On the road

FLURRIES ON CANADA DAY in St. John’s. My younger sister, about 10 at the time, piloting a whale-watching boat into a shoreline cave in the Bay of Fundy. The Ontario Provincial Police at the motel room door in Cochrane, Ont. (not as suspicious as it sounds). Sipping glacial runoff f rom t he Columbia Icefield. Dad getting soaked on the logchute ride in Vancouver at Expo 86 (he thought the back seat was safe, until my sister and I ducked). Those are but a few of the vivid memories from the various road trips my family made throughout the country when I was a kid. Where there are roads, it’s one of the best ways to see the country — not to mention connect with all the great sights and stops along the way. With 7,821 kilometres of TransCanada Highway (the second longest in the world) and hundreds of thousands more kilometres of provincial and local roads, Canada has no shortage of carfriendly country. And it comes in a huge variety of landscapes, from winding switchbacks on Cape Breton Island and roads through rock-cut rugged Canadian Shield, to canola-lined, see-for-miles Prairie straightaways and hold-onto-the-grab-handles cliff-edge mountain passes. It’s with this in mind that we’ve dedicated this issue’s cover story to the nation’s best road trips (see “Great Canadian road trips” on page 23). We’ve highlighted nine can’t-miss routes across the country, complete with expert insights to get your motor running, and a bevy of other favourite drives, too. Many of the roads you’ve undoubtedly heard of — Dempster, Sea to Sky ( above), Icefields Parkway, Route des navigateurs, Cabot Trail — but there are some surprises (we hope). Regardless, with low gas prices these days, what better time to hit the highway? Of course, if a road trip isn’t your speed, there’s plenty more in this issue to elicit your own vacation memories. From hiking the historic Chilkoot Trail (see “The meanest 53,” page 38) to a photo essay of Canada’s eastern Arctic (see “Arctic 360,” page 45), we’ve got a range of summer options for travellers of all stripes. Besides, without a car, there’s no chance you can lock the keys in during a freak July snow shower in St. John’s. Eh, Dad?