Manitoba is the heart of the West. Its where the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company both started fur trading with the First Nations,. The Forks are important to this day, as the beginning of the city of Winnipeg, now the province’s largest city.
Here is the route of the Trans-Canada Highway from east to west:
You enter the province from the Ontario border and pass through Falcon Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park. This huge park offers wonderful recreation, including camping, hiking, and swimming, and is the last remnant of the Canadian Shield this far south.
Further west the prairies appear, the route leads into Sandlands Provincial Park. Just east of Winnipeg, don’t miss Steinbach with its museum of German Mennonite settlement history & culture.
Winnipeg is a multicultural city on the banks of the Red River, with a thriving cultural scene, and lots of fine restaurants. It is a major manufacturing hub for both trucking & farm machinery, as well as for the fashion industry, and is a major regional ground and air transportation hub.
For a diversion, take highway 59 leads north to the southern edge of Lake Winnipeg, with several resort areas like Winnipeg Beach.
West of Winnipeg, just past Portage la Prairie, at Brandon the Trans-Canada splits, with the main southern route heading west along #1 through Regina, Calgary and Vancouver. If you’re taking the main / southern route, take route 10 south and visit Turtle Mountain Provincial Park and the International Peace Garden.
Officially, the Yellowhead Highway Begins (or ends) at Winnipeg, and it shares the route of the Trans-Canada Highway main route between Winnipeg and Portage la Prairie. Just west of town is an interchange to #16 heading in a northwesterly direction. The first major community along the way is Neepawa, from which Highway 5 heads north to Riding Mountain National Park. The next major community along the way is Shoal Lake and then Russell, before crossing the Saskatchewan border to Yorkton,
The Yellowhead continues to Saskatoon, Lloydminster (straddling the Alberta-Saskatchewan border), Edmonton, and Jasper before crossing into British Columbia and passing through Prince George, Smithers and Terrace before hitting Prince Rupert on the coast, before a ferry ride to Haida Gwai (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands)
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