Scenes Through a Dirty Windshield #1 – Beaumont to Jasper

NOTE: This post contains slideshows and if you are reading it on your phone, it is best viewed direct from the SITE, rather than in the READER.

All photographs were taken during our July 19, 2021 travel day.

Full disclosure: Even though my tag is on all the photos, all of the photos taken while we were driving were taken by my Patty. Did she not do a fine job?

As we set off, the smoke from the B.C. forest fires tinged the morning sky a dull orangey grey. The acrid smell was less than it had been in the past few days, but, we would be driving through one of the main wildfire corridors for the next 2 days.

We opted to take the Northern route to B.C. along the Trans Canada North (Yellowhead Highway 16 in Alberta). This is a route we have neglected in the past, but it has the lowest pass summit elevation through the Rocky Mountains and is a half hour shorter in travel time and proved to be a good choice.

As we drove West, the Monday morning rush hour traffic was heavy all the way out to the Highway 43 interchange (North to Grande Prairie and Alaska), but it slowly thinned out beyond that point. The rumble of our tires on the road soon settled down to a dull roar, as we rolled on towards Edson and our first coffee recycling stop.

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The Happy??? travelers.

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Here, we reach the highest point on the Yellowhead, the Obed summit between Edson and Hinton.

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We pressed on through Hinton and soon saw the Rocky Mountains ahead, through the smoky haze. They were still a good sight and meant we were nearing our lunch stop. The last slide shows a peak known as Pochahontas, as it resembles the profile of a First Nations chief looking up at the sky.

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Next stop, the Park Gates. As we already had our Parks pass and displayed it on our mirror, we were able to drive right on through to our lunch stop……to be continued….

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