Hyway 40 between Hinton and Grand Prairie

[rag-ftw]

Anyone taken an RV along this stretch? Looks like it would save 150 miles or so from taking the 16/97 loop through Prince George.

[Dfresh]

I live in the area. Up and Down 40 regularly. It's a nice drive. If a bit hilly. Lots of places to camp, for all preferences. For some reason I never see wildlife on this hwy, when I've driven it.
Only real negative is I find the stretch from Grand Cache to Grande Prairie pretty boring.

[Harvey51]

We came north on 40 a week ago, Saturday of May long weekend. There were hundreds of boondockers along the way. Some spots looked like RV parks. Yet there was lots of room at the beautiful little Cache campsite in the provincial park.

We saw two caribou just south of Muskeg junction, maybe 50 km south of Grande Cache.

[CA_Traveler]

We stayed at Allison Point (dry camp) park just down from the hatchery in Aug, 2013. Saw one black bear in that area. One brown bear and cub were viewed a number of times from the bridge over the creek.

Beautiful view from that CG vs other Valdez CGs. Must have been because one camper was so excited that he got our mirror with his Airstream. $4,200 later (cracked the fiberglass) and now as good as new. I'm sure that is only a down payment on the amount to fix the 8' gash in the Airstream.

He didn't even realize that he hit us. But nice fellow camper from FL as he apologized several times. Then brought over some halibut that he caught.

[fanrgs]

rag-ftw wrote:
Did you see the momma and her four cubs? . . . We saw her in August of 2012, about a month after the photographer was killed in Denali.

Yep, but we saw her one evening walking along the cliff face paralleling the road on her way to the hatchery. We had 75 yards of swamp water and bushes between us and the bears so my wife was using a 500mm telephoto. But we were close enough that she never got mama and all 4 cubs in the same photo with that long lens. And some of the photos she got showed every hair on mama's face.

Some people were still taking photos as she was approaching the edge of the road where they were standing. But we were back in the truck by that time because it was getting too dark for using a long, slow telephoto and the mosquitoes were eating us alive.

The cubs were a year older and much larger than in the photos a friend took of them at the hatchery in July 2012. Four cubs for one mama is really unusual and we heard that perhaps she adopted two from a dead mother.

[rag-ftw]

fanrgs wrote:
Our best grizzly photos were along the road to the fish hatchery in Valdez. Better action shots and much closer than in even Denali!

Did you see the momma and her four cubs? I could not believe how close the people were getting to her. When you have to open an aisle through the people for a grizzly and her four cubs to pass from the hatchery to the woods something is just waiting to go terribly wrong. We saw her in August of 2012, about a month after the photographer was killed in Denali.

[fanrgs]

I don't remember any wildlife on Hwy. 40 last August, but we probably saw the same herd of bighorns just inside the Hwy. 16 gate between Hinton and Jasper. They were all over the road and had traffic nearly stopped. We got some fairly good photos of a ewe and lamb along the roadside.

Our best grizzly photos were along the road to the fish hatchery in Valdez. Better action shots and much closer than in even Denali!

[Supreme_Oppress]

Over the years I saw 1 black bear, countless deer, many elk, lots of rig pigs, several coyotes, some owls and an eagle. Still haven't seen a grizzly though.

[rag-ftw]

loggenrock wrote:
On our trip north along 40 we saw some of the BEST wildlife of our entire trip to AK! Very nice drive. ST

We were not so lucky on our trip up Highway 40 on 12 May 2014. We left Hinton at sun up ready for some animal action! We saw a number of deer and a fleeting glimpse of a grizzly and her two cubs on our trip up to Grand Prairie.

Coming into Hinton Sunday evening from Jasper we saw two elk, and had to stop while a herd of probably 25 big horn sheep crossed the road in front of us.

Ya win some and ya lose some!

[rag-ftw]

We have decided to take Hyway 40, that is if we can ever get to Hinton!
Presently parked in a blasting snow storm just west of Calgary! Looks like it is going to be sunny for a couple days on the Ice Fields Parkway so we will head out in the morning.
Thanks for all the GREAT info in your replies.

[loggenrock]

On our trip north along 40 we saw some of the BEST wildlife of our entire trip to AK! Very nice drive. ST

[fanrgs]

We towed our trailer from Grand Prairie to Hinton on 40 last August. And we spent a night at the city campground in Grande Cache. We had no problems other than some minor delays for construction just a few miles northwest of Grande Cache (near the coal mine and power plant). Some great scenery around Grande Cache, especially if you are a geologist!

[jessjerr1831]

I asked the same question early in 2010 before our trip. Someone suggested to google earth view it. So I did. Shows the road very well. Nice road, had no problems and no worries.

[explorenorth]

morley wrote:
... Grande Prairie very nice city.

Now there's a comment you don't see very often! It's pretty much just one big mall - even a nephew who lives there hates it (he's there for the $$$).

[explorenorth]

I drive it about once a year. It's a lovely route, but Highway 40 really needs many more passing lanes, and many more scenic pullouts. There's a lot of commercial traffic, and there are some excellent parks along it. My summer trips have always been quick passes through, but I had a good look at the southern half of it 2 months ago, which you can see on my blog.