Traveling the Mighty Trans Canada Highway from Calgary to Castle Mountain Junction
The Trans Canada Highway (#1) transverses Canada from the West Coast to East Coast, Pacific Ocean to Atlantic Ocean, and through 10 provinces. In this blog post we are entering the Rocky Mountains on the Trans Canada Highway as we travel west from Calgary. As we travel we will be awed by the sight of some of our favorite mountains, as they loom over the road.
This sign welcomes us into the Rocky Mountains.
Do you think that we might see a grizzly bear?
Cascade Mountain
As mighty as the Trans Canada highway is, it becomes barely a ribbon with these immense mountains looming over it.
Depending on the time of year, the Trans Canada highway might be busy with traffic or almost empty.
Near Banff on the Trans Canada Highway
Although we won’t be exiting to visit Banff today, this is where the exits to Banff are.
Castle Mountain
Castle Mountain dominates the landscape as we reach our exit at Castle Mountain Junction. Instead of continuing on the Trans Canada Highway to Lake Louise, we will continue this particular journey southward on Hwy 93.
Before we do that let’s pause here to take a moment to look at Castle Mountain. (Castle Mountain is the header image of the “One Canadian Back in Canada” section.)
As we drive along the Bow River we can see Castle Mountain looming in the distance. Notice how empty the highway is? That is probably because in this picture we are traveling late October. Although technically still Autumn, winter is looming. The mountains have snow on them and tourist season is over.
We’ll just take this generous pullout and stop for some pictures. There are toilets, trash bins, and even an informative play center for those kids to burn off some energy. Anyway, who can resist a chance to gaze at this view? The Bow River sparkles in the sunshine and Castle Mountain looms in the distance.
My sister, Annette, is good company. She is also the one who has been taking a lot of these fabulous pictures of the snow capped mountains while I have been driving.
Time to continue our journey. We will be leaving the Trans Canada Highway shortly. Goodbye Castle Mountain. Stay tuned for “Following the Kootenay River on Hwy 93.” But first we will have to talk about the bears in “Grizzly and Black Bear Alert.” Bye for now.
Di, I finally loaded your post; simply stunning scenery & great photography! Looking forward to your next post💕 Love from an Aussie friend melting in our sub-tropical humidity🌴🌞 Kay
Thank you Kay! You may be melting but it is cold here and lots of snow. I had to plow the road today – my own little highway.
Just stunning – i remember seeing mountains similar to this when we traveled through Canada in 2012, but your pics really show the scale.
Excellent! That is exactly what I was hoping to show. Of course there is nothing like actually driving through the mountains and seeing the scale of them for yourself. I am so glad that you had that experience. Hopefully you will be able to do that again (and see us too.)
Beautiful pictures Diane. The mountains always lift my spirits.
How fortunate we are to live so close.
Love,
Annette
So true. I love driving through the mountains – and you really are good company! I treasure all the trips that we have made together and hopefully there will be more.