a good trip across southern canada

[burtona]

i'm seperating form the navy in july and think of a road trip cross country just looking for good ideas.

[Syv]

When you say "southern Canada" - what parts do you mean? Do you want to follow the Trans-Canada highway all the way east/west? How many days do you have? What are your interests?

[burtona]

well i've got about 45 days paid vacation saved up, starting in july, so time is not an issue. i was planing on traveling from toronto to vancouver in canada maybe head to alaska and then return to ny threw seattle and colorado. i'm pretty spontanous so i don't need much planing and will try to camp most the way.

[vermilye]

If you are willing to go a bit East at the start, look at picking up 35N to 3 to 141 to 69 to 17 around the top of the Great Lakes. Beautiful country, many lakes, streams, lots of little towns and enough campgrounds to find places to stay... We came back into the US at Thunder Bay to pick up US 2 so I can't help further west, although some like minded friends really enjoyed picking up 3 in Alberta, looping up 95/93 through Banff national Park & Glacier National Park, and 1 out of Glacier to Vancouver.

[AZBuck]

For the eastern part of your trip, at least, over the lakes, watch for signs as you go through the small towns pointing the way to "Transient Camps". Typically, these are just local town parks that allow you to pull over and sleep overnight. If you're still there when the custodian comes by in the morning they might hit you up for a few dollars. My experience has been that these tend to peter out as you head west onto the great plains.

Unfortunately, be prepared for a couple of days at a minimum to cross the Great Plains through Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It is very flat and visually uninteresting until the Rockies come into view west of Medicine Hat.

Between Medicine Hat and Vancouver, you'll have to choose one of two routes, both of which are great, or use one westbound and the other for the return. The northern one follows the Trans-Canada (1) up through Calgary to Banff, Yoho and Glacier National Parks and then down through Kamloops into Vancouver. The southern one follows BC-3 and AB-3. In its eastern sections this is known as the Crow's Nest Scenic Highway. In central BC it has been the scenic backdrop for several movies, including Roxanne. But it's all good

AZBuck