Go West Young Man: God's Country

On your way out of Golden, BC, I'd recommend you refuel your car & definitely have some type of survival pack & food to take with you.  For starters, the next gas station is about 150 kms in front you.  While that might not seem far for those of you in small cars, it's best to have fuel because this area of road is probably the most unpredictable areas of the Trans Canada Highway.   On several occasions I've been either delayed a few hours due to weather or heavy snow forces you to turn around.  When they are shelling the mountainside, you can sit in your car and wait for hours for the road to open. 

Leaving Golden, you follow what I assume is the Kicking Horse river valley.  To the left of you you'll see the menacing looking Kootenay's off in the distance.  The drive in this area is actually quite flat & does not feel that isolated.  Traffic in all months is common & there are houses, farms & shops along the highway for the first 20 or 30 minutes.   There isn't much to listen to on the car radio, but you can still hear CBC Radio 2 which I think was at 104.9 but honestly I can't remember. 

The entire world changes when you come around a bend and cross a bridge over this river.  I've no idea what river it is, only that it starts a long drive uphills into the Kootenay's.   It's not long after you cross this bridge you enter what most folks would call "God's Country".   The area in summer has a fair bit of traffic, but in winter most of what you'll see is truck drivers.  The area is serviced by Telus and Bell but if you use Rogers, you'll  have no service (ironic given it's Rogers Pass). 

I'm guessing it's about 60 km's outside of Golden, BC that you hit Glacier National Park.  This is an incredibly isolated area with little to no roadside services, no towns & no people.  It's common to see animals along the road & the scenery is stunning.  If you drive this part of the Trans Canada at night, be prepared for some serious ass darkness.  If you drive this part of the road in winter, be prepared for some serious ass snow.  And when I say serious, I don't mean 20 cms of on the ground, I mean 600-1000 cms of snow on the ground. 

Halfway through Glacier National Park (thereabouts) you'll reach the summit of Rogers Pass.  The summit is around 4500 feet about sea level & it feels like one of the most isolated areas of Canada that I've visited.  At the top there is a hotel which is complete with a restaurant if you need to stop.  There are also large areas to park your RV, truck, etc, as this is an area where folks park and wait when there is an avalanche or while they are blasting to prevent avalanches.  It's incredibly beautiful and well worth the effort to stop the car & take a walk.  There are side roads you can go up, if you want to get a view of the mountains around you.

If you don't like winter driving, I'd seriously recommend you do not drive through here in winter (Oct to April).   Rogers Pass gets upward of 10 meters of snow annually (that's 30 feet).  If you can imagine one of those 3 story walk up's you've seen, well imagine it covered with snow.  I cannot remember a single time I drove through this area during winter when it was not snowing to some degree. 

It's not far from Rogers Pass that you'll encounter your first snow shed (see picture).  Snow sheds were built to stop frequent avalanches from burying the highway (and trapping people inside).  Take care when you enter them because they the sheds in Rogers Pass area are not well lit & your eyes suddenly have to adapt to dark.  There are also cases of wild animals wandering into these things & once inside you've got no place to go to swerve to miss whatever animal is in the road.

This is one of my favourite areas to drive through BC.  Just being out there, in a car, is quite relaxing, especially in winter (I'm a winter fan).   If you need a place to de-stress this is the place.  Standing in Glacier or Revelstoke Park it's hard to imagine there are 7 billion people on this planet.   You also realize how insignificant you are in this world & how much you rely on machines.  I often shuddered to imagine what would happen if my car broke down in this area. 

If you do drive this area, take extra caution, ensure you have fuel & best to bring along food & something to keep warm with.  This is a rough, wild area of Canada & the weather is predictable. You can climb out of a valley with a temp of 10C and find yourself in a white out at the top of a mountain.  If you're not a confident driver comfortable with the woods a breakdown in this area can turn into something ugly very quickly.  Revelstoke is a long drive in front of you. 

And speaking of Revelstoke...