"Blue River, Gateway to the Rockies" Blue River by Darby2

Blue River Travel Guide: 0 reviews and 11 photos

140 unit sulphur train awaits clearance at Blue R.

Blue River lies on the Yellowhead Highway 5 about half way between Edmonton and Vancouver. Primarily a wilderness area, the town also serves as a service center for CN Rail. The other industry here is logging and forestry and helicopter skiing in the neighbouring mountains. The North Thompson River flows nearby.

To the north lies Valemount and Mount Robson and the Yellowhead Pass. To the south is Avola, Clearwater and Kamloops.

There is a high-tech connection to Blue River. Nearby, there is one of the greatest concentrations of the mineral TANTALUM, used in cell phones and the like. It is possibly the richest source in the world.

Blue River is also a railway stop for CN trains traversing the Rockies. It's not unusual to see several long unit trains of commodities like coal, sulphur, potash, grain and containers. There are plans afoot to increase the container traffic on the CN line between Prince Rupert and Yellowhead Pass by building a very large container terminal at Prince Rupert, since the facilities at Vancouver are near the saturation point.

As for outdoor activities around here, there's snowmobiling, skiing, hiking, hunting, fishing, wildlife watching, canoeing ( specially the Myrtle Lake waterways in Wells Gray Park just west of here).

Mad River rapids, Thompson river

10,000 horsepower at the ready

Pros and Cons

Pros:Beautiful mountain/valley setting
Cons:Can be cold in winter

Last visit to Blue River: Apr 2007
Intro Updated Apr 16, 2007
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Travelogues (1)

Written Jul 4, 2006

8 photos

Blue River, Avola, Albreda,Valemount

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Comments (2)

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kenHuocj Aug 2, 2005 at 6:18 PM

great photos, as usual ;-)))
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rachel_sun Jul 29, 2005 at 5:28 PM

Looks a very quiet and relaxing stay.Nature and peace and quiet.