The Atlantic to Pacific 2011 road trip with my Shadow: 2011

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

End of the First Great Road Trip

I love driving while observing the beauty of mother nature and this trip gave me the perfect opportunity to perform both. The experience was immense and the pleasure was satisfactory. The end odometer reading was 290130 and that means the entire drive during past 42 days has added another 18300km. The high gas prices did not help me during the trip but when I want to do something it is close to impossible to stop me.

Now I know how huge and beautiful this country is and I also know if you have the proper respect and passion for mother nature, she will provide you with all the priceless beauties you can handle even if it is a rare sight. My favorite province is Newfoundland and Alberta still remains my least favorite place. People east of Ontario are very nice and specially in Newfoundland, everyone is your friend even if you are there for the first time. After seeing much of Quebec I know how great the people are there and I would consider learning French in very near future and revisit the beautiful province. During my drive I have been able to save a moose, a squirrel and a puppy on the highway while doing almost 110kmph.

I will go back to Nova Scotia for some more geological exploration and Newfoundland to explore the entire province properly. I would call this an epic trip and like everything else this comes to an end too. The two most important things without which I could not have been able to complete this mission are my iPhone and the Shadow Hunter. I hope you enjoyed the blog with possible multiple typos and till the next great solo road trip this is Gunjan signing off. Take care everybody and keep exploring.

Edmonton to Saskatoon (May 31, 2011)

I was feeling very low today as my trip was coming to an end. I drove out of Edmonton by noon and this was a stretch that I can probably drive with my eyes closed. It was boring and slow day for me so I tried to make it back here as quickly as possible. I kept munching on double chocolate cookies during the drive and finished a whole pack by Saskatoon. The drive was a short 5 hour one and I was back home. After unloading my jeep I was feeling way too restless to do anything. It has been amazing 42 days and now back to the reality. Time to service the Shadow and get ready for work and chase storms whenever I can and definitely prepare for my next great road trip.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Prince George to Edmonton (May 30, 2011)

After one more stop at Denny`s, I was out for Edmonton. The weather was not too bad in the beginning but started to deteriorate as I got closer to the mountains. Soon after passing Mount Robson Park area, it started raining heavily. My friend in Edmonton was flying back from Victoria later tonight so I had no rush to be there as I was crashing in his couch for the night. I made a long stop at Jasper for some food and beverage while it kept raining hard outside. It started to clear up when I was ready to resume my driving. The sky to the east looked really dark at that moment and I knew the system is to my east now and I will be driving right through it. There were deers, elks, moose and bighorn sheep on the road in the raining having their supper so the drive was a bit stressful but not too bad.

By the time rain actually stopped, I was in Edson. I also saw the first lightning of the year today while driving between Hinton and Edson. Soon I was in Edmonton and met up with my friend. Tomorrow is the last day of my trip and I drive back to Saskatoon. Here are a few pictures taken from Mt. Robson Park.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Prince Rupert to Prince George (May 29, 2011)

The town of Prince Rupert is a bit strange but once you are start heading east on the Yellowhead, things start to change rapidly. This was again another clear sunny day and the mountains were looking gorgeous. The road is quite panoramic until a town called Smithers. I stopped at Terrace for brunch at Denny's and in my experience it had the slowest service ever.

Once the large beautiful mountains disappeared I had no more reason to stop and made it to Prince George before sunset. After spending the night here, tomorrow I will either be at some rest stop in the mountains or in Edmonton.

Right after Prince Rupert

Another fjord by highway

Port Hardy to Prince Rupert (May 28, 2011)

I was looking forward to this day of a 15 hour long ferry ride through the Inside Passage along the west coast of British Columbia. The only concern was again the rain that continued all night. I had to wake up at 0400 hrs to get ready for the ferry properly but I was already very tired and slept in till 0600 hrs and was very close to missing the ferry. As soon as I was out of bed, I drove to the ferry terminal and this time I was the last person to get on board. We sailed off at 0730 hrs as scheduled under a gray cloudy sky with light rain. Soon after leaving Port Hardy area the route goes through a long section of open Pacific called the Queen Charlotte Sound. This vessel takes 2.5 hrs to cross this section of high waves. MV Northern Expedition was rocking and rolling real good during this entire passage. During this time the sky turns from gray to complete blue.

Once it enters the Inside Passage, smooth sailing on a calm sea begins. There is only one more section of open water which takes 45 minutes to cross but not as bad as the previous one. The Inside Passage, while coming from south, starts to get more and more beautiful as the ship moves further north. The most beautiful part of this journey begins after the Pine Island lighthouse. Along this narrow but very deep Granville Channel the mountains are somewhere between 1500m to 3500m high with some phenomenal fjords at places. This day was a perfect day to be on this cruise and kept getting even more colorful during dusk. As soon as the sun turned gold low in the horizon the the air above the mountains hit the condensation point and cloud starts blanketing the peaks. At this moment, everything turns orange and the ocean water turns golden to make it a perfect ending of a beautiful day. I could relive this journey over and over again that runs through the area that I now call as the God's playground. The day ended with a beautiful sunset and soon after that at 2230 hrs, MV Northern Expedition docked at the Prince Rupert terminal. I need some serious sleep tonight and tomorrow I am on my way back to Saskatoon and probably stopping at Prince George. Here are a bunch of pictures from today. Enjoy!