Today we drove through the middle of nowhere and back. This is just a random shot out of the window. What started off as a plan to go on a particular hike ended up turning into a driving adventure on top of it.
We wanted to go hiking in an area of Kananaskis Park in Alberta, Canada called Elbow River. When we got there it was crowded and people were directing traffic. I hate waiting in lines, especially for a parking spot to enjoy nature, so we switched the car into sport mode and did a u-turn through the ditch.
The Elbow river is above, this was taken out of the car window on the way to the hiking destination on a paved road, "Route 66." (Alberta not the famous one.)
After turning out of the crowded parking lot, we saw a dirt road continuing up into the parkland.
Figured why not, still got that sports mode turned on, all wheel drive and a full service package-not that there was reception in the area anyways. Unless it's real good weather, it's ill-advised to travel on this road. In the winter, even with 4x4 and chains, you couldn't possibly drive on it and there are a few gates. Winter in the mountains is Nov-May.
The road wasn't on the car GPS, and Google Maps wouldn't work. We later found out it was called "Powderface Trail (Road)" A logging road/recreational vehicle road for snowmobiles in the winter and serious hikers in the summer.
It was hard to keep ones eyes on the road with such great scenery but not a good idea to take them off the road. We took a few photos through the window and passed even less cars. In many places two cars could not pass each other. The road was particularly bad as it weaved up, down and around mountains.
It looks like they grade it at least every summer and fix the washed out areas. Most of the road was fairly well maintained. You wouldn't need AWD to drive it and any decent car that has all season tires could easily drive it in fair weather.
Endless miles of nothing but nature. The road itself was 35 km, Google would never recommend you drive on it although walking is fine and it's suggested as an alternative biking route. At the end of the road, was a more familiar dirt road that lead to another great hiking area where we thankfully didn't have to wait for a spot.
Since the car was already filthy we decided to take back roads back. Three out of the last 4 weeks we made a similar decision. Time to get some mud flaps.
Thank you for reading and hope you had a great weekend too!
*Notes:
- Someone drove down this road with Google Street View. Here's the start. https://www.google.ca/maps/@50.8049422,-114.8421244,21z
- Most of these shots were taken with an S22 the cover, image2 that looks/was filtered was taken with an Iphone pro max 13.*