WanderingRose

Trying to carefully plan our big driving days. Mapquest & Yahoo maps give entirely different times for some of our potential drives, so was wondering if anyone here drives this region much & can offer which is more accurate? It would be most helpful to us, as the previous day, we also have a long day...of 10 hrs. (so every little hr starts 'counting') ;-)

Going from Portland to Revelstoke via Kamloops...Mapquest gives 10.5 hrs.
Yahoo...9 hrs. (Portland to Kamloops...7hrs via Yahoo 8 hrs via Mapquest)

Another way we're considering entering BC is more eastward, to see Nelson area/Valhalla first. But, again, estimate times from Nelson to Revelstoke range wildly!! (7.5 hrs per Yahoo w/Mapquest this time beating Yahoo out...giving only 4.5 hrs!!) We would like to do the ferries to 'experience' this region a bit, so perhaps the longer estimate is correct??

WanderingRose

Perhaps we should cut the quick Nelson diversion, in favor of routing ourselves back to the states from the Canadian Rockies via Waterton/
Glacier?

Maybe that would be a more 'spectacular' way to allocate our limited road hours? On the other hand, I wonder if we'll be over-'saturated' by then & wishing we hadn't added *any* extra hours to our driving, by the end of our 2 weeks?

We'd probably hit Waterton via Kootenay Nat'l Park not via Banff.
So, again, would be adding some hours...
Maybe we should instead just delve 'deeper 'into the big four? (Yoho, Kootenay, Banff, Jasper?)

Any thoughts welcome on either driving route question.

brookwood

I cannot fully answer your question, but I can talk about getting to Waterton after driving through Kootney.
The road once you leave Elko and head toward Fernie is very slow. The stretch from Crows Nest Pass almost to Pincher Creek is slow as well because of population and traffic.

We needed all day to drive from Field through Kooteney Park to Elko, Fernies, etc. on our way to Waterton.

The route is not particularly scenic once you leave the area around Kooteney until you cross the pass.

We drove the area around Nelson and visited Kookanee Glacier provincial park. It is scenic, but in late August the best trails were closed because they lead through bear habitat. One that was open was heavily marked with warning signs. (Given the recent Canmore tragedy, you can readily see why I said NO.)

The route south of Revelstoke along the Columbia is scenic, and we took the ferry across the lake.

I think if you want to enjoy that area, you will have to accept the fact that some of the roads are slower than you might expect, and grind it out.

We do it by changing drivers frequently so that no one person gets frustrated too badly behind the wheel. And you have to shift gears mentally as well.

brookwood

PS. The Kokanee Glacier visit was not on the same trip.

We did Field, Kooteney, Elko, Fernie, Pincher Creek to Waterton in one day.

The other section was separate. (I regret the poor composition. Too hurried.)

rkkwan

In my opinion, 9 hours is understating it. To do 600 miles in 9 hours mean averaging close to 70mph. First, there is Seattle traffic, then you have close to 30 miles of non-freeway on WA9, you need to stop at the border, and from Kamloops to Revelstoke is ~120 miles of divided highway, but not freeway.

Even on the fast Colquihalla, I think speed limit is still only 110km/h, or about 68MPH.

Therefore, I think it's very optimistic to do the drive in 9 hours unless you're driving significantly higher than speed limit.

WanderingRose

Thanks so much for the helpful info & insight! Appreciate it.