Corona Kia, Part 3

Continued from here. The final portion of Corona Kia Adventure starts in Jasper National Park.

My boy and I left behind the mostly sunny (with just a few cloudy/rainy spots) and clear roads of  British Columbia and ventured forth into wet with increasing snowy trails heading East, then North.

With no signs of a plow truck to be seen, only the light traffic had cleared the highway enough to be passable, barely. Despite being a very big National Park, I only took two pictures of our passage through Jasper, concentrating more on driving then photo-documenting this part of the journey.

Much to my surprise, the roads were cleared when we turned off towards Grande Cache/Grande Prairie. The trade-off started with monstrous potholes, frost heaves and a very narrow roadway. 

My boy took this picture, but I was getting too tired to pull off a more authentic looking "Wow!" face, so this is what you get.

I found it rather odd the Southbound lane was more clear then our slippery, compacted snow Northbound route.

A quick roadside stop to defrost the windshield and wipers (along with a "nature break" since there was no traffic in either direction).

As we passed through Muskeg River, which was nothing more than a "blink and you miss it" road sign, the highway got noticeably worse. Good thing my wife is a wise woman, the winter tires were not having difficulties keeping us on the road, thus far.

Grande Cache was a Ghost Town, for all intents and purposes. With the COVID-19 scare, most businesses were shut down, save for a few stores and the local A&W drive thru, where we had a late dinner.

This is the only picture taken of the highway as we headed North to Grande Prairie. The sun went down rather quickly and as darkness set in, the roads would require my full attention to navigate. A complete lack of plow trucks, coupled with hard, heavy snow falling and quickly accumulating on the pavement, taking any more pictures while in motion could have spelt a recipe for disaster.

Needless to say, after quite a few harrowing moments and the traction control kicking on for the first time this trip, we arrived in Grande Prairie 14 and 1/2 hours after leaving Kelowna. I was exhausted and sore in the hands, wrists, shoulders and eyes. I felt moderate pain in my lower back and backs of my legs. My boy was just glad to be back in civilization.

As well that ended well, but if I have to do that again, it will be too soon.