The best laid plans often leave you stuck in the Rockies. No? Well maybe it’s just me.
We left Calgary bright and early and headed down The Cowboy Trail. There are just two highways that connect Alberta and British Columbia. We chose the older, southern route.
We crossed the Alberta-British-Columbia border and stopped to see an old coal mine and eat lunch.
The next stop in the East Kootneys was to see the Titan (a giant mining truck) in Sparwood.
We headed back to the highway and about 15 minutes out of town there was an accident. It was only 600 m ahead of us. But sadly, there was a fatality and the police closed the highway for several hours to do an assessment.
There is only one detour for this route: backtrack 10 hours through Banff. The highway ahead wasn’t expected to reopen for 3 hours.
Unfortunately that meant that we couldn’t get through the mountains during daylight hours. And the roads are treacherous, winding, single lanes that make it feel like you are driving off the edge of the world.
So we decided to stop half-way and book a hotel in Cranbrook. We tried to upgrade to a suite, but in the time we waffled, they all sold out. Doh! Seems we weren’t the only ones thinking about safety first.
So we didn’t get to Osoyoos that night as planned, but we were still very lucky so I can’t complain too much.
Some stats:
- Magpie: 1
- Hawk: 1
- Raven: 1
- Eagle with a large snack: 1
- Unexpected layovers: 1
- Hours in Sparwood: about 5
- Total distance: 4531 km
all the stars in the sky 
That stinks, but have fun in Osoyoos! One of my favorite places.
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