Question: road report Mountain cabin Sask. to the Pas.

[lyallpeder]

I’m going fishing up near The Pas in mid June. From Edmonton, I’ll go through Lloydminster , Prince Albert then take Highway 55 through Nipawin to mountain cabin where it changes into highway 9 to The Pas. I want to make good time on the way there because I’m catching up to the rest of the group that got a couple days head start on me. I’m also trying to narrow down a ETA so the boat doesn’t have to wait for me at the dock too long.

My question is, I understand there is a section of gravel between mountain cabin and the Manitoba Border. Has anyone traveled this way recently? How long is the gravel stretch and how much should I expect to be slowed down by it?

Thank you for the help.

Lyall

[starvin]

The worst part of that road is highway 55 from about shoal lake to mountain cabin. The road is gravel and kind of narrow with a lot of log/chip truck traffic. If it’s been wet at all it can get nasty. If it’s dry it will be dusty and the haul drivers drive like….. they drive. From a pure time vrs distance perspective you might be better off to go to tisdale-Hudson bay and north. Still some gravel but a lot better.

[Nova]

It's been a number of years since I've been on that road, largely because I told myself never again. I agree with what starvin says, the weather is going to be the biggest factor. If you're totally intent on going the shortest route to save time, keep an eye on the weather in that area a week in advance. Any significant rain, cut your losses and take the route starvin suggested.

[lyallpeder]

Thank you! The lodge is past The Pas at wekusko lake by snow lake. How is Prince Albert - Flin flon - cranberry portage? Google maps suggests about the same time going that way and Prince Albert- tisdale - Hudson Bay - the pas route. Regardless what way I go out, I’ll take a different one back so any info you have I appreciate.

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by Nova

It's been a number of years since I've been on that road, largely because I told myself never again. I agree with what starvin says, the weather is going to be the biggest factor. If you're totally intent on going the shortest route to save time, keep an eye on the weather in that area a week in advance. Any significant rain, cut your losses and take the route starvin suggested.

Originally Posted by starvin

The worst part of that road is highway 55 from about shoal lake to mountain cabin. The road is gravel and kind of narrow with a lot of log/chip truck traffic. If it’s been wet at all it can get nasty. If it’s dry it will be dusty and the haul drivers drive like….. they drive. From a pure time vrs distance perspective you might be better off to go to tisdale-Hudson bay and north. Still some gravel but a lot better.

[Nova]

I've never been on that last stretch of the Hanson lake road from Narrow Hills to Flin Flon. Just looking at the map it appears to be pretty twisty/bendy just like between Flin Flon and Cranberry Portage. So that's probably where the extra time comes from despite it being a shorter distance. Less opportunity to pass. As for the physical condition of the road, for the most part rural Sask roads tend to be pretty much the same unless they were freshly paved, which pretty much only happens on our main arteries now. I would expect PA to Flin Flon and going over to Hudson Bay to be similar as far as road conditions. Manitoba 10 is a very nice highway though. And I believe the majority of the road to Wekusko is as well. I went to Thompson in fall and there was a stretch of about 30km that was a bit rough, I can't remember if it was before or after the turnoff to Wekusko.

Is your group familiar with the lake? If not, Anglers Edge Mapping just released their 2023 update and they've added both Tramping and Wekusko to their maps. Very well worth the money. I've been wanting to try both for years, and now AEM is making that possible for me. Probably on next year's to-do list.

[Albertadiver]

I've towed travel trailer up hanson lake road from Jan Lake to Flin Flon. Pretty smooth sailing. Came from Calgary.

[lyallpeder]

Thank you for the help. It seems like all the routes are about the same except for that gravel stretch from mountain cabin to the border. I don’t mind driving some gravel, but it sounds like a circle PA - Flin Flon - the lake - The Pas - Hudson Bay- Tisdale - PA is a good plan, maybe I’ll flip a coin to decide if I do it clockwise or counter clockwise!! I’ll probably take 2 days going from the lake to PA on the way back and check out some trails and anything else I see worth looking at.

Yes they have been there a couple times, I was actually able to get the time off to tag along with my dad and a guy he goes with every year.

Thanks for the help.

Originally Posted by Nova

I've never been on that last stretch of the Hanson lake road from Narrow Hills to Flin Flon. Just looking at the map it appears to be pretty twisty/bendy just like between Flin Flon and Cranberry Portage. So that's probably where the extra time comes from despite it being a shorter distance. Less opportunity to pass. As for the physical condition of the road, for the most part rural Sask roads tend to be pretty much the same unless they were freshly paved, which pretty much only happens on our main arteries now. I would expect PA to Flin Flon and going over to Hudson Bay to be similar as far as road conditions. Manitoba 10 is a very nice highway though. And I believe the majority of the road to Wekusko is as well. I went to Thompson in fall and there was a stretch of about 30km that was a bit rough, I can't remember if it was before or after the turnoff to Wekusko.

Is your group familiar with the lake? If not, Anglers Edge Mapping just released their 2023 update and they've added both Tramping and Wekusko to their maps. Very well worth the money. I've been wanting to try both for years, and now AEM is making that possible for me. Probably on next year's to-do list.

[lyallpeder]

Originally Posted by Albertadiver

I've towed travel trailer up hanson lake road from Jan Lake to Flin Flon. Pretty smooth sailing. Came from Calgary.

Thanks, it was all asphalt eh?

[Albertadiver]

Originally Posted by lyallpeder

Thanks, it was all asphalt eh?

correct. Hanson lake road is all paved. There are some rough spots, but that's what you get in the Canadian shield!

[lyallpeder]

Yup, no problem with that, part of the experience!

Originally Posted by Albertadiver

correct. Hanson lake road is all paved. There are some rough spots, but that's what you get in the Canadian shield!

[lyallpeder]

I ended up going Edmonton- Prince Albert - Nipawin on Friday and stealth camped on Nipawin. I hit the road again at 5am and continued on past mountain Cabin - the pas- snow lake. The gravel on that section was dry and good, I wasn’t in any hurry so I averaged around 65kmh on it and stopped and checked out a couple streams along the way. I think I saw 2 other pickups on it. Amazing how much super fine dust ended up in my truck bed under the cover, it was fine like icing sugar. I got gas in The Pas, interesting town… The rest of the group had their dates wrong and I ended up there about 3 hours before them so I had my lawn chair and cooler well organized by the time they got there.

Fishing was very good, not like 100 fish a day good but still very good and the fish were absolutely delicious.

On the way back I left the lodge at 5:45am, drove to Flin Flon, got gas, coffee and a bagel. I took highway 106 to the junction of 120 just south of narrow hills provincial park where google maps told me to take 120 to Prince Albert. It had about 50km of gravel and a lot of pickup trucks. Including one that flew up behind me and passed me like it was a highway, he had to have been going at least 100kmh and couldn’t have been behind me for more than a few moments. Next time I’ll take 106 to Smeaton Then over to Prince Albert. After Prince Albert I stopped in Spiritwood for a break and a stretch and I saw they had a gun show on so I checked it out, then straight back to Edmonton.

2,300km, average of 10.3L/100km.

Thanks for the tips folks. I’m not sure why the imgur link says it’s not PG13, I promise it is safe for work.

https://imgur.com/a/Oj9rTw5


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Nova]

Originally Posted by lyallpeder

Amazing how much super fine dust ended up in my truck bed under the cover, it was fine like icing sugar. I got gas in The Pas, interesting town…

Looks like the weather really worked out in your favour. That dust is really something, just imagine adding some water to the mix. I am going to have to look back and see if I still have the pictures of my truck and boat after driving that road. It was a darn good thing I had my boat tarped, but at the same time the amount of pressure washing it took to get the tarp clean is probably what led to its early demise. Interesting is a good way to describe The Pas. Never had trouble there, but definitely some odd interactions. If you really want to see a site, continuing on to Thompson is a real eye opener. Beautiful place, but the city's core is just a sight to see.

Being that you spoke of potentially going through Flin Flon, I totally neglected to mention that if you went that way to make a point of stopping at Rubi's Outdoors between Flin Flon and Creighton. File that into your "for next time" folder. Awesome little store. You pull up and see a small Atco shack type setup and don't expect much. Then you walk in and the store is just perfectly laid out and stocked wall to wall with pretty much anything you'd need to catch fish up there. And for a small shop the prices are very competitive.

[lyallpeder]

Originally Posted by Nova

Being that you spoke of potentially going through Flin Flon, I totally neglected to mention that if you went that way to make a point of stopping at Rubi's Outdoors between Flin Flon and Creighton. File that into your "for next time" folder. Awesome little store. You pull up and see a small Atco shack type setup and don't expect much. Then you walk in and the store is just perfectly laid out and stocked wall to wall with pretty much anything you'd need to catch fish up there. And for a small shop the prices are very competitive.

Thanks, hopefully I’ll do the trip again next June so I’ll stop in.

[waldedw]

Back in 1970 I know I'm dating myself a little, anyway my brother owned CMS rentals in Prince Albert and I worked for him that summer, he had about 6 pieces of equipment rented out to the pulp mill in The Pas and my job was to drive up there once a week and service those units.

The road if you could call it that Hyw 55 was a piece of crap to put it mildly, it was a 5 hr drive then 3 hrs work then a 5 hr drive back to PA, of course I was driving a 1966 chevy 3/4 ton regular cab service truck with some 200,000 miles on it, plain jane no AC only AM radio which was non existent after 1/2 hr out of PA fun times all while making $2.50 per hr. I have never been back to The Pas since and probably never will be.

[Pekan]

Originally Posted by waldedw

Back in 1970 I know I'm dating myself a little, anyway my brother owned CMS rentals in Prince Albert and I worked for him that summer, he had about 6 pieces of equipment rented out to the pulp mill in The Pas and my job was to drive up there once a week and service those units.

The road if you could call it that Hyw 55 was a piece of crap to put it mildly, it was a 5 hr drive then 3 hrs work then a 5 hr drive back to PA, of course I was driving a 1966 chevy 3/4 ton regular cab service truck with some 200,000 miles on it, plain jane no AC only AM radio which was non existent after 1/2 hr out of PA fun times all while making $2.50 per hr. I have never been back to The Pas since and probably never will be.

Here, I'll date myself too. Back in the mid 1990's, in my early 20's I worked for a small logging and sawmill outfit that was a few km's south off Hiway 55, near the Man River. That was interesting like the Pas is interesting.

On the weekend, we'd go to either Nipawin or The Pas for beers. Both towns had the potential for the evening to go pear shaped in a hurry!

The Pas was the first and only place I'd seen girls fight!