The third and final day takes us from Cranbrook BC home to Calgary. The weather was great for driving as we headed north on Highway 93/95 towards Radium Hot Springs. This is a relaxing drive with enough twisty bits, hills and valleys to make it interesting and not too much traffic.
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| Somewhere north of Kimberley |
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| Another great vista. |
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| Approaching the hoo-doos just south of Fairmont Hot Springs. |
It is amazing how much the stretch between Fairmont and Radium has developed over the past number of years. There's even a Tim Horton's at the Windermere turn-off! Highways 93 and 95 take their own routes from Radium Hot Springs. Highway 95 heads north to Golden BC and Highway 93 turns east as it heads towards the Continental Divide and into Alberta; this is the route we took. There's along climb from Radium out of the Columbia Valley that starts in earnest just past the world famous Radium Hot Springs swimming pools. We didn't have time to stop for a swim... we'll just add that to our "places to visit" list.
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| Heading through Sinclair Canyon between the town of Radium and the hot pools. |
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| Castle Mountain in the distance where Highway 93 joins the Trans-Canada. |
HIghway 93 is another great stretch of highway that I always enjoy. Traffic was fairly light and the
weather very comfortable. There's lots of places to stop along the way but we chose only one as we had to be home at a specific time. That stop was at the Great Divide which forms the Alberta/British Columbia border for much of southern half of the provinces.
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| Which way do we go? |
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| At the Great Divide straddling the provincial border. |
As we crossed from British Columbia into Alberta we also moved from Yoho National Park into Banff National Park. Our plan is to drive right through, saving Banff for another time, and stop in Canmore for a quick lunch. One of our favorite places in Canmore is the Rocky Mountain Bagel Company. It's a big step up from a typical fast food restaurant and a lot healthier too. They have two locations, one on Main Street and the other on the Bow Valley Trail.
After lunch we continued our eastward trek down Highway 1, the Trans-Canada Highway.
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| Leaving Canmore. |
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| Lots of room with the two boys in the back! |
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| E and I hamming it up for the camera |
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| Only 10 miles to go! Eastbound on the Trans-Canada Highway approaching Calgary. |
Although this trip has been the shortest of our recent road trips to date it was no less enjoyable. The Going-to-the-Sun Road is a stunning experience from both driving and scenery perspectives.
Would I do it again? With no hesitation. Next time, and there will be a next time, we'll take more time to enjoy the stops along the way.
If you are anywhere close to the north west corner of Montana I would highly recommend you add this drive to your itinerary.
A couple of stats to close out the trip...
Distance travelled: 1240km / 770 miles
Average fuel consumption: 39 mile per US gallon / 6.0 liters per 100km.
Average hotel cost: full price one night, second night free on points!
Watch for more travel adventures. We're already discussing our next big road trip!
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