will get the char-broiler going. Barnaby

Barnaby:

Amazing. Thank you. I think I might draw up a cartoon of that char-broiler to keep me moving through those low times.... = ) Or maybe you have a picture around?

Funny, what the promise of a warm meal can do for a man.


"...runs from the centre of the park ( near Hwy#10) to the eastern end..."

Do you mean western end here...? I wasn't able to find much for usable trail maps online.

Also, might you be familiar with 68 across lake manitoba? i'm thinking about that route but it appears to be the only way over... wouldn't want to get stuck out there if its miserable.


and i am now weighing these two options from the RMNP area: west and north towards Jasper or west and south towards Glacier National, then north along the Rockies. Glacier would of course be amazing but it would mean crossing the heart of the plains, and a LOT of wind. Is there that much of a difference in the wind/weather patterns in north vs. south Manitoba (say, Swift Current vs. Prince Albert)? This might also influence how I approach RMNP: from the south were I to take the northern tier, from the north were I to take the southern.

So, north through RMNP, Duck Mtn, and Porcupine or along the Rockies? Or hell, if i can squeeze another week in somewhere I could do ALL of it.


OK, I'm going to go settle down somewhere. Thanks everyone...


cheers...

Matt B.

I ride along the rockies most everyday to and from work all summer. The wind is generally still in the morning and comes up from the North West at around 10am to noon. Unless a storm is blowing in you can almost bet on it. So if you are riding the Calgary-Banff route you will be going into the wind most afternoons. But then it is only a days ride from Calgary to Banff if you don't get too enthralled with the scenery.

Yes Matthew you are right, I wrote that the central trail goes from the interior of the park to the east, when I meant west. I began thinking about using this as part of a longer tour, when I discouvered that the Trans-Canada Trail crosses Hwy 10 and parallels Hwy 45. I thought an interesting shunt to the trail would be to go north from 45 on 10 to RMNP, and then to use Central Trail to run to the western end of the park, then link back to the trail near the Sask. border. This idea would still work even if you were riding pavement rather than the Trail itself.

This would mean though that the GordonP. option would be missed, going north to the Porcupine, Duck Mtn. etc.
So, you would have to decide whether to go north through RMNP to do as Gordon suggests, or to use the park to go west. If you did go north, you could use the Strathclair trail through the park or Hwy 10 itself, which has a 3 foot paved shoulder all the way, and is in great shape and quite scenic. At the northern end of the park, you will encounter a descent of around 3 miles, during which you may witness that BOB trailer passing you on the left at 60 KPH. The Strathclair Trail, parallels Hwy 10 and has camping and untreated water along the way.

As a previous poster has noted Hwy 16 is not heaven. It is a heavy truck route, with mainly gravel shoulder through much of Manitoba. I have thought about trying to ride from RMNP to Kenora in one day (somewhere in excess of 400 K.) My idea was to do this on a fixed bike to emulate the first stage of the first Tour de France which was around this distance on fixed bikes one hundred years ago this year-I think. Since I dread 16 so much, I was thinking of riding 10 to Mountain Road which comes out at Hwy 5, and then straight down to #1, and then east to Kenora. #5 between 16 and 1 is nicely paved and not generally used by trucks. This still means though alot to time on the Trans Canada, and may be a less desirable route than what Gordon suggests by going north and over that way.

Plan this section carefully. I went East to West from Dallas to San Diego some years ago, and the prevailing wind almost drove me crazy. Coupling this with endless prarie produces a real adversary. But, having said that, there is beauty here, and history as well. You will spot cyclists going in the other direction, as I did, and wonder whether you are crazy or just an iconoclast. I'll bet the later.

There is not that much difference between wind patterns in "Northern" vs Southern Prairies, at least if you consider highwau 16 to be North. To get into really different patterns, you have to use a route really in the North, around Flin Flon (Manitoba), La Ronge (Sask.) and similar places up North. Then you are out of the praries and into boreal forests. But you are also into bugs, bogs (swamps), lots of gravel, and very little to see...

Further South, the only real differences are :
- The Qu'Appelle Valley: tends to be very windy, because the wind funnels through it. Also very good scenery.
- Some valleys in Alberta, because they are deep and funnel the wind (ex.: Drumheller, Medecine Hat)
- SouthWest Saskatchewan and Southern Alberta are really dry. Not desert weather, but still check on water. And if the summer is very dry, you might have mini dust storms.
The Transcanada highway is at the Norhtern limit of the dry territory, and the "Red Coat Trail" (a Southern route through Man, Sask, and Alta, going through Gravelbourg amongst other cities) is going straight into it.
This is the area that suffered the most of the farming crisis of the last few years, so you'll get a lot of semi-empty villages. IOW, plan...
- Transcanada highway (#1) is generally easier to ride than Yellowhead highway (#16). Both have heavy traffic and lots of truck traffic, and both have little or no paved shoulders. There is more traffic on #1, but more of it is twinned, and on the twinned sections, it's easy for a car driver to move left when passing you.

- BTW, there was a tradition on 2-lane highways in the Prairies: "slow" cars used to pull out on the shoulder to allow easier passing. This is one of the reasons most shoulders have been gravelled over.

Canada Route
 

Yeah -

I'd either stay south or north of the TransCanada - definitely not on it.
You can run just north of the border from Val Marie, Saskatchewan to Waterton then thru Kananaskis Park and into Banff on a fire road missing all the traffic. There's a short stretch of dirt road on the Sask-Alta border and the fire road, too. Hwy 1 has no service roads in many sections and mucho traffic. The hostels on the Icefields Parkway can get pricey - some require reservations - Banff and Jasper have no hiker/biker campsites and car campgrounds fill up - - but you can usually weasel your way in. There are a few great backcountry campsites you can bike to on old forest roads that are not too far from the highway -
definitely recommend Athabasca River - 360 panorama from the outhouse.

John