[99Saki500]

I am thinking of taking a 8-9 day ride and end up in Canada, BUT this time I will be doing it in May and not October. Stupid me!

Anywhoot, I was wondering How are the road conditions?

It would be great if I could go somewhere where I don't have to worry about seeing other cars but still hitting the curves.

Any route suggestions? (keep in mind, I love to take pics on the road)


Thanks

Just a quick idea of what's brewing the brain upstairs...

 

[jonl]

Canada is pretty large. Where are you planning to go? BC?

 

[Anonymous]

Let me tell you that mostly all the roads I've been to in Canada are in awesome condition. Else it is pretty similar to the US......except the metrics tho.

 

[99Saki500]

Edited my first post with a quick mock up of the route. Just an idea of what I would like to do...

 

[davidcl]

yeah... the only thing about canada, they drive sooooo fast,.... my speedometeer says 66 but they say I can go 100

 

[CruisinPiper]

You sure you want to do an average of 690 miles a day? Forget about taking pictures.... sign up for an Iron butt ride

 

[skewterdewd]

That loop is like ten 700-mile days in a row?
It would be an awesome ride, but you might need a few more days.
It would be really hard to do that kind of mileage up 101 or in the remote parts of BC. Even if you could, you'd miss seeing all the cool stuff, and be totally shagged at the end of each day.

my .02, but I am old and slow...

 

[trikebubble]

Hey,
I'd go woth July and August if I wear you. It can still get pretty cold and ugly up on the mountain passes in May.
And don't forget you've got a place to stay if you get near us.
You'll probably be bored out of your skull riding in Alberta & Saskatchewan, once you leave the Rockies, IMO.

 

[Cactuscountry]

canada ride!

hey there,
your route may be a little risky going that far north in may....the territories...even any further north than Grande prairie can be winter conditions in may still!

Also some of the sask roads are not even drivable for cars let alone bikes!I would really research the roads in sask before you go.

Alberta,BC and all other provinces have good roads.

I would take more time tho..just to give you an idea of distance.
From Medicine hat alberta(which is far southern alberta) to grande Prairie alberta(which is middle northern alberta) will take about 14 hours by car...thats straight through...only gas stops.
If you want to take things in maybe take more time...as there is sooooooo much to see up here.
Hope this helps a bit for you.

laura

 

[KwakaKZ1000]

Nothern Alberta, NWT and Northern Saskatchewan are still cool that time of year and also there are alot of those nothern roads that are still gravel. If you want to do twisties and see some scenery you would be better off to go up the coast of British Columbia and then across the interior to Edmonton Alberta and then down. Once you get to Edmonton the area is pretty flat till you get back down to Montana.

 

[Vulcano]

I'd suggest you travel after May 24th that seems to be the cuttoff for snow blizzards in Alberta.

The scenery is spectacular along the foothills, great picture opportunities. I think your schedule is too ambitious. You can do the trip from Vancouver to Yellowknife in about 24 hours, if you never stop, that means no food or sleep.

Watch out for white pickup trucks in northern Alberta. They usually belong to the oil workers and they are dangerous.

North of 60 (parallel) be sure you have lots of mosquito and black fly repellant, (they are pretty intense). It will be murder trying to keep your windshield clear of bugs.

From central Alberta east into Saskatchewan and then down to Montana the land is very flat. It would be a boring ride. (In Sask if your dog runs away it only takes 3 days till you can't see him anymore).

Good luck and be safe

 

[bross]

I'd suggest you travel after May 24th that seems to be the cuttoff for snow blizzards in Alberta.

The scenery is spectacular along the foothills, great picture opportunities. I think your schedule is too ambitious. You can do the trip from Vancouver to Yellowknife in about 24 hours, if you never stop, that means no food or sleep.

Watch out for white pickup trucks in northern Alberta. They usually belong to the oil workers and they are dangerous.

North of 60 (parallel) be sure you have lots of mosquito and black fly repellant, (they are pretty intense). It will be murder trying to keep your windshield clear of bugs.

From central Alberta east into Saskatchewan and then down to Montana the land is very flat. It would be a boring ride. (In Sask if your dog runs away it only takes 3 days till you can't see him anymore).

Good luck and be safe

Hey I resemble that remark. I live in northern Alberta and drive a white truck! :mrgreen: I don't think I'm THAT dangerous. :tongue:

Here's a good ride report on Canada, but at a way more relaxed pace then you're planning but will give you an idea of what's up here...
Across Canada on a '71 R50/5 - ADVrider

I would second what everyone else said about your timing. You will run into snow and ice in May for sure. A lot of roads don't open till July. The route you show heading from Vancouver to Edmonton would be beautiful through the Icefields Parkway but it doesn't usually open till July.

Here's a link to Destination Highway's BC
Destination Highways - Roads you journey to, to travel on...

Unless you like lots of droning on very straight roads, I would probably stick to BC. Here's a few shots of our roads around Edmonton.
After riding for 4 hours the mountains were finally in view

where we rode from

this is David Thompson Country heading towards the Icefields Parkway

west of Edmonton, and yes that's the road way off in the distance

there is lots of beautiful scenery
Waterton Park

Bow Lake, Icefields Parkway

 

[bross]

con't...

Bow River, Banff, AB

Hwy 99 out of Whistler, BC

Mt Robson, AB

Keep us posted as you get your route nailed down and if you need a place to stay while passing through Edmonton, just shout. Don't forget to take and post pics. ;-)

 

[Vulcano]

Hey Bross, your not nearly far enough north, I meant from Grande Prairie to High level. :lol:

Those are some great pictures you took there. We're planning to take that ride this year. Calgary, up highway 22 (Red Coat Trail) to Yellowhead then into Jasper - icefields parkway to Banff then 1a to Cochrane.

99Saki500 you will be able to travel longer into the night as the sun doesn't set until after 10 PM.

 

[Connman]

Visit Bikeland the owners of the site are in BC I believe. A great, more personal (smaller) forum and many of the members are up there too.

 

[Greg in ND]

That loop is like ten 700-mile days in a row?
It would be an awesome ride, but you might need a few more days.
It would be really hard to do that kind of mileage up 101 or in the remote parts of BC. Even if you could, you'd miss seeing all the cool stuff, and be totally shagged at the end of each day.

my .02, but I am old and slow...

+1
I was thinking along the same lines. Seems to me all you would be doing is riding w/ very little time to sight see and take pictures. I would think if you took an extra 5 days you would be ok, or maybe keep you plan of 10 days, but cut back to maybe a 5.000 mile round trip.

 

[alec]

Uhh of course! Who hasn't?:tongue:
In May our roads will suck. They'll still have gravel and junk on the roads because the city is too **** lazy to clean out city up!

I recommend the Kanasakis loop, Grande Cash(near grande pararie), or my favorite this amazing loop were you see the mountains, trees and spring water! The sky bridge near Golden will leave you breathless.

 

[JimmyD]

Bross, roads that stretch as far as the eye can see are amazing to me. Maybe it's because we don't have that kind of thing on this side of the country.

Thats also why I want to do route 66, come up to BC, then take the trans canada home. What a journey.

Mmm... roads.

 

[bross]

Bross, roads that stretch as far as the eye can see are amazing to me. Maybe it's because we don't have that kind of thing on this side of the country.

Thats also why I want to do route 66, come up to BC, then take the trans canada home. What a journey.

Mmm... roads.

Definitely click on the link I posted of Lornce's trip across Canada then, he has some amazing pictures in there.

 

[bross]

Hey Bross, your not nearly far enough north, I meant from Grande Prairie to High level. :lol:

Those are some great pictures you took there. We're planning to take that ride this year. Calgary, up highway 22 (Red Coat Trail) to Yellowhead then into Jasper - icefields parkway to Banff then 1a to Cochrane.

99Saki500 you will be able to travel longer into the night as the sun doesn't set until after 10 PM.

I think you mean Cowboy Trail. ;-) We ride it a lot, anything is better than Hwy 2, we also use 2A a lot. Smaller is better in our opinion.
Alberta Highway 22 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's a link to our pics from that trip, check out the temp the morning we left Num ti Jah Lodge...
faithcottage : photos : 2005 September Long Weekend- powered by SmugMug
"Icefields Parkway, Bow Valley Parkway, Kananaskis Country, Bragg Creek, Calgary, Reynolds Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin for the "Life and Times of the Motorcycle", and finally home."