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Driving from southern Ontario to Alberta

H

hotspot

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
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19
Location
newmarket,ontario,canada
Good morning,

Looking for some tips, hints and advice. My son and I will be driving from Newmarket Ontario to Canmore Alberta area at the end of May. He was lucky enough to be hired at Peter Lougheed Provincial Park for the summer, we need to get him and his car there to start work in June. I am going to help with the driving and be an AWESOME traveling companion, although he may disagree. I will be flying back out of Calgary.

We are veterans of the Florida drive, but this will be our first westward excursion. If anyone has any experience with this, please share. I am hoping to get tips on routing, time to allot for the trip, places to stay along the way etc.

Any COVID related information that I would need to be aware of from the provinces along the way would also be helpful.

Thanks in advance,

Pam
 
I have done this route before, although not recently. From the Toronto area, the most normal route is to essentially follow the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) all the way to Canmore. You take Hwy 400 to Hwy 69. By this point you are now on the TCH. When you get to Sudbury the TCH becomes Hwy 17. You follow that all the way west to the Ontario/Manitoba border. From the Manitoba border to Canmore the TCH is called Hwy 1.

With restrictions changing all the time, it is impossible to really outline any provincial restrictions, such as overnight stays or curfews, so you will have to monitor that closer to when you leave. My understanding is that only the Atlantic provinces and the territories currently have entry and quarantine restrictions for those from other provinces, but that could change. How much time do you have for this trip?

The typical minimum stops are Sault Ste. Marie the first night, then Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, either Regina or Moose Jaw, and then into Canmore. At that time of year you only want to be driving in full daylight hours, at least in Northern Ontario, since moose and deer on the highway can be a problem at night, or at dusk or dawn. From The Sault to the Manitoba border you want to keep your gas tank filled, since stations can be few and far between. Overnight stays should be pre-arranged in larger towns and cities. I have heard many of the motels in some of the smaller towns are not open due to lack of demand during the pandemic, so keep that in mind. Google Maps is a good resource for detailed route planning.

If Covid-19 rates remain high, most "tourist" establishments will likely remain closed, so this will not be much of a typical "road trip" adventure. However, the trip along the north shore of Lake Superior has some fantastic scenery and I even enjoyed the drive across the prairies. They are not as "flat" as is often said! If it is a sunny day and the crops are growing, it can be beautiful. Also, the Terry Fox Memorial on Hwy 17, where his cross-Canada run ended, is just before Thunder Bay and is worth a quick stop.
 
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When we drove out (from north of Barrie to Calgary) we took Hwy 11 because it is much flatter and straighter then the TCH. We have also driven the TCH to Thunder Bay from home many times and it is far more scenic than Hwy 11 but it can be a bit treacherous for bad weather driving or if towing a big/heavy trailer. DH was driving our DS's pick-up truck and hauling his work trailer that he needed in a hurry when the Calgary flood occurred (he had flown out in a rush to get started). Since DH was employed by DS's company for the drive and driving a commercially tagged truck he had to adhere to the MoT driving rules so we couldn't do as many hours of driving per day as we do when we go to Florida. We stopped in Geraldton the first night, Brandon MB the next, and arrived in Calgary after dinner on the 3rd day. You will find hotels/motels more expensive along the way and restaurants can be scarce so you might want to pack a small cooler with drinks and snacks. I also found cell signal (Rogers) to be very spotty and my phone trying to search for a signal, really wore the battery down fast.

If this is your first trip to Calgary I hope you can spend a few days there to explore the city and surrounding area, it is beautiful. We ended up spending nearly 6 weeks there as DH's company hired DH to be their logistics driver while all the restorations were going on. Our DS said his company was paying for a room for his dad so I might as well stay too, as the both of us could very easily eat off his meal per deim especially when the company put the crew up in the Marriott Residence Inn and we had a 1 bedroom suite with a fully equipped kitchen. It was just like staying in a timeshare!


~Diane
 
I have done this drive a few times but not for quite a few years. The last time I did it someone suggested stopping at Oimet canyon in northern ontario before Thunder Bay. It was a beautiful stop and not very far off of the number 1. Well worth the time. Manitoba has a 14 day quarantine not sure how or if that could affect your trip. How exciting for your son! The area is very beautiful but tell him not to miss getting out to Drumheller area and the badlands at least once if he can, as that is a totally different experience than the mountains. The Tyrell Museum is a world class attraction as is Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump in the southern part of the province.
 
moonstone said:
We stopped in Geraldton the first night, Brandon MB the next, and arrived in Calgary after dinner on the 3rd day.

~Diane
Click to expand...

Lots of good advice from Diane and the Hwy 11 route, as suggested, while less scenic, might be preferred if you are towing a U-Haul or other larger trailer, rather than just driving your son's car out to Canmore. Yes, the route can be done in 3 days, versus 5 or more, depending upon how much time you have, but three is about the minimum, even with two experienced drivers.

The distance from Newmarket to Canmore is a total of 3500 kms. and about 35 hours of driving time; or an average of about 1200 kms. and 12 hours a day, with about 14 hours of daylight per day at that time of year. That's straight driving time, wheels on the road, and does not include any stops for gas, food or to take a break.

You will also pick-up an hour just west of Thunder Bay when you cross from Eastern Daylight Time to Central Daylight Time, but no additional hours of daylight! You will pick-up another hour when you cross into Saskatchewan, which is on Central Standard Time, which at this time of year is the same time as Mountain Daylight Time in Alberta.

So, if time is critical it can be done in three days, but it doesn't make for a very fun road trip and there will be little to no time to stop and see anything.
 
I have my doubts that they would be open yet (a Covid casualty) but a stop in Moose Jaw, SK to see the "Tunnels" would be an interesting diversion if available.
 
Tacoma said:
The last time I did it someone suggested stopping at Oimet canyon in northern ontario before Thunder Bay. It was a beautiful stop and not very far off of the number 1. Well worth the time.
Click to expand...

More good suggestions from Tacoma! Just to correct a common error by Westerners when referring to the TCH in Ontario. Hwy 1 is known as the TCH from BC to Manitoba, but there is no Hwy 1 in Ontario. The TCH through Ontario has two primary routes, with multiple Ontario highway designations, but none of them are Hwy 1. Ouimet Canyon, outside Thunder Bay is a provincial park just off Hwy 11/17. It is not scheduled to open this year until May 21st, so the time of your trip will determine if it is worth a stop.
 
CanuckTravlr said:
So, if time is critical it can be done in three days, but it doesn't make for a very fun road trip and there will be little to no time to stop and see anything.
Click to expand...

Time was absolutely critical for our trip as one of the many contracts DS's restoration company got was to dry out and restore the Saddledome in time for the Stampede and he needed the equipment in the truck and trailer asap. We were actually in Florida dealing with a flood in our condo (thanks to upstairs neibrs) when DS called his dad for help. We packed up and left early the next am and did our usual 1.5 days of driving home stopping as DS's home north of Oshawa to get his truck & trailer. We left for Calgary the next morning. That was a lot of driving for DH! The company flew us back home when DH was finished his contract but we keep saying we will return and do the drive at a more leisurely pace sometime. Our DS and a colleague drove 2 trucks with trailers home in the November and many parts of the northern Ontario route were white knuckle driving.

If the Canada-US border shut down continues maybe we will be going sooner rather than later.


~Diane
 
It was almost 50 years ago but when I got transferred from Toronto to Calgary what I remember is that I took a ferry across Lake Michigan and drove across the state of Wyoming. Best I recall I spent a night in Wyoming in a room above a bar with the bathroom down the hall. I have no idea what highways I used in either Canada or the US...

George
 
All depends on borders. Do you take an all Canada route. and take the north route over Lake Superior, or do you drive the south route, and go south of the Lake Huron and/or Michigan? There are options to take the Upper Peninsula (UP) in Michigan or travel south of both lake.

South of the lakes is longer but faster, as you have Interstates a lot of the way. Shorest distance is the UP in Michigan route, but it is slight longer in time than the south of the lake routing. The longest distance and time is a route on TCH north of the great lakes entirely in Canada. Moose Jaw, SK is where all three routes converge.

Decade ago, we took the Canadian route there, and the south of all lakes route back. I have never done the UP routing. Got eaten alive by black flies on the Canadian routing. Check on time of year your driving and black fly season. The bite any exposed skin. Wiped by hand behind my neck where they were biting me, and my hand came away dripping with blood. They feel like they are taking divots out of skin.

Note:
Black Flies: Mother Nature's meanest little fiends in her bug-biting arsenal start mid-May, lasting until the end of June. Black flies can bite any time of day.
 
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Sandy VDH said:
All depends on borders. Do you take an all Canada route. and take the north route over Lake Superior, or do you drive the south route, and go south of the Lake Huron and/or Michigan? There are options to take the Upper Peninsula (UP) in Michigan or travel south of both lake.
Click to expand...

While I have also done two different US routes to Alberta, including the UP and south of Lake Michigan, that is NOT currently an option. The land border to the US is closed and has been for over a year, except for essential inter-country commercial traffic. That will not change anytime soon and certainly not before the end of May. The OP's ONLY choice is through Northern Ontario.
 
Thanks guys, is is exactly what I was looking for!

Yes, due to border restrictions, travelling through Canada is the only option right now. That is fine by me, it's a chance to see more of this fantastic country we are lucky enough to live in.

We are able to begin our drive as early as May 22 - it is the May long weekend so we may play with the days a bit to avoid holiday traffic. Who knows if it will be a problem at this point, all depends I guess on how severely we are locked down. But we have some flexibility.

Great suggestions for points of interest along the way, I will do some research and fit in as many as we can.

Tacoma, my son has been to Tyrell about 15 years ago with my sister, I was not able to go on that trip. He was an absolute dinosaur fanatic when he was younger, and I know that piece of my little boy is still inside the now 6"1 man. I would love to stop there, and let him shower me with every obscure detail he has stored up in his head. I will check on access/restrictions.

Keep the information coming please!
 
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