I'd say you're ridiculous for the bike comment, but I've seen people on pedal bikes on the shoulder of the interstate around here so.
Yeah... I wouldn't drive in that. Too many people would just freeze up and stop right in the middle of the road, no idea who's behind them, people behind them no idea what's in front of them. The most important rule I have when it comes to driving is I only go as fast as I can see. Going around a blind corner in the mountains? I always make sure I'm going slow enough that I can come to a complete stop within my sight line. I've watched a Porsche go around a mountain road and hit a 500 lbs rock that had fallen from the mountain, because they were going too fast and made the assumption that the road they can't see was clear... demo'd the car, killed his front end oil cooler, and it was a fucking mess for everyone. If a car or a deer or a semi appeared in front of you, you'd have zero chance to stop in that kind of fog. Glad you made it through unscathed!
Last year we were driving on the Trans Canada Highway somewhere in, I don't know, Manitoba? Ontario? Anyway, it was the middle of winter and the snow was blinding, and there was about 3-4" accumulated on the road because the plows couldn't keep up. We're puttering along way under the speed limit because you could only see a few dozen feet, and within the space of a few miles we saw both a horse-drawn carriage and two bicyclists in shorts. On the highway. In a blizzard. I grew up in New England but that's pretty hardcore, even for my standards.
@Nettdata oh yeah, it was dangerous as fuck. It was a particular patch for about 20min and I was going about 45. I definitely cursed when I saw the 'deer crossing' sign in that same bad fog section. It was a situation where stopping was worse than keeping on though. We got through it, and the route on the way home was basically fog free. Huzzah!
I drove the Trans Canada Highway from Calgary to Vancouver. By far the nicest route I've ever driven. i I think it may even beat Iceland in terms of breathtaking views.
That is an incredibly beautiful drive. Both the Northern and Southern routes are gorgeous. (Banff vs Jasper). Done both easily a dozen times.
That's interesting that you say that. I drove from George, Washington to Portland, Oregon one time 20+ years ago. It had been overcast, and it was kind of plain, dull fields and rolling hills. Pretty, but nothing remarkable. Then, I came around the bend on I-97 as it drops towards the Columbia River to separate Washington and Oregon, it had just cleared, and the sun was setting as I was driving almost due west. It was so beautiful and so dramatic in it's sudden change of scenery that I literally gasped. I was like "ohhh, that's where the phrase breathtaking comes from." I've been high in the Rockies, the Caribbean, west Africa and to lots of scenic spots, but still nothing that took my breath like that. I think it's cool that the place you described as breathtaking was just a little north of there. I need to go there.
The drive out to the Gorge, in George Washington, is also incredible. I was part of Lilith Fair when we played there... and it was absolutely breathtaking watching the sun go down, overlooking the gorge, while the thousands of bats flew out of their caves.
Google image of the event... I was back stage and in the front row. When my girlfriend and I left a bit early on one of the days, we tried to give away our front row seats, but nobody would believe that they were legit. Oh well... their loss.
I lived in the foothills when I was a teen and driving home one night the fog was so bad that I was doing about 10-15mph. I was basically driving by the double yellow line that I could see right in front of my truck. You know it's bad when an invincible teenager thinks "Damn, I better slow down, this shit is scary dangerous."
I bet you turned off the radio and opened the window so you could hear better, too, right? Because that's what I did... all while forgetting to breathe.
The Ice Fields Parkway may be even better. We drove that all the way to Jasper. Lake Louise was the biggest letdown of the whole trip.
The Trans Canada Highway degrades very quickly once you get too far into Saskatchewan. Once you hit Manitoba it's basically just the same as driving through the midwest of the US, except the road is frequently only two lanes so you can't avoid either insane people or slow people. Wouldn't recommend it. But from Calgary to Vancouver, it's amazing. @Juice Lake Louise sucks. IMO, it's one of the least pretty lakes in the entire area. Moraine Lake is a thousand times better, though the crowds are still very intense there. I stay a long ways away from both - I've spent about 10 months in the area over the last 2 years. Love the Icefields Parkway; we've hiked hundreds of miles of trails in the mountains along the parkway.
I would love to do that someday. Given that I’m running low on “some days” I’d better plan it soon. The only comparable area I’ve driven would be when I spent 6 weeks working in Alaska. The drive along the glaciers outside Anchorage is incredible. Speaking of fog, some of the worst I saw was up on the northern coast of Alaska. We did most of our traveling by plane, in a twin engine Otter. It was often foggy, and the flight “rules” stipulated at least one mile of visibility. One day it was like pea soup, but the bush pilot we hired assured us that we had a mile of visibility- a half mile ahead and a half mile behind. So up we went. When we got to our destination up the coast we couldn’t see the runway. Being that there are no buildings, hills or even trees on the north slope to worry about, we dropped down to about 100 feet. The pilot then told us to look for the orange barrels that marked the end of the runway. We spotted only one. With a 50/50 shot at which side of the barrel the runway was actually on, he eased the plane down. We landed successfully, but it was hairy for a few minutes.
Yep. I was there for a Rush concert, and sat on the lawn about where that picture is taken from. May 1997, and I had slide film loaded in my camera for that trip, lol. I have a picture similar to that, but it's a slide. I need to dig those out and see if I can convert it. I also have a cool picture of Mount Saint Helens in the side view mirror of my rental car. I visited a buddy in Portland, skied at Mt. Hood (which is when I learned The Shining Exteriors were filmed there), drove to Seattle for a Mariners game (they imploded the Kingdome a couple years later), then out to The Gorge for the concert, and back down to Portland.
Both Moraine and Lake Louise were lame experiences for us. We went in mid-July so high tourist season, so we figured we would get up at like 5:30 and check out the lakes before the crowds arrived. Got to Lake Louse at 5:45 AM and 3 tour buses had already pulled up and there were people everyone. Saw one guy through his empty coffee cup right into the lake. Bow Lake was just as good and had zero people around.
Yeah, I haven't been to Moraine Lake since 2014. It was amazing then; we just drove right into the parking lot, clambered up onto the Rock Pile, and shared the sunrise view with maybe a dozen other people. Bummer that it's so packed now - the Larch Valley has some gorgeous hikes but they're mostly overrun. Bow Lake has some cool hikes right around it. If you hike up to The Onion, you get to walk on the Wapta Icefield and see the source of Bow Glacier Falls:
Such a great view. Wish I could have done some hiking while I was there. My wife was 4.5 months pregnant at the time, so it was mostly drive, get out of the car, walk around and enjoy the scenery at ground level.