canuck11

Hi

We plan on meeting family in Calgary, driving from Brandon MB to Calgary. Spending time in Calgary, Banff, Jasper before heading off to Mission, BC to see more family. We thought about taking Hwy #5 (Yellowhead Hwy) from Jasper to Kamloops and then turning onto the Trans-Canada (Hwy #1) at Kamloops to continue our journey. According to the map, could be wrong, it is about a six and half hour journey between the two (Jasper- Kamloops) We could drive back to Lake Louise from Jasper and take Hwy #1 but that would be an extra few hours.

Anyways is Hwy #5 a decent highway to drive on? We plan on spending the night in a town before Kamloops and continuing the following day with our journey to Mission. Some of the towns along the way are Blue River, Barriere that have motels/hotels. Anyone stayed in these towns?

Any tips/suggestions? Thank you for your help

canuck11

Forgot to add we will be leaving around Oct.17, heading to Calgary, hopefully arrive around the 19th, plan on heading home from Mission around Nov.9.

Borealis

Jasper to Kamloops is about a 5 hour drive on a fairly wide but only two lane undivided highway (that means one lane each way, with occasional passing lanes). It's pretty drive, most of it through fairly broad valleys. At the end of October there won't be much tourist traffic to slow you down. I wouldn't bother to stop overnight anywhere along the way; it's not difficult to drive Jasper-Kamloops all in one go (or even further, for example to Hope via the Coquihalla, which is much faster, and shorter, than the Trans Canada #1).
Note that you gain an hour as you cross time zones from Mountain time to Pacific time (between Jasper and Mount Robson in B.C.), which effectively extends your day.
The only thing that may slow you down is the weather. At the beginning of November you can expect to see some snow (although not always), especially around Blue River, and then further on, at the higher passes on the Coquihalla.
However, I'm not going to predict the weather. Lately it has been very strange with warm almost snow-less winters. We drove through Jasper on to Vancouver in February a year ago and didn't see snow or ice on the roads/highways anywhere along our route.
Good luck and happy travels!!

ltt

the drive between kamloops and jasper is very nice and easy to do in one day (just did the drive between hope, bc and jasper, ab last week). spend the extra night in jasper instead of staying somewhere in between. if you really want to make a stop, stay outside of wells gray provincial park in bc. very nice area. have fun.

canuck11

Thank you for replying and the tips. Sounds like an easy drive, looking foward to it.

Garfield

Jasper to Hope is 400miles and 7hrs 12 mins, Jasper to Kamloops 5hrs 21 mins. Take highway 5 all the way, except if weather is bad, some high points between Kamloops and Merrit and Merrit to Hope.