DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ACCESS THIS CACHE BY PARKING ON HIGHWAY 3.
I could have provided you with the parking coordinates, but a lot of the fun of ghost roads is finding out how to access them.
Back when I was a child we used to make yearly trips from Coaldale, AB to Creston, BC to pick apples. I can remember riding in the back seat of my parents’ car when we would drive over this section of the Crowsnest Highway. My mother was always white-knuckled as we would come around the curves with the lake on one side and the cliff face on the other.
Ever since I started Geocaching I would see this old highway alignment hugging the side of the mountains and think to myself “I need to place a cache there.” I want others to come here. I want this old stretch of Highway 3 to see life again and I want others to share any memories they may have of this grand highway.
As you walk along this abandoned and mostly forgotten stretch of highway, take a moment to observe the traffic passing on the modern day Highway 3. Imagine all those cars and trucks making their way along this narrow road. No shoulders, no passing lanes – just a narrow strip of asphalt and your luck. Do you think it is a coincidence that you passed two memorial markers on your way here?
This stretch of the Crowsnest Highway was re-aligned in 1978 when the bridge in front of you was completed. While walking along the old highway look at how nature is working to reclaim it – sections of road falling away, trees and plant life growing through the pavement.
This cache location offers you the chance to enjoy some scenery from a perspective that most modern travelers don’t get to see. You can stand at the base of a cliff and stare upwards at the rocks above. You can feel the cold wind blowing in across the water. You are treated to views of both Crowsnest Lake and Emerald Lake. I hope you enjoy this spot as much as I do.
