Southern Canada - weather conditions

[PKI]

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f42/...3-a-21153.html

That link is old, but seems to have an interesting comparison of scenery and driving conditions between CA highway 1 and 3. However, it only has a brief mention as to weather.

So, what is the opinion of experienced folks? How early in the year can these Canadian routes be towed safely ... without snow and ice storms? April? May? June? Not worried about a black swan. Would certainly stop for a day or two to let unexpected weather clear. Just don't want to head West at a time when poor driving conditions are likely or be snowed in for a week. More fun to stay East until the time is right.

Also, the Good Sam map shows few commercial parks on these routes, but the thread suggests lots of camping opportunity. Is it appropriate to assume the area is similar to what you find between Lake Luise and Jasper. Few commercial, but lots of easy off/on dry camping? Also, reservations or drop-in travel?

Appreciate your knowledge, travel stories, and plans if you are thinking about this route. Pat

[jcl]

We drive from Vancouver to Calgary up to six times per year. We usually take the TransCanada (Hwy 1) but occasionally take Hwy 3 as we have family along the southern route.

We travel in every month of the year, but usually not towing on this route. Our winter rule is that we make sure we have an extra day or more if we need it due to weather events. We have towed over Hwy 1 through Rogers Pass in the snow, but not with an Airstream (large box trailer). We slowed down and were fine.

I would say the weather is fairly similar between the two alternatives. Using Fernie as an example (you would go right through Fernie on Hwy 3) there are snow days in Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, and occasionally May. The traditional start of camping is the May 24th long weekend. You can go earlier than that if you like, but that tends to be when people pull trailers out.

The routes are quite different. Both are nice, lots of scenery. More lanes on Hwy 1. More small towns on Hwy 3. Lots of places to camp on both as long as you consider municipal and commercial as well as National Parks, which are more abundant on Hwy 1. Neither is like Lake Louise to Jasper, which is a National Park.

Just to mix it up, it isn't just one or the other. You can connect Hwy 1 and Hwy 3 on Hwy 97 through the Okanagan, or Hwy 93/95 through Radium Hot Springs, among others.

Jeff

[Len n Jeanne]

If you mean the highways through southern BC, we strongly recommend dropping south to I-90 if there's any kind of snow in the forecast, or if there have been recent storms, as the roads are not speedily plowed/sanded down to bare pavement once the storm passes. That's what we do when driving to Vancouver (taking I-90 to I-5 north to the border.) Once you're beyond Hope (Sorry, that's the town of Hope, BC) eastbound,) HY 3 is a winding 2-lane highway that goes over several high passes.

The BC highway department has web cams of highway conditions all over the province, so these are good to check ahead of time. http://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwayca...nInterior.html

On highway 3 west of Creston, the big pass is the Kootenay (or Salmo) Pass, which today looks like this: http://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwayca...tml/www/5.html

Generally there can be the odd late-breaking snow storm in June (not common, but happens,) so you should be fine then, May snow is a little more likely but probably OK, and April is most likely to still be winter at the higher elevations.

Of course, I-90 takes you over the Cascades, but the Snoqualmie Pass is really the only major pass between Seattle and Lookout Pass on the Idaho-Montana border, and Snowqualmie Pass is usually super-well maintained in winter. No passes between Seattle and Vancouver, BC via I-5.

Incidentally, if you're headed out this way on highway 3 and are up for a fun detour, take highway 3A from Salmo north to the Kootenay Lake Ferry, a beautiful free 35-minute beautiful car ferry ride, then drop back south to Creston. For even more fun, about 20 minutes north of the Balfour ferry landing is Ainsworth Hot Springs.

BC has a lot of provincial park and municipal campgrounds. I'd suggest checking the community websites on likely places to overnight if the Good Sam guide isn't helpful. I suspect a lot of the BC provincial parks are closed in April, but they start opening up in May, and should be fully open in June. Creston, BC has about 5 RV parks, I think a couple of them are open year-round.

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/

Happy trails.

[OTRA15]

One handy planning tool is the Accuweather monthly forecast chart, with min/max temperature line graphs at the bottom. These only go out 4 months or so from now, but the June 2017 temps are a good heads up, for example IMO:

https://www.accuweather.com/en/ca/ba...onyr=5/01/2017

It is easy to change the month and location at the top of the page. We have found these monthly charts to be very accurate, as they are continually updated, after the computers input the current weather.

Happy trails,

Peter

[PKI]

Appreciate the input from all. Yes, the thread was interesting in general and not intended to be a plan to travel only one or the other. Our original thought was to take the CA3 as it is more South, but the thought of more lanes on CA1 sounds like an advantage. Fewer small towns on the route is an advantage when trying to make time. However, the intention of developing a better understanding of Canada might make travel through smaller towns a good idea. Got to give that some consideration.

Thanks to all. Appreciate any additional thoughts. Pat

[OTRA15]

Pat did you notice this Selkirk Loop thread?

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f42/...op-174505.html

An interesting notion for a trip, and some of the info may tie into your plans?

The link in the OP there is nicely interactive:

http://selkirkloop.org/

Cheers,

Peter

[PKI]

[QUOTE=OTRA15;2029168]Pat did you notice this Selkirk Loop thread?

-- snip --QUOTE]

Yes - it is not quite the same, but similar to the BC trip we took last year. The intent of this thread is to investigate the possibility of seeing a bit of Eastern Canada and shaving some miles off of the trip back to the West.

May end up just being a pop up to see Eastern Canada. Pat

[MelGoddard]

Originally Posted by PKI

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f42/...3-a-21153.html

That link is old, but seems to have an interesting comparison of scenery and driving conditions between CA highway 1 and 3. However, it only has a brief mention as to weather.

So, what is the opinion of experienced folks? How early in the year can these Canadian routes be towed safely ... without snow and ice storms? April? May? June? Not worried about a black swan. Would certainly stop for a day or two to let unexpected weather clear. Just don't want to head West at a time when poor driving conditions are likely or be snowed in for a week. More fun to stay East until the time is right.

Also, the Good Sam map shows few commercial parks on these routes, but the thread suggests lots of camping opportunity. Is it appropriate to assume the area is similar to what you find between Lake Luise and Jasper. Few commercial, but lots of easy off/on dry camping? Also, reservations or drop-in travel?

Appreciate your knowledge, travel stories, and plans if you are thinking about this route. Pat

"SOUTHERN CANADA"????
Where I live, we would call that "Out West" in Northern Canada.
Mind you, 'SOUTHERN ONTARIO' IS THE CHATHAM-KENT, area, near Leamington, and across the lake from OHIO.
Our Southernmost part of Canada, is Pelee Island, in Lake Erie; about on par with Northern California.

[PKI]

Originally Posted by MelGoddard

-- snip -- Our Southernmost part of Canada, is Pelee Island, in Lake Erie; about on par with Northern California.

Not in line with trying to save a few miles heading West, but point well made as to Canada being a variety of locations N to S.

Some day that area will be the objective, but not this year I should think. As some say - early days. Lots of miles to plan.

Hope to see you down the road. Pat

[PKI]

So, picked up the maps and AAA trip plan books today. Understand now the odd comments that appeared after prior post. Thanks for the hints and being kind.

Canadian Highway 1 is the route that we will investigate. Looks like the route is 40 or 417 or 17 in Quebec and referenced as the Trans Canada Highway. The 3 does not start until West - way west. So, red face for not understanding the turf. Thanks for providing the good info in the face of my flawed knowledge.

Thanks for the help. Pat

[jcl]

The nomenclature is a little different up here. We don't have an interstate system, nor do we have Federal highways.

What we have are provincial highways, with some coordination of numbering systems (more so in the west IMO), and a transcontinental route called the TransCanada Highway which is a collection of provincial highways.

So, there is no Canada Hwy 1, but there is the TransCanada Hwy which is generally called Hwy 1 in the western provinces. Ontario uses a range of numbers (some of it is 17), Quebec another system, and so on.

To make it more confusing, there are branches of the TransCanada that are not Hwy 1 and which are alternate parallel routes, like Hwy 16 in BC/Alberta/Saskatchewan. You know you are on the TransCanada because of the green and white maple leaf signs. But saying the TransCanada doesn't designate a specific route.

Hwy 3 is a BC and Alberta numbering system that is coordinated between the two, but stops at Saskatchewan IIRC.

[MelGoddard]

Originally Posted by jcl

The nomenclature is a little different up here. We don't have an interstate system, nor do we have Federal highways.

What we have are provincial highways, with some coordination of numbering systems (more so in the west IMO), and a transcontinental route called the TransCanada Highway which is a collection of provincial highways.

So, there is no Canada Hwy 1, but there is the TransCanada Hwy which is generally called Hwy 1 in the western provinces. Ontario uses a range of numbers (some of it is 17), Quebec another system, and so on.

To make it more confusing, there are branches of the TransCanada that are not Hwy 1 and which are alternate parallel routes, like Hwy 16 in BC/Alberta/Saskatchewan. You know you are on the TransCanada because of the green and white maple leaf signs. But saying the TransCanada doesn't designate a specific route.

Hwy 3 is a BC and Alberta numbering system that is coordinated between the two, but stops at Saskatchewan IIRC.

NOW YAH DONE IT!
Confuse the Americans, so that they can run around like wayward chickens, trying to find a coherent route; and burning up lots of our very expensive gas.
Petro Can will love you.

[PKI]

Originally Posted by MelGoddard

NOW YAH DONE IT! Confuse the Americans, -- snip --

Now Mel, you know that we'll just run around and around on Airforums until you wonderful Canadians clarify all. Pat, still running .....

Just realized that the navigator may ask for a big raise after the Canadian section of the trip.

[jcl]

Originally Posted by PKI

Now Mel, you know that we'll just run around and around on Airforums until you wonderful Canadians clarify all. Pat, still running .....

Just realized that the navigator may ask for a big raise after the Canadian section of the trip.

We live within a few blocks of Hwy 1A in Vancouver (1A is another parallel to Hwy 1). We drove to Quebec City not too long ago. We followed the green and white maple leaf signs that said we were on the Transcanada. My dear wife, our excellent navigator, just called out the signs. Great trip. She didn’t ask for a raise, just extra hot grande lattes at regular intervals.

[PKI]

Originally Posted by jcl

-- snip -- My dear wife, our excellent navigator, just called out the signs. Great trip. She didn’t ask for a raise, just extra hot grande lattes at regular intervals.

Well, as we sit here enjoying a hot evening coffee with ice cream and brownie on the side, your experience hit a familiar note and got a good laugh. Thanks a bunch! Pat

[MelGoddard]

Originally Posted by pki

now mel, you know that we'll just run around and around on airforums until you wonderful canadians clarify all. pat, still running .....

Just realized that the navigator may ask for a big raise after the canadian section of the trip.

😃😃😃😃😆

[MelGoddard]

Originally Posted by jcl

We live within a few blocks of Hwy 1A in Vancouver (1A is another parallel to Hwy 1). We drove to Quebec City not too long ago. We followed the green and white maple leaf signs that said we were on the Transcanada. My dear wife, our excellent navigator, just called out the signs. Great trip. She didn’t ask for a raise, just extra hot grande lattes at regular intervals.

Wise woman.😆

[PKI]

Reviewed the AAA temperature averages. Took a bit of pause at 20-25 degree highs and lows of 5-10 degrees. That sounded like the kind of weather that encourages living here in California. What saved the day was the magic word "Celsius". All good. We can deal with that. Pat

[jcl]

Originally Posted by PKI

What saved the day was the magic word "Celsius". All good. We can deal with that. Pat

Get ready for gas at $1.40 and speed limits of 100 and 110.

[PKI]

Originally Posted by jcl

Get ready for gas at $1.40 and speed limits of 100 and 110.

Yes, for certain ..... that will be a challenge. Pat