Canada's Most Beautiful Drive?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Give me a clear sunny day, and I'll show you that there is no more beautiful drive in all of Canada than Highway 16 West from Terrace to Prince Rupert.

Now I know that is saying a lot. Canada has a lot of incredible journeys, many of which I've travelled myself: the Icefields Parkway between Jasper and Banff; the Sea-To-Sky Highway between Vancouver and Whistler; the Drumheller Valley in Alberta's Badlands; the Cabot Trail on the northern shore of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; or the Flavour Trail in the Charlevoix region of Quebec.

I could go on and on and on, but for my money I'll take the drive to Rupert.

The narrow road way is hugged by the increasingly busy train tracks.


On one side of you is the mighty Skeena River. Closer to Terrace you will often see the river and its banks and bars littered with sport fishermen.

But as you get closer and closer to Rupert, the river ever widens as it spills into the Pacific Ocean. As it widens you almost wonder if you are in the fjords of Norway, or at least Alaska.

On the other side is lush forest, hiding uncountable waterfalls. The waterfalls that are visible can be dramatic at the right times of year. Most notable are the falls near Slickenside Creek and Polymar Creek. Binoculars can be used to spot even more impressive falls across the water.

With the odd bald eagle flying over head, the whole area is surrounded by the towering, glacier carved mountain ranges.


About half way through the journey unfamiliar drivers face an ominous straight stretch. The long road appears to drive straight into an imposing sliced rock face. The road does turn sharply to the left just in the nick of time, but not before offering a perfect picnic site at Exchamsiks Provincial Park. This former campground is now a day use facility and boat launch.

Once you near Prince Rupert the highway unfortunately leaves the amazing Skeena. The road veers uphill to Rainbow Summit. The area is quite dark until you enter the city, as tall trees stubbornly cling to rocky terrain that now hugs the road on both sides. The road quickly descends down into a district of lakes featuring tiny but amazing islands. Summit, Prudhomme and Diana Lakes offer fishing and boating, with the latter two being official provincial parks.


Highway 16 West is truly a case of a journey being a destination.

The 147km (91 mile) trip takes about 1 hour 30 minutes if following the posted speed limit of 100km/hr. On a day of stupidity I made the trip in 55 minutes. More recently, it took me about four hours to make the trip, as I stopped repeatedly to take scenery photos and document waterfalls.