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Celebrate the distinct culture, amazing scenery and brilliant yellow sunflower fields.

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The sky’s the limit, with creative literary giants and rodeo greats.

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Renowned for its diverse culture, open range, and Rocky Mountain Playground.

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Majestic mountains, mighty rivers, and coastal rainforests entice and invite.

Welcome to the Yellowhead Highway Corridor

By Terri Mason

Photo:Travel British Columbia

Welcome to the Yellowhead Highway Corridor

by Terri Mason

Enjoy your journey along the famed Yellowhead Highway— the historical road intertwined with the lore and legend of the Canadian West. It is steeped in the haunting songs and tales of the brash and fearless voyageurs, the robust, adventurous fur trade, the dreams of pioneer settlers and the fevered pitch of the Cariboo gold rush.

Originally, it was the secret trail to the fur cache of its namesake, the golden locked, Iroquois Métis guide known as “Tête Jaune.” Tête Jaune, (literally translated as “Yellow Head”) guided for both of Canada’s greatest business rivals, the Hudson Bay Company and North West Company, the foremost fur traders of the world. In 1825, Tête Jaune led the Hudson Bay Company’s chief trader, James McMillan, through the pass that still bears his nickname—Yellowhead.

Photo: Travel Alberta

His blazed path through the Rocky Mountains proved to be an easier route and its popularity was such that by the 1830s, Yellowhead Trail was virtually a highway. Oxen yoked to Red River carts rumbled along it in 1841, miners slogged its length for the Cariboo Gold Rush in 1856, the 1862 Overlanders followed it to Kamloops and Prince George and eager settlers followed it to file on their new homesteads in the West.

The heyday of a boom-and-bust railway followed, ultimately culminating in the development of a roadway. The Trans Canada Yellowhead Highway Association was formed and over the years, the organization has literally driven the four western provincial governments (with some aid from the federal government) to build the Yellowhead Highway Corridor. Their dream was realized in 1970 when the TransCanada Yellowhead Highway was officially opened.

Photo: Tourism Saskatchewan/Douglas E. Walker

The famed “Park to Park Highway,” traverses five national parks, ninety provincial parks and three national historic sites. Explore the highway that leads you on a journey of unparalleled beauty and history through some of the most spectacular country in Western Canada. Cross the ‘breadbasket of the world’ beginning at Winnipeg, Manitoba, heading west along one of Canada’s oldest trails to Jasper, and beyond to Prince Rupert and the west coast park reserve of Gwaii Haanas, the Haida Heritage Site of the mystical Queen Charlotte Islands.

Photo: Travel Manitoba

The gentle mountain grades of the southern route carry you to Hope, the lush Fraser Valley and the lively port of Vancouver. Visit renowned sites, join in the ethnic dances at local celebrations, breathe the scent of an ancient forest and retrace the footsteps of Tête Jaune.

Experience the flavour and taste the adventure – come travel the Yellowhead Highway Corridor.