My Grande Journey

[Esox]

You sure take some great trips, Mike, and great pictures to go with them.

Canada is scenic that's for sure.

Happy shaves,

Jim

A nice 12 hour drive, yep. You cant see it any pictures but theres still snow on the ground, quite a bit of it in the bush and all shaded areas. The white spots on the cliff are huge chunks of ice.

Sand River falls.

From the road.

Along the trail to the top.

Near the top of the first falls. Apparently theres another set of falls 2.5km further along the trail but we didnt go that far.

 

[rabidus]

@Esox I fixed your picture!

 

[Esox]

@Esox I fixed your picture!

View attachment 982290

Why do I keep hearing bigger is better? Heh.

Zoomed!

 

[rabidus]

Why do I keep hearing bigger is better? Heh.

Zoomed!
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Fixed that one too!

 

[Esox]

I think you need a bigger monitor. Then you wont need to shave the pictures lol.

 

[Cal]

WARNING! Dangerous Driver Ahead.

And what are the holes in the road for?

 

[Esox]

And what are the holes in the road for?

They're specially designed for coffee drinkers lol.

That highway see's a lot of heavy truck traffic. Freezing, thawing, refreezing, patching. Usually where the tires are in contact with the road. They repair it in sections and something is always under construction all year.

The Trans Canada Highway from south of Lake Superior to pretty much Manitoba, which is about a 24 hour drive at 110km/h is almost entirely blasted from solid Granite. They've been working on highway 69/400 for years and are still working on it but its almost all 4 lanes wide now. Its a fantastic highway but bypasses all the smaller towns, and there are lot of them. That really hurts the businesses. Many of the smaller towns that get bypassed by the Trans Canada now are dying out.

King's Highway 69 - Images

 

[rabidus]

This is what you see...

This is what I see...

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Wow!

 

[Esox]

This is what you see...
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This is what I see...

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Those two look virtually the same. Looking again, the picture heights are different...

 

[rabidus]

Original picture

Notice where I'm directing your eyes in the pictures.

 

[Esox]

Original picture

View attachment 982311

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Notice where I'm directing your eyes in the pictures.

Yeah. I did notice your perspective and composition but I thought you were altering sizes for some reason. Or maybe driving with one eye closed lol.

@Cal
I had to look it up, but the start of the Canadian Shield is around Barrie Ontario and its about 1900km to the Manitoba border where the highway exits the Canadian Shield. That ~1900km has been blasted out of the Granite that comprises the Canadian Shield.

Highway 17 runs along the shorelines of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. Its a spectacular drive and the highway is actually pretty good for most of its length. Its basically mountain driving: Tight sharp corners. Steep, long up and downhill runs with sweeping corners. Its designed to be driven at 100km/h+ as the original speed limit was at one time 110km/h and its banked accordingly.

This is the same Highway 17 at Nipigon Ontario when we went through in 1993.

Solid Red Granite cliffs that you're driving around, in circles it seems at times, for over an hour.

Highway 17 along Lake Superior, especially from an hour south of Nipigon Ontario to Kenora Ontario, 700-800km, has some of the most spectacular scenery in all of Canada. Its a memorable drive. It can also be a very intense drive because you're constantly looking for Moose, especially at night. They're mostly black and only have white on the legs. By the time you see the legs it might be too late.

Once out of Ontario and into Manitoba the Trans Canada Highway #1 is mostly concrete across the province. Once into Saskatchewan the highway is asphalt and its laid out perfectly. You dont even need to adjust steering around corners its banked so well. Alberta is the same until you get into the Rocky Mountains. Its about 24 hours to drive up the eastern slope, across the continental divide and down the western slope to the coast.

We were still going up the divide west of Canmore Alberta here.

Then starting down the western slope at Revelstoke British Columbia.

Total driving time from where I am in London Ontario to Victoria British Columbia, done entirely inside Canada, was 74 hours.

That was quite a trip. Late February wasnt the best time for it though.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Great photos and comments, Mike. It really sounds great and looks wonderful.

 

[Esox]

Great photos and comments, Mike. It really sounds great and looks wonderful.

Thanks Jim! A trip across Canada in minutes from the comfort of your living room lol.

 

[rabidus]

Yeah. I did notice your perspective and composition but I thought you were altering sizes for some reason. Or maybe driving with one eye closed lo

LOL...

 

[Cal]

Total driving time from where I am in London Ontario to Victoria British Columbia, done entirely inside Canada, was 74 hours.

That was quite a trip.

Late February wasn't the best time for it though.

A more exilharating drive than in the middle of summer though, I would guess.

 

[Esox]

A more exilharating drive than in the middle of summer though, I would guess.

The exhilaration of driving through a blizzard between Dryden and Kenora was laid to rest by driving through Winnipeg at midnight and digging through a Pizza Hut dumpster looking for a pizza box to put in front of the radiator in the truck because it was -27C and blowing 80km/h. We had no heat because even at highway speed the truck couldnt warm up. I had my North Face parka on, with polar fleece liner and the hood up, zipped closed with only my eyes and nose out and the heater on full lol.

The 'exhilaration' I felt when we almost went head on into a transport while passing a truck in the mountains in the dark, however, remains to this day. I remember looking in the mirror as he swung the truck and 12' U-Haul trailer back into our lane and it was on one wheel.

The sheer terror of that moment hasnt faded much at all in the past 14 years lol. Life is full of adventures, but that was as close as I've come.

 

[Raven Koenes]

The exhilaration of driving through a blizzard between Dryden and Kenora was laid to rest by driving through Winnipeg at midnight and digging through a Pizza Hut dumpster looking for a pizza box to put in front of the radiator in the truck because it was -27C and blowing 80km/h. We had no heat because even at highway speed the truck couldnt warm up. I had my North Face parka on, with polar fleece liner and the hood up, zipped closed with only my eyes and nose out and the heater on full lol.

The 'exhilaration' I felt when we almost went head on into a transport while passing a truck in the mountains in the dark, however, remains to this day. I remember looking in the mirror as he swung the truck and 12' U-Haul trailer back into our lane and it was on one wheel.

View attachment 982345

The sheer terror of that moment hasnt faded much at all in the past 14 years lol. Life is full of adventures, but that was as close as I've come.

Buckle up!!!

 

[Raven Koenes]

Meanwhile in Colorado today:

 

[Esox]

Meanwhile in Colorado today:
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Even the Moose looks depressed lol.