The Yellowhead Highway which follows #16 is the northern route of the Trans-Canada and connects Winnipeg and Portage La Prairie in Manitoba with key prairie cities like Saskatoon and Edmonton with important communities in north east British Columbia, and the Pacific port of Prince Rupert.
Edmonton is the gateway to the North, and has been for many years. First during the Klondike Gold Rush, then during the bush plane era, and then as the start of the Alaska highway. Edmonton’s 1,300,000 residents (2017) are in the middle of the bulk of Alberta’s oil & gas fields.
Here is the route of the Yellowhead Highway (#16) from east to west:
The Yellowhead Highway enters the province of Alberta at Lloydminster (noted not only for its oil industry, but as the only city in Saskatchewan that is taxed as if in the province of Alberta). The highway meanders through the gentle and lush farm lands of eastern Alberta. About 150 kilometres from the border, you pass through Vegreville, the heart of the Ukrainian community in Alberta. You then pass through Elk Island National Park, with a herd of wood bison before arriving in Edmonton.
Edmonton is the gateway to the North, and has been for many years. First during the Klondike Gold Rush, then during the bush plane era, and then as the start of the Alaska highway. Edmonton’s 1,300,000 residents (2017) are in the middle of the bulk of Alberta’s oil & gas fields. Edmonton is home to the West Edmonton Mall and is the province’s Festival Capital
From Edmonton, the Yellowhead heads west and you pass the vast coal fields and neighbouring power plant at Wabamun. From that point, the highway movies through undulating farmland and bush country, throught the towns of Edson and Hinton before entering the Rocky Mountains at Jasper. The Jasper area is unique in the Rockies for its wide glacier-swept valleys, and a number of hotsprings and disappearing rivers (they actually are underground). You cross into British Columbia over the Yellowhead Pass, the lowest pass over the Continental Divide.
During the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, many prospectors used Edmonton as their jumping-off point on a land route to the Yukon. It later became the main airstrip for bush planes and flat planes taking supplies and people into the arctic. During the Second World War, it became the starting point of the rushed-to-completion Alaska Highway.
You enter Alberta on the Trans-Canada highway from 
The 
A few miles west of Calgary, Route 22 leads you south through Cowboy Country, past historic ranches and Indian buffalo jumps. You can start at several spots, but the drive from 
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