Jan 252011
 
Barrett Olson-Glover 1

Journey’s end, back-country in British Columbia

It is an undoubted fact that in the heart of every young Canadian there lurks the impulse to pack up and drive across the country at least once. The road itself, the Trans-Canada Highway, and the immense distances beckon you. DG’s nephew, Barrett Olson-Glover, left Oakville, Ontario, just after Christmas and arrived in Vancouver New Year’s Eve. He was supposed to drive with friends, but his friends lacked the true adventurous spirit of the breed, and they abandoned him. Hence he had to take his trip photos while driving one-handed.  There is just something visceral, no matter how gray, cold and alien the outlook, in photographs of the empty land. Lake Superior is mythic, the Prairies are lunar, and the mountains  exude an air of being party girls who know how good they look (and yes their sheer immensity, catching the light, seems also inhuman). The back-country photos of Barrett (top and bottom of the post) in British Columbia were taken by his boarding friend Dan Robertson.

dg

Heading north to go west over the Great Lakes

First glimpse of Lake Superior

Lake Superior beach

Lake Superior from the Trans-Canada Highway

Heading west from Lake Superior

The Prairies

Prairie sunset, winter, Trans-Canada Highway

Heading into the mountains

Bighorn sheep, Kicking Horse Pass

Barrett Olson-Glover

—Photos by Barrett Olson-Glover. Photos of Barrett Olson-Glover by Dan Robertson.

  6 Responses to “Cross-Canada Car Photo Essay by Barrett Olson-Glover”

  1. Oooh, gorgeous!

  2. That same desire (to drive across Canada) still exists in the middle-age memory of a few Americans, too. In 1993 (the year of the horrible flooding in the US) I drove across most of the Trans-Canada Highway with my mom’s then boyfriend. We were almost arrested by the OPP at a Lake Superior beach pretty damn similar to the one in Barrett’s picture. We took a 3 hour detour to visit Flin Flon, Manitoba. I wonder how many Canadians even know where Flin Flon is? Driving south in Manitoba, we passed through a fire-scarred forest that lasted for at least 100 miles. I dodged bison (quite literally) in a provinical park in Alberta because I couldn’t find a spare tire. Pristine, empty camp grounds, night skies unmatched since, and so much open road. These pictures brought back so many pleasant and vivid memories. Makes me want to get back on that highway, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell songs blaring. Thanks to Barrett and DG for this pleasant memory.

  3. Once, I drove with my wife from Minnesota to Halifax. The stretch of road near Sudbury is perhaps the weirdest place I have ever been: a treeless rockscape, tormented into suggestive, frightening, claustrophobic shapes. And the huge Canadian nickel (yes, a coin) in Sudbury sitting atop it all is truly surreal. There were blueberry sellers at every turn-out. We sat for hours in stopped traffic (road construction, even there), listening to “Shipping News” on tape. Oh, Canada!

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