Alberta's Forestry Trunk Road

[Rick West]

A couple of buddies from Europe were asking me about riding from Coleman to Hinton while on their way to Alaska in June. They will be on large dual sports.

I have not ridden it so was hoping for those who have to offer their opinion on it. Heard it's mostly easy gravel but with lots of traffic. Fun route or boring?

Thanks
Rick

[GP640]

Depends on what you call lots of traffic.
I've been on it and only seen 2 vehicles between Harold Creek and Nordegg.
I doubt that traffic could be called "heavy" by european standards most of the time.
If you don't go on a long weekend the you'll most likely have a pretty quiet ride
on most parts until the stretch from Nordegg to Hinton I'd think.

[Deadly99]

I spent a summer living a few km downriver from the mountain aire lodge. Weekdays can see trucks (mining, logging, etc)

That being said you'll likely ride for quite some time before seeing the next "wave of traffic"

[RED CAT]

Easy, scenic gravel most of the way except for a 100km paved section from Highwood Junction to highway 1. Then East paved to 22X north to Cochrane and west again on 1A to Highway 40 north to Wiaprous (paved), then dirt again all the way to Hinton. You may want to mention that from Highwood Junction to the Trans Canada is probably Alberta's most scenic road and a must do.

[Lycan1]

Originally Posted by Rick West

A couple of buddies from Europe were asking me about riding from Coleman to Hinton while on their way to Alaska in June. They will be on large dual sports.

I have not ridden it so was hoping for those who have to offer their opinion on it. Heard it's mostly easy gravel but with lots of traffic. Fun route or boring?

Thanks
Rick

As many have said in above posts, traffic is relative. I have ridden the whole stretch and only when the week end campers are heading in (or out) in waves does it get dusty and busy, but only in sections. The campers tend to bail off at the earliest opportunity, and there are lots of connectors. If I had to do that run, I would much prefer it (the trunk road) to running roads like 22, etc. going north. On the south section there are nice little side detours like "the Gap" toward Maycroft, and "the hump" on the 532 connectors (great view) to be seen.

On the section north of Waiprous, "Ram Falls" and the area south of Nordegg is very scenic. The run to Cadomin and Mountain Park is interesting as well. All are easily done on large bike and will likely give enough variety in scenery to travelers from Europe, that are not used to what we take for granted.

You can run into some deeper gravel in areas, especially if the graders have just been, but even half way decent riders should have no trouble on it. Gas stops can be an issue for bikes with shorter ranges, but I can post a gpx file on the layin' down tracks (north) section with all the P.O.I. if you like.

[Rick West]

Thanks for the information. I passed it on to them and they are going to use it going one way and ride through the park on the other.

[OurBC]

I'll put it on my to-do trip next time in Alberta.

[Lycan1]

Originally Posted by Rick West

Thanks for the information. I passed it on to them and they are going to use it going one way and ride through the park on the other.

Here is the link to the track; http://advrider.com/forums/showpost....39&postcount=1

The south and central sections will be very accurate as they are cut and joined from previous rides of mine. The section from Nordegg to Hinton (with the side track to Mountain Park ghost town) were put together in Basecamp using basic maps, since I could not find my tracks from when I rode it a couple of years ago.

I also added a short detour up Limestone mountain, in case they are interested. Very rocky at the top, but doable on a large bike as far as my track goes.