Calgary to the Coast

[Baja Bug]

Hi there. I'm new to the forum.

I'm planning a trip for this summer from Calgary to the Coast off pavement.I need your help on many subjects. The goal of the trip is to reach the Pacific Ocean from Calgary all off-pavement (or as close as possible). There are many challenges so far like crossing the first range of mountains in to BC. I want to do this legally without braking any laws of provincial parks.

I guess the first thing will be: Does anybody know a way to cross from Calgary say to Elkford off-pavement?


Any help will be very much appreciated

:f:

 

[Baja Bug]

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Also If anybody has any ideas on routs or trails to reach the coastor GPS tracks, please let me know.

Thanks

 

[PrairieBoy]

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Hello,
I may not be much help as I'm from Sask. But I was planning to try do the same thing this summer.
When are you leaving. I have a couple Garmin GPS's and the MapSource mapping software is pretty good. I am waiting on an ordered 'Backroad Mapbook' also.
I could not seem to find a way across the first range.
Keep me in the loop if you find any good beta.
Thanks.
Wayne

 

[Mr. Sleazy]

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Not too familiar with the eastern portion of your route.

The western portion of your route gives several options - do you want to come out at the coast in Vancouver, Bella Coola, or Prince Rupert?

If you want to stick to off-pavement as much as possible, then coming out to the coast at Bella Coola (then hopping a BC Ferry to Van Island) gives you the most backroad options.

If you are set on coming to the coast at Vancouver, then plan your route through to either Merrit or Lillooet, then:

If Merrit:

Over backroads into the Anderson River, cross Highway 1 and the Fraser River near Boston Bar, then up into the mountains again on forestry roads up and over to the East Harrison.

If Lillooet:

Up to Gold Bridge via Carpenter Lake, down to Pemberton via the Hurley, then south on the West Harrison / Skookumchuck road to Highway 7 and the coast.

There are many many routes to follow - get ahold of a couple of the "Backroads Mapbooks" which show which roads are paved and which not. In BC, about 95% of all our roads are unpaved forestry roads in various states of repair. Routefinding can be a bit tricky because as I said before, most follow valleys and feed into the highway system at some point, and they are poorly mapped and maintained.

Good luck!

 

[Baja Bug]

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Hey Sleazy, Thanks for the info. That is a lot of choices..great! Little by little I'm putting together the puzzle. For now I would say Vancouver will be the destination, only because my friends want to fly back to Calgary and one of us (probably me, of course) will haul the bikes back to Calgary on a rented U-Haul.

I will say, that the more scenic and twisted the road the better. I have a XR 650R with a dual sport kit on it. So, single track or gravel road it does not matter. The more variety the better the trip is going to be.

For PrairieBoy;

I have a few of the digital Backroad Mapbooks. They are good and show a lot of detail, but the program that comes with the maps is very basic and not very user friendly; it lacks many of the basic features found on free-ware programs likes GPS TrackMaker. Also the format in which the maps come, are not compatible with GPSTM.

After many hours of looking for a "legal" way to cross the first range of mountains, I have decided that the only way is to go south on Forestry Trunk Road until you reach the town of Coleman and use the "Racehorse Pass". The other option is to use the "Tornado Pass" on Tornado Mountain, but I haven't been able to get any information on this pass. The map shows this pass out of any Provincial Parks. Most likely I will be riding all the way to Coleman for fuel and food. From there you ride North to connect to the town of Sparwood and find a way to get to Cranbrook.

Any Ideas from Cranbrook anybody?

 

[Baja Bug]

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Hi to all:

I'm moving the topic to "South Fraser Valley Chit Chat"

Thanks