Banff to Vancouver BC Best Route

Mike E. wrote:
As for Kamloops, it isn't the prettiest city in the Province. Kind of one of those places that you're glad you're just driving through on your way to somewhere else....sorry StirCrazy (hmm, interesting handle for someone from Kamloops :)

Mike

I have only been here for 9 years, was in Victoria for the 20 before that. 30 years ago I went through Kamloops and thought what a hole, now its actually a nice little city. the problem is when you drive through you are on the major highway and don't see much except the desert. but even I said stay at salmon arm or somewhere because there are no nice campgrounds here, well there's one at the wild life park that people tell me is decent but not what i like.

Steve

If heading from Banff, I'd head west to Golden and then go south on 95 to Radium Hot Springs.
At Radium there is a nice private CG(The Canyon) as well as a National Park( Redstreak)

Keep heading south on 95 through Cranbrook and then start heading west on 3 ( at Yahk).
If you noodle up the east side of Kootenay Lake there's a little ferry that will take you across the lake and there's Kootenay Lake Provincial Park that's a nice place to set up and head back up the road to Ainsworth Hot Springs.....very cool hot springs as there's a section of the 'pool' that is essentially a cave that you can loop through from one section of the pool to the other.
Nelson is also a cool little town. One of the 'modern hippie' towns in the Province....very laid back.

From Nelson I'd head to Osooyos, which is a busy little town in the summer. There are only private campgrounds here, and they fill up fast.
This is where I'd suggest you do some winery touring. Get on a touring bus and they'll take you 8-10 of the local wineries - there are close to 30 in the area. And to note, by the time you get near the end of your tour you will end up buying quite a few bottles as all the "tasting" from the previous wineries will have caught up with you :)
Osooyos also has a cool desert museum - worth seeing.

Start heading north from here. Oliver has a nice CG at Gallagher Lake. Lots of berry picking available here.

Up to Penticton from there, which is basically a plot of land separating two lakes - Skaha on the south and Okanagan on the North. The Skaha end has all the CG's and a fabulous beach.

Kelowna.....meh.....lived there and it is essentially the retail/business centre of the Valley. Read: VERY BUSY.

From there you could just make a B-line to the coast, or head north to Vernon and then west to Salmon Arm and Shuswap Lake. There are some nice Provincial CG's there.

As for Kamloops, it isn't the prettiest city in the Province. Kind of one of those places that you're glad you're just driving through on your way to somewhere else....sorry StirCrazy (hmm, interesting handle for someone from Kamloops :)
Stay on the TransCanada Hwy (#1) from Kamloops to get out to Ashcroft and then head south through the Fraser Canyon. An absolutely stunning drive right next to the river. It's a bit of a tricky drive, and in the summer will be slow with lots of lookie-loo's, but that's OK, it'll be you :)

I'd try to determine what route you're going to take very soon as CG's in the Province book up very early.
Have a great trip!!!

Mike

i think the best route would be to go up to jasper from Banff on the parkway, then from jasper to Kamloops via 16 and 5, then at Kamloops take the 1 east towards the salmon arm. then turn south and go down through Vernon, Kelowna, Penticton to the #3 and turn west towards hope and onto Vancouver.

it is about 5 hours to go from jasper to Kamloops then another couple to salmon arm.

If I recall correctly Revelstoke has one road - the winding on to top. That gets you to similar levels as the ski lodge on Mt Hood (Oregon). I did it in early June and couldn't get all the way to the top.

(Manning Prov. Park has a similar top-of-the-mountain drive, though most of it is gravel.)

Glacier has a number of short hikes along the highway, enough to occupy the morning, with a lunch stop at Rogers Pass. There's isn't much in the way of side roads. Camping wasn't open when we drove it, so I didn't check that.

When I went through several years ago, we camped at a Prov Park south of Revelstoke, drove into to town to shop and buy park pass. Then spent the afternoon driving up the mountain, and back to a Prov Park north of town. The next day was a restaurant breakfast, hiking along the hwy, with lunch stop at Rogers Pass. Then on to Golden and Yoho, ending up camping a Lake Louise.

On a later trip we spent more time in Yoho, camping at Kickinghorse, and taking several short hikes.

In BC it is all "the best scenery."

Kelowna and Okanagan valley without a doubt. You will be disappointed in the Kamloops area, especially with respect to campgrounds.

You have enough time to make a loop through both the Kootenays and Okanagan, however.....I would give that some thought.

It is a little off topic, but is CN's Glacier NP and Mt Revelstoke NP worth spending more than a day or so sightseeing?

Some good ideas and routes to think about. Thanks for the replies.

Yeah...two weeks is just a bunch of time. If you just want to kick back and not do much, coming down via the Okanagan Valley is prefect. Lakes to play in, fruit to eat..wine and craft beer to consume. You'd need to make some reservations tho...July is high season. If you are stuck for a couple days you can use our curb..even have 30amp..just would need a longer cord.

If you were to do the OK Valley, then one of the best drives is west on Highway 20 in Washington State..the North Cascades is not to be missed. You can actually drive that right to where it turns south for Deception Pass and on to the coast to follow it along...worth every moment, if you haven't done it. Finally cross the bridge into Astoria. Fabulous drive that can eat a week right there.


Gary Haupt

If you've got 2 weeks to get from Banff to Vancouver, why not do both? Via Whitehorse, YT?

Seriously, they're only about 600 miles apart by the Kamloops route. You could wander around the interior for a few days, if you wanted, and still have plenty of time to get to Vancouver. Head up to McBride and Prince George for something to do. Use 97 up and and 93/95 down, or vice versa. All should have plenty of scenery and places to stay. That's what GPS is for. :W