June 21: Our Journey takes us onto Alberta "Highway" 40



Alberta Highway 40 - a nice wide backroad

Two days ago, we decided to forego the  70 km Elk Valley Mountain Bike Trail; now we had to decide how to get to the TransCanada Trail via roads.  There are not a lot of choices available.  On the Alberta map, the eye first notices Highway 22. Its a paved route the entire way, but it means travelling east from the Crowsnest Pass around 20 miles, head north on 22 and then taking some secondary highways to the west to eventually get to the Kananaskis Trail,  Alberta Highway 40, (paved portion).  But Audrey was first to notice, a sign for Alberta 40 in Coleman (Crowsnest Pass). Indeed on the Alberta highway map you will see a dotted gray road, which the map legend says means a gravel road, closed in winter.  Winter means up to June 15 for this road.  So five days earlier this road was first opened for traffic for 2026.  Perfect timing for us, if the road was reasonable for car and bike travel.

So yesterday we scoped out this road for the first few miles, to see if it was an option for us.  It would save us 30-40 miles I estimated, if we could take it.  For the first 5 miles it wasn't looking promising.  At first it climbed very steeply out of Coleman, which probably meant walking the bike.  It was also very washboarded,  which is not a deal breaker, but somewhat annoying.  Yet the road was very wide, for a gravel road, and I wanted to satisfy my concern that the road would remain  a good width for car travel.  Otherwise it would not be useful to us, because there were no services available on the road for the first 100 kms.  The road climbed steeply for the first several miles, but then the slope seemed to moderate somewhat.  

We decided we would take our chances, and so we headed out on Alberta Highway 40.  It became apparent that this was a high elevation route, compared to the other roads in the area.  We could expect to see logging trucks, making their first runs of the season.  And high elevations make for nice views when the bush  (Canadian for woods, forest, ...) opens up.  Also, Highway 40 ran in the same direction as the TransCanadaTrail, and by the time we get to the end of  this gravel portion of 100 kms, Highway 40 and the TCT would be less than 10 mile apart.  So we were getting to see the same scenery as the mountain bikers, but on a path where Audrey could provide support.  It would take us 3 days to travel the 100 kms.  Today we achieved just 12 miles, about 19 kms. But we gained over 1000 feet of elevation.




A sobering warning sign

Logging activity behind me
 
Sunset


Starting elevation: Coleman  4580 feet (also lowest)
High elevation: 5888 feet*
Ending elevation: 5603 feet
12 miles

*highest elevation on entire TCT so far

Comments

  1. AudreyAugust 15, 2026 at 12:32 PM

    Nice read... look at those nasty clouds!! Yes, it did rain!

    ReplyDelete

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