Atlantic Canada to Vancouver round trip - route?

[itat]

Originally Posted by Filterman

We are doing a cross Canada return trip this year but leaving mid May and returning mid October. This link will take you to our map.

https://roadtrippers.com/map?a2=t!20...88640948433226

If this shares properly, I have a proposed return route that I will post as well if anyone is interested. It starts when we get off Newfoundland and goes south to SC and then northwest across the USA to home.

Do yourself a favour and when you get close to Toronto, take Hwy 407 Toll Route around the city unless you drive through overnight or early Sunday morning.

When you get to Gananoque, ON, get off the 401 and take the 1000 Islands Parkway east to where it reconnects with the 401 just west of Brockville. Its a beautiful drive along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.

[Kaadk]

I think it's all going to depend on what you all want to take in. If your goal is to get out west, with maybe so sightseeing on the way, but nothing in particular, then you have a route that can avoid a lot of major cities and do that:

1) Cross from NB into Maine,
2) Cut through Maine, Vermont and northern NY to Niagara Falls on the US side,
3) Cross back into Canada at Niagara, visit the falls from the Canadian side (the better place to view them in my opinion
4) Continue from Niagara to the Sarnia/Port Huron crossing. Don't bother coming down to the Windsor/Detroit crossing if you don't have to. We have one of the busiest land border crossings in the world here, you don't want to deal with it if you can avoid it.
5) Head north from Port Huron to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, In the UP, cut west under Lake Superior and skirt south to Montana before cutting north again back into Alberta.

I once helped a friend move to Calgary, coming from Windsor, it would have been 3 days of driving just to get out of Ontario coming from Windsor, taking the UP route to Montana, in 3 days we were in Calgary (mind you that was with a minivan, not an RV). So this route should cut days off your travel, but that's only if you want to just get there, without seeing all the stops along the way. Realize that with this route you'll bypass Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, etc...

An alternative, if you're really looking for 'experience' vs 'destination, is to not go any further than Ontario for this trip. 8-10 weeks, you can explore a lot of ground without going very far. Head through Quebec, Visit Montreal stop in Ottawa, stop in Kingston, explore the 1000 islands, take a week or two in Toronto, there's tons to do there, get in your stop in at Niagara Falls, etc...

If I was in your shoes and had your kind of time, this is what I'd do. Take it slow and 'experience' it. The trip out west can be saved for another day. One where you've already seen the east, so it's not a problem to skip right through and then spend time to 'experience' the west.

[True North]

If you do decide to travel through Ontario the drive along Superior’s noth shore (hwy 17) is incredibly beautiful. Lake Superior Prov Park (Agawa Bay) is phenominal and Sleeping Giant PP near Thunder Bay also has so incredible water front sites. Both parks can take a few days to explore if youre hikers.