Grande Cache AB ?

X

xcaribooer

Regular
Location
The fishing highway
anyone on here from the area?

My gal and me are planning a move out of the lower mainland in the next 3-5 years.We are considering the GC area , We spent a day there on a recent road trip and fell in love with the area.
My gal has an excellent paying job waiting there when she wants it but I am not sure what there is there for me.
I am a ticketed carpenter with my speciality being maintainance and renovation but would be willing to do something else. I know the big employers there are the mine, mill and prison.I still have a good 20 years of work ahead of me.We checked out realestate and are considering buying a new lot in town for $60k and sit on it till we are ready.

some q's I have are:
what are the employment opportunities there for someone like me?

We saw countless deer ,moose and elk on the drive in so I am assuming that the hunting aint too bad??;)

What do you think of the future potential for the area to grow? there is talk of trying to get a banff type resort in the area.

Sounds like the closest shopping is at Grande Prarie 2hrs north? How about Hinton for shopping?

any other thoughts on the area?
thanks in advance for any input.
 
Hope this helps, they do have a range close to the mine

xcaribooer said:
My gal and me are planning a move out of the lower mainland in the next 3-5 years.We are considering the GC area , We spent a day there on a recent road trip and fell in love with the area.
My gal has an excellent paying job waiting there when she wants it but I am not sure what there is there for me.
I am a ticketed carpenter with my speciality being maintainance and renovation but would be willing to do something else. I know the big employers there are the mine, mill and prison.I still have a good 20 years of work ahead of me.We checked out realestate and are considering buying a new lot in town for $60k and sit on it till we are ready
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.

Yeah the big deal now is the natural gas leases..For real estate, I'd suggest you buy since like any oil town, rent is exorbitantly over priced ($1500-1800) for a basement suite.

some q's I have are:
what are the employment opportunities there for someone like me?
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Construction, they are crying for guys like you...

We saw countless deer ,moose and elk on the drive in so I am assuming that the hunting aint too bad??;)
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It is hunting central here, with a view...

What do you think of the future potential for the area to grow? there is talk of trying to get a banff type resort in the area
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.

Yes but things don't happen fast here..it is kinda an isolation posting

Sounds like the closest shopping is at Grande Prarie 2hrs north? How about Hinton for shopping?
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I prefer going to Hinton, 1.5 hours or drive all the way to Edmonton

any other thoughts on the area?
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Very clicky town, hard to make friends since nobody is really from there. If you have a wife then you'll be fine, if single you'd be in trouble since most of the girl seem to leave for the big city, the hot ones anyways..
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Never been to Grande Cache, but have a good friend from my boyhood days who has lived there for many years now. He loves the place, and speaks very highly of the hunting opportunities and the availability other recreational activities there. I've never lived in the lower mainland either, but have visited many many times over the years...just me I guess, but if I were in your shoes, I'd be packing the truck asap.
 
Beside work, it is very hard to make friends in this town, just a note.

There is no:

1) Tim Hortons :)
2) Cdn Tire, they have a small home hardware,
3) 1x grocery store, another is being built soon.
4) 3x Liquor store
5) No movie theatre or cinema
6) Rec center is vague at best, very small weight room, pool, curling & ice rink.
7) Lots of drugs running around but low crime rate.
8) Quad/ATV trails everywhere & inter connects the town.
9) Everything pretty shuts down at 10PM no 24h gas bar etc..
 
GC is expanding now, they are building a whole "new downtown" on the south east side of the town as the highway comes up the hill from the Edmonton Side.

Lots of new stuff going in there. One of the tower residences is already built, and they will be putting in or have put in the roads and parking lot recently. Should be interesting to see when its done. Im betting they will need construction guys for some of that stuff, its not a small project.
 
I spent 4 months there (in the winter) on an expansion at the mill about 10 years ago. You forgot to mention the federal pen! it's a small town and the hotel owner jacked the rates for all us guys who had no where else to go- *&^%&^%&7^&*% a$$clowns. But the people were friendly and the country around there is very nice.
 
I can tell you that its a corrupt little town, runned by a small groups aka town council & a realestate company called Farnell properties. Town coucil has to be re-shuffled!

A lot of curve balls, thats for sure.
 
Merllin said:
GC is expanding now, they are building a whole "new downtown" on the south east side of the town as the highway comes up the hill from the Edmonton Side.

Lots of new stuff going in there. One of the tower residences is already built, and they will be putting in or have put in the roads and parking lot recently. Should be interesting to see when its done. Im betting they will need construction guys for some of that stuff, its not a small project.
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:D
Is the coal mine McIntyre Mines/Smokey River Coals still in operation?

Spent a few months back in 1980-83 in the Grande Cache & Hinton area doing some engineering consulting work for two open pit coal mining companies......McIntyre Mines & Cardinal River Coals respectively. Did some planning work for Loram on the Gregg River Coal Project also.

I was impressed with the rugged beauty of the area back then.

If my mind serves me correctly there was a gun range just outside Grande Cache back then not far from the start of the road that went up the mountain to McIntyre Mines's #9 open pit coal mine. I think it was a makeshift range without any club organization where people went to sight in their deer rifles.
 
It's a pretty nice town with some very nice people...but it is very small and isolated, then again maybe that's what you're looking for. The coal mine on the hwy to GP is, to say the least, disguisting...I can't believe a place like that is allowed to operate in today's environmental world, seeing grey and black snow for miles around it is a sight to behold, but then who am I to judge. Myself I don't think I would like it too much there, despite the good outdoor opportunities simply due to the isolation factor, it's quite a ways from a lot of the things you are used to living near a large urban centre. I came from Vancouver to Kamloops so I know the mindframe that says "let's move out of town on an acerage, who cares about the 45 min drive to anything" but then you slow down and think about it, and living a couple of hours at least from a decent HW store, good shopping, even a theater if you want to catch a flick is a SERIOUS lifestyle change...just some food for thought, you might be better off in one of those 30 - 50k person towns that has most everything you want AND has easy access to larger centres..something GC most definitely does not have.
 
Acreages

xcaribooer said:
The thing I didnt like about it was that there are no acreages or any kind of property outside of town, you have to live in town or nothing.
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My guess would be that the government has leased it all to the Oil & Gas, Coal
and Timber concerns. After all, as Canadians, we do not own the land, the
Government does! Just have a look into buying Crown Lands and see how far
you get. This country is getting to be a real bad joke!
 
I know that I am reviving a somewhat old thread, but as I am moving there in the near future I am trying to gather as much information as possible. I am coming from Northern Ontario (muskoka region) and would like as much information as possible about Grande Cache. I am an outdoorsy person at heart, but because of where I live right now, there is not much to do (mainly because of the damn tourists). If someone/anyone give me what their experience of Grande Cache is like currently (would prefer someone who is living there). I think I can figure out the what kinds of outdoors stuff there is to do there just by looking at where it is lol, but as for stuff in town - I.E. sports leagues, current ammenities, housing costs, what the winters, spring, summer, fall are like currently etc etc. Any/as much info would be greatly appreciated and could either be posted here or I can be PM'd. Thanks again!
 
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