My first year in the west! (1 year in pictures)

[cgnjeep]

I'm not a great writer, so I will let the pictures (all taken by my fiancée) speak for themselves. On March 1st 2012, we decided to drive 3,695 kms from Kingston Ontario to Cochrane Alberta to settle (for now).
We had been talking about moving "out west" for years, but we finally decided to act on it due to lack of work and adventure. In the last 10 months since being out here we have put 40,000kms on our 2011 Jeep JK Sport.

So here are the pictures of our travels and adventures:

All packed up and ready to head west





Kamloops BC -- We love Kamloops and the surrounding area. We were really wanting to move here eventually, but they are about to start digging an open pit mine right outside the city limits...



Alberta Badlands




First wheeling in Waiporous AB

 

[mtnbike28]

Congrats on following your dreams!

 

[cgnjeep]

Kootenay National Park -- One of our favorite spots for short weekends trips is here. About 3 hours away from home.


An essential pit stop for everyone overlanding in Canada


Kananaskis Alberta -- This area is literally in our backyard, there are beautiful spots for day trip anywhere off of the Forestry Trunk road and around Canmore.

 

[cgnjeep]

Vancouver, Vancouver Island and Washington Coast

Packed up for a 11 day trip




Tofino on Canada Day






On the ferry back to the mainland


We did a short 1 day trip to the Washington Coast, and will definatly be going back for a longer trip!

 

[cgnjeep]

Jasper National Park -- This was an incredible 5 days trip to Jasper. The views on the road from Banff to Jasper are breathtaking, and there is an incredible number of wildlife in these parts.







Kelowna BC -- This long weekend trip was a great way to get away from the never ending cool weather in the foothills. We camped way off the beaten path outside of Kelowna and spent some time in wineries and beaches.

 

[cgnjeep]

Nelson BC, Sandon ghost towns and Idaho Peak

Nelson was a charming little town, it was full of small local shops and its mix of hippies and rednecks was quite interesting.



Kaslo BC

Sandon and Cody BC -- These two ghost towns were competing silver mining towns at the turn of the century. Sandon was the first town east of Chicago that was fully powered by electricity. The area was a Japanese internment camp during WW2 and then turned into a ghost town.


Drive up to Idaho Peak

 

[cgnjeep]

Whiteswan Lake winter camping and Lussier Hot Springs -- This was our last trip of 2012, on boxing day we left for a night of camping and relaxing in beautiful natural hot springs.







So after 40,000kms of driving in 10 months we are still far from done planning more adventures. We are now planning a 3 week trip down the Pacific Coast highway through Washington, Oregon and California and hoping to come back through the backroads of Utah and Washington!
Cheers and thanks for reading!

 

[roverrocks]

Excellent adventures and photos!

 

[hikingff77]

Wow, awesome.

 

[Jay H]

Thank, I was having a bad Monday. You just took me right back to a fun filled Canada day weekend I had in Waterton Lakes. I am smiling now.