Our Canada Cycle Route: Summer 2016
I’ve copied the ‘Canada Cycle Route’ notes idea and layout from one of our warmshowers host, Peggy. She created a similar page outlining her 2015 trip, which I found really helpful. I thought it was a great idea and thought I’d share our route with others in case anyone finds it of some help.
As we are currently cycling across Canada, the notes are only up to Regina, SK, but I’ll try and update this as we go.
Feel free to get in contact if you have any questions.
Route |
Road Quality |
Camping |
Other notes |
Start:British Columbia(Vancouver) |
High bike theft in Vancouver. Keep an eye on your bikes. | ||
| Hwy 99 south | Busy. Good, wide hard shoulder. | — | There are plenty of cycle paths in Vancouver. You can easily hope on a cycle path to get near the outskirts of the city or onto the 99. |
| Cut across to hwy 15 and onto 4 ave, which leads to 0 ave (I would instead recommend getting on 8 ave from hwy 15, and cutting down to 0 ave around 200 st or staying on 8 ave). | Once on 0 ave, less traffic, small hard shoulder. A few hills from hwy 15 to 200 st. | — | If you stop on 0 ave, you may have the border police check up on you. They tend to be pretty friendly though. There are a lot of cyclists on that road. |
| 8 ave, Vye Rd – follow to Yarrow Central Rd/ Vedder Mountain Rd | Hard shoulder and good road. Moderate traffic. | Wild camping anywhere along the river off Vedder Mountain Rd (before Chilliwack). | — |
| Vedder Rd to Prarie Central Rd onto hwy 1 at Annis Rd | Quiet road with hard shoulder | — | Be-careful with your bikes in Chilliwack. High bike theft in the area. |
| Hwy 1 to Hope | Very busy (esp. during holidays). Wide hard should and good road. | — | — |
| Kettle Valley Rd/Trail (from Hope town to Othello Tunnels) | Lot’s of people walking the trail. Gravel through the tunnels (sign telling you to walk the bikes through, but only at the entrance to the tunnels, on the ar park sign). Muddy if there’s been rain. | — | They filmed Rambo at the Othello Tunnels. |
| Tunnels Rd/ Othello Rd | Quiet road. Small hard shoulder. Good surface. | — | — |
| Hwy 5 (Coquilhalla hwy) | Busy road. Lot’s of trucks and RVs. Wide hard shoulder and good road. Steep 5km climb. Lot’s of chain up areas and a services area at the top of the summit. | Lot’s of pull off points on the hwy with possible wildcamping | Can cycle around the outside of the Great Bear Snow Shed, instead of through it. |
| Coldwater Rd to Merrit | Quiet road. Hard shoulder. Good road. | — | — |
| Hwy 5A to Kamloops | Moderate traffic. Hard shoulder. Good road. | Good wildcamping spots around Stump Lake | — |
| Hwy 5 to Clearwater | Busy. Good road. Hard shoulder. | — | — |
| Hwy 5 to Blue River | Busy. Good road. Hard shoulder. | Not too many wildcamping spots on the way to Blue River – due to the marshes. Also, lots of bears around Blue River and that general area. There is a campsite in Blue River (apparently overpriced). We were invited to camp in someone’s garden in the town. | Not too many places to fill up water along this route. The guy at the garage in Avola is a grumpy, spiteful man and he won’t let you fill up your water bottles, even if you buy something. Apparently the people at the burger place around the corner from the gas station (down the hill) are super friendly, and would probably help you out. |
| Hwy 5 to Tete Jaune Cache | Busy. Good road. Hard shoulder. | Not much between Blue River and Valemount. | Valemount is a cool town with lots of services (including a brewery & Swiss bakery). |
| Hwy 16 to Alberta (and Jasper National Park) | As you would expect – super busy! Hard shoulder, though it’s very narrow at times (usually during the uphill sections where there are steep drop-offs). | We stayed at the official campsite in Mt Robson ($28 per night), but I think you could get away with wild camping in the BC park (not once you enter Jasper, though). | — |
Alberta |
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| Hwy 16 to Jasper | Super busy. Hard shoulder – bit narrow at times. Good road. | We stayed in official campsites only – don’t think you could get away with wildcamping in the park.
Whistlers Campsite ($28 per night) – there are walk-in sites available. It’s about 3km outside Jasper. |
We paid for the park pass. We were asked for it 3 times (we were in the park for 7 days). We showed it at Whistlers campsite – though they didn’t actually ask it. No other campsite we stayed at asked for the pass. We probably could have gotten away with just 2-3 day passes – that’s if you’re on a budget and don’t want to pay for the year pass. Also, if there are 2+ people in your group, get the family pass, it’s good for up to 6 people. |
| Jasper to Lake Louise (Icefields Parkway hwy 93 & 93A) | 93A was really quiet, 93 was really busy. There is a section of the 93 which is in pretty bad condition (coming down Sunwapta pass in the rain was not fun).
From Bow Summit the Road is amazing – my favourite day cycling! They are due to repave the whole road but I’m not sure when this will be completed. |
Jonas campsite ($15.70 per night) primitive site, but has water. Walk in sites available.
Rampart Creek campsite ($17.60 per night) primitive site, but has water. Walk in sites available – I think Waterfowl Lake would be nicer to camp at (the lake was beautiful). It was fully booked when we cycled pass and I’m not sure if they have walk-in sites. Lake Louise campsite ($28 per night + booking fee). We booked this in advance as they don’t have walk in sites, and they were fully booked when we turned up. The next closest campsite is over 20km from Lake Louise. |
Skip the Icefields Center – tourist trap!
Make sure you check out the waterfalls along the way. Also the hike to the toe of the glacier was worth doing. |
| Bow Valley Parkway to Banff | Busy road. Good condition. Hard shoulder. We loved this cycle day. | — | Lot’s of pull outs on the route. |
| Banff to Canmore on the Legacy Trail | Cycle Path along the highway. | — | — |
| Hwy 1A to Seebe then Hwy 1 to Calgary | 1A quieter road, but narrow hard shoulder. Hwy 1, very busy, but wide hard shoulder, good road. I recommend getting off hwy 1 when you get into Calgary – we didn’t and there were loads of road works, narrow hard shoulder and it was super busy. Try and get onto a road in Calgary with one of the many cycle paths. | — | Chiniki gas station is one of the only stops along the way – super friendly staff (they let us fill up our thermos). There are a couple of pull outs along the way as well.
MEC in Calgary has an awesome bike section. |
| Bow River Pathway/ Nose Creek Pathway to Harvest Hills Blvd (heading north out of the Calgary) | Cycle path | — | — |
| Centre St N | Narrow hard shoulder (if any). Moderate to busy road. | — | — |
| 567 | Quiet to moderate traffic. Hard shoulder. Good road. | — | — |
| Hwy 9 to Drumheller | Quiet to moderate traffic. Good road. Hard shoulder. Not much shade along the way. | Camped at the Horseshow canyon (no official campsite – but there wasn’t any “no camping” signs either). | Beiseker was a cute town with a free museum and services (nothing from here to Drumheller). |
| Hwy 10 (the HooDoo trail), which turns into the 570 at Dorothy.
** The other option is to take hwy 9 from Drumheller, but the hard Shoulder is quite narrow and the road is really busy. The upside is that there are a lot more towns along the way and the road is good. |
Hard shoulder. Busy road until the Hoodoos, then it becomes very quiet. Road is pretty good condition.
The cycle to Dorothy is beautiful – then it’s Prairie land the rest of the way. |
There is a rest stop at Dorothy, which you could easily camp at – we didn’t find any water here, but I think you could ask someone in the town (there aren’t any shops/ services in Dorothy). There is a café at the museum in East Coulee (before Dorothy).
We camped at the Community Hall in Coulee – homestead Coulee (not much else there except the hall). We asked the workers camping at the site opposite to fill up our water bottles. Detour at Big Rock (8km return) to visit the trading post. They have free wifi, coffee, free water, food, and are super friendly. There is also a campsite at the lake there (not sure how much they charge). We also camped in an abandoned building – it looked like cyclists had probably camped there before. It was about 15km before the 886 intersection. |
There is not much between Dorothy, AB and Eatonia, SK – so take enough food, and take sufficient water for at least a day or 2 depending on how many km you’re covering a day (there are a few places to fill up along the way, but not really anywhere to buy food). |
Saskatchewan |
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| Hwy 44 | Lots of pot-holes, but the road is super quiet – no trucks allowed. We rode side by side for most of the time we were on hwy 44. There is also a narrow (if any) hard shoulder. | Eatonia campsite ($25 per night)
Eston campsite ($10 for the overflow site) |
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| 342 | Really quiet road and no trucks allowed. We rode side by side, and seen a car once ever 15-30 minutes. There are lots of potholes and no hard shoulder. | Hotel in White Bear. Other than that you’ll be camping in farmer’s land if you choose to wild camp in the section. | Not much from Eston to Kyle, the White Bear Hotel has good food and rents out rooms (it’s closed on Mondays). It’s in White Bear – super friendly community. |
| Hwy 4 to Swift Current | Busy (esp after being on the quiet roads). Lot’s of trucks. Hard shoulder – narrow at some points. Lot’s of potholes and broken bits at the side of the road (the road seemed better around Kyle and the Landing and got worse towards Swift Current). | Campsite at the landing provincial park (paid).
There’s also a hotel in Kyle (has wifi and cheap breakfast). |
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| Hwy 1 to Regina | Wide hard shoulder. Good road surface. Moderate to busy (lot’s of trucks). | Visitor centre/ museum in Herbert offers camping for donation. They have wifi and good priced snacks and coffee, and really friendly staff.
$10 camping in Chaplin. |
Towns/ services approx.. every 20km from Swift Current to Moose Jaw, then only at Belle Plains from Moose Jaw to Regina.
Best bike store in Regina is Dutch Cycling. |
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