Hello! We are two Irish lads planning to cross Canada in September next year. Starting from Halifax, Nova Scotia and going to Vancouver, possibly then up to Anchorage. We hope to travel a mixture of Tarmac and dirt roads.
We would generally like to avoid the larger cities and are looking for ideas for interesting and fun places to visit. Any advice would be much appreciated. All the gear - no idea!!

http://www.graveltravel.ca/index.php...-trail&catid=1


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September is a fine month for riding in the southern parts of Canada, but it can get surprisingly cool and nippy at night north of Lake Superior, across the prairies, and through the mountains.

If you have the ability to reschedule your trip one month earlier, so that you begin in early August and finish up in early September, that would be wise. You will benefit from warmer temperatures and longer periods of daylight each day.

Be aware that you can't get from the west coast of Canada up to Anchorage without backtracking a considerable distance into Alberta (unless, of course, you take a ferry north from BC).

I suggest you do a little bit of preliminary route planning, then come back to the forum here with your proposed route & timing... that would make it easier for us to give you more useful and accurate advice.

Michael

"Be aware that you can't get from the west coast of Canada up to Anchorage without backtracking a considerable distance into Alberta (unless, of course, you take a ferry north from BC)."

Michael must have meant to say "British Columbia" instead of "Alberta".

Welcome to the HUBB


As Michael says, go earlier if possible, it is not unusual to get snow over the Rockies in early September, especially on the Icefields Parkway - 93N between Jasper and Banff (which is a road well worth riding) and it can get pretty chilly, finish your trip in early September.

How many days do you have in Canada? What bikes are you riding?

Id also try and start from Cape Spear in Newfoundland (the most Easterly point in Canada) to Vancouver

The most direct route using mostly the TransCanada Highway is ~7400 kms, so add in taking some back roads and avoiding cities and you will easily be doing 10,000 kms across Canada. Then add on another 4500 kms from Vancouver to Anchorage.

You could certainly ride some of the TCAT (Trans Canada Adventure Trail) its total length across Canada is ~20000 kms! if you make a small donation to the guys at Gravel Travel they will send you the gpx files to load into your GPS units, but if you are restricted on time then you have to weigh up exactly what you want to achieve, ride across Canada as quickly as possible on asphalt or do some of the TCAT and some asphalt and maybe come back to Canada again to finish the trip off - depending on how much time you have. It is nice to finish the ride off in one go, but it is also nice to stop and enjoy places and see a little more.

Don't underestimate how big Canada is and how cold it can get here!


My buddies NEVIL (here on the HUBB) and Jim rode across Canada a few years ago, drop him a PM if you have any questions!

__________________
Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

Grif raises a good point - if you actually want to ride 'coast to coast' in Canada, it is a heck of a long distance.

Your first post implies that you have about a month available. I don't think you would enjoy travelling almost 15,000 km in one month - you would become tired and worn out, and more important, you wouldn't have much time to actually get to know and enjoy the country you are riding through.

If you can't allocate at least 6 to 8 weeks for the proposed trip, it might make for a more pleasant vacation if you scaled the distances down a bit - for example, if you planned to only cover Eastern or Western Canada during your one month visit.

Michael

Thanks for catching and correcting that error of mine, Richard.

Also, I notice that was your first post - welcome to the HUBB community!

Michael