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Adventure
Roads: Trans Canada Yellowhead Highway from Winnipeg to
Haida Gwaii
by
Jerry W. Bird
Come
out O Little Moccasins, and frolic on the snow!
Come out O tiny beaded feet, and twinkle in the light!
I'll play the old Red River reel, you used to love it
so:
Awake, O Little Moccasins, and dance for me tonight!
Robert
W. Service.
 Just
imagine your car is a time-capsule; cruising down a broad
ribbon of Canadiana, in the wake of nomadic hunters,
voyageurs, missionaries, traders, sodbusters,
fortune-seekers and railroad builders. From Lake Manitoba to
the Haida Gwa'ii ,(BC's Queen Charlotte Islands) it's a 2600
km journey into history, with Indian encampments older than
Egypt's great pyramids, national parks, ancient shrines and
battle sites. Ethnic dances and pageants salute every facet
of our heritage
Before we dim the lights and start the movie, you're curious
to know how the name Yellowhead was derived -- right? In the
1870s, a roving Iroquois guide, dubbed Tete Jaune for his
golden locks, gave title to a mountain Pass near Jasper
House and gained instant immortality. Fly-Drive
Holidays are all the rage,
in an age when time has become more valuable than money. You
can fly the "Air Highways" to dozens of gateway airports;
then take your pick of ground transport. The Yellowhead-
Skeena Route, made popular by the Canadian National Railway,
offers options and combinations aplenty: Train, auto rental,
RV, ferry, pocket cruise or love boat ... seaplane ... you
name it.
Continued
Editor's
Note: In addition to the Federal, Provincial and Municipal
Governments, two major associations are involved in shaping
the future of the area served by the Yellowhead Highway.
They are the Yellowhead
Trans Canada Highway Association
and the Northwest
Corridor Development Corporation.
 Hot
Springs Heaven:
Columbia Valley to Icefields
Parkways
By Jerry W.
Bird
There
where the mighty mountains bare
Their fangs unto the moon.
There where the sullen sundogs glare
in the snow bright bitter noon.
And the glacier-glutted streams sweep down
at the clarion call of June."
Robert
W. Service b"
The
eternal icefields wear a "necklace of thermal springs", fed
from water trapped in fissures and caverns deep in the roots
of the Rockies. Raging rivers, glutted by the seasonal
runoff, churn and boil like some concoction from a giant
soda fountain. Oh the joys of steamy, bubbly-hot,
sulfur-scented waters; Solus Par Aqua (health by water) to
the Romans; a sacred rite to Canada's native peoples, and
Shangri-La to we hot springs fanatics. Speaking of natural
spas, the Kootenays have them in spades; Ainsworth, Halycon,
Nakusp, Ram Creek and Wild Horse. Many of these natural spas
along the Columbia Valley and Continental Divide are so
enticing, you'll want to stop the car right there and take
the plunge. Continued
The
Alaska Highway
by Jerry W.
Bird
There's
a land where the mountains are nameless
And the rivers all run God knows where.
There are lives that are erring and aimless
And deaths that just hang by a hair.
There are hardships that nobody reckons
There are valleys unpeopled and still.
There's a land - how it beckons and beckons
And I want to go back, and I will.
Robert W. Service.
Imagine
you are a time traveler. The year
is
1942.
The month is February - and our whole world is gripped by
total war. For the moment, Axis forces hold the initiative,
and for weeks following the Pearl Harbor disaster, every
ship leaving North America's Pacific ports is threatened.
The president's directive is clear: Furnish a supply route
to the network of northern airfields - an overland route to
supplement our air and sea lanes; one secure from attack."
Approval comes swiftly, and the task begins, with end points
set up by the military at Dawson Creek, BC. and Big Delta,
Alaska. Overnight, the entire North mobilizes, as the rugged
Trail of '42 rivals the famous Trail of '98 in worldwide
focus. Those of us living in the Yukon at the time felt
suddenly in the forefront of the action. What some called
North America's greatest construction project since the
Panama Canal began as a marvel of mobility at the time. U.S.
Authorities combed the entire coast, seeking available water
transportation, creating a patchwork flotilla of yachts,
cargo vessels, tugs fish boats and barges.
The Alaska Highway was also a massive sea-bridge,
spanning the coastal fjords of the Inside Passage to
historic Skagway, then over the White
Pass
by narrow-gauge railway to Whitehorse on the Yukon River, or
up-coast to Valdez, Alaska, near Anchorage.
Inland,
a 500-mile connection existed via rail and dirt road, from
Edmonton to the staging point at Dawson Creek, BC. Mere dots
on the map soon became feverish anthills of activity, as
mountains of supplies and acres of equipment were stockpiled
along the way. The fleet
of paddle wheelers that plied the Yukon since the Gold Rush
of the 1890s was pressed into service, since there were no
real roads connecting the territory's main
communities.
Continued
The
above is the opening of a documentary video, written by BC
Scene Editor Jerry W. Bird on hehalf of the Canadian
Government for the Alaska Highway's 50th
Anniversary
The
Sea to Sky Highway
A
Great Drive En Route to Whistler, Canada's hope for the
Olympics! One of our favourite drives is the Sea-to-Sky
Highway from Horseshoe Bay in North Vancouver to the
Whistler- Blackcomb area. There are many unique tourist
attractions on the way, including the town of Squamish, home
of Logger's Days and a Railway Museum. It is fast becoming a
hikers' and climbers' haven for city dwellers seeking a
quick escape. One unique spot that stands out in my mind is
the museum at Britannia Beach- a salute to British
Columbia's Mining industry and those who made their living
underground. Continued
Other Highways
profiles to come.
For more
Adventure contact the Canoe Network (705)-647-207
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