Alberta Provincial Highway No. 33, commonly referred to as Highway 33 and officially named Grizzly Trail, is a north–south highway in west–central Alberta, Canada.

Highway 33 begins at Highway 43 near the hamlet of Gunn and travels north to the town of Barrhead. North of Barrhead, Highway 33 turns northwest, crossing the Athabasca River at Fort Assiniboine, before reaching the town of Swan Hills. Highway 33 continues north from Swan Hills to Highway 2 east of Kinuso. Highway 33 is about 219 kilometres (136 mi) in length.

History

Highway 33 follows the original Klondike Trail, which was advertised by Edmonton merchants as the shortest route to the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, from the Athabasca River at Pruden's Crossing, near Fort Assiniboine, through present-day Swan Hills and along the Swan River to north to present-day Kinuso. The trail followed a very difficult and dangerous route and by 1901-02 use of the trail declined, soon after it was abandoned altogether in favour of other routes to the Peace River area.

Highway 33 originally started as short highway that connected Highway 43, 7 km (4 mi) south of Onoway, to Alberta Beach. In the 1970s, Highway 33 was extended north to Barrhead from Gunn, resulting in an 8 km (5 mi) gap between Alberta Beach and Gunn. Highway 18, which ran between Barrhead and Swan Hills, was renumbered to Highway 33 and the highway was extended north to Kinuso. In c. 1985, the original section to Alberta Beach became part of Highway 633. Highway 33 in Alberta is officially known as "Grizzly Trail" as after Fort Assinaboine, it passes directly through the middle of the primary habitat of the Swan Hills grizzly bear

Points of Interest

Approximately 1/2 way along Highway 33, following it 111km from either end will place you at or near the geographical center of Alberta.

Major intersections

From south to north:

Rural/specialized municipality	Location	km	mi	Destinations	Notes
Lac Ste. Anne County	​	−18.7	−11.6	Hwy 43 – Grande Prairie, Edmonton	South of Onoway; former eastern terminus
		−10.6	−6.6	Hwy 633 west – Darwell	Former Hwy 634
	Alberta Beach	−8.1	−5.0		Former western terminus
	8 km (5 mi) gap
	​	0.0	0.0	Hwy 43 – Edmonton, Whitecourt, Grande Prairie	East of Gunn
	Rich Valley	13.5	8.4
	Birch Cove	25.8	16.0
County of Barrhead No. 11	​	28.0	17.4	Hwy 651 east – Legal
		30.0	18.6	Crosses the Pembina River
		31.9	19.8	Hwy 654 west	South end of Hwy 654 concurrency
		38.3	23.8	Hwy 654 east – Manola	North end of Hwy 654 concurrency
	Barrhead	44.8	27.8	Hwy 18 west (53 Avenue) – Mayerthorpe	South end of Hwy 18 concurrency
	​	48.0	29.8	Hwy 18 east – Westlock	Hwy 33 branches west; north end of Hwy 18 concurrency
	Camp Creek	66.9	41.6
	​	79.7	49.5	Hwy 763 south – Tiger Lilly
↑ / ↓	​	82.3	51.1	Crosses the Athabasca River
Woodlands County	Fort Assiniboine	83.9	52.1	Hwy 661 east – Dapp	Hwy 33 branches northwest
	​	91.1	56.6	Hwy 658 west – Goose Lake, Blue Ridge
Big Lakes County	Swan Hills	145.2	90.2	Hwy 32 south – Whitecourt	Hwy 33 branches north
	​	218.6	135.8	Hwy 2 – Peace River, Slave Lake, Edmonton	East of Kinuso
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Closed/former       Concurrency terminus

Photos

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  Highway 33 north of Swan Hills
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  Junction sign on Highway 43