Our Blog from our trip to British Columbia, Canada, 2011
This is a record of our trip to Canada in 2011.
We flew in and out of Vancouver Airport, hired a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and took a 2000 mile road trip on the Coast Cariboo circle route through British Columbia. All planning, bookings and accomodation was pre-booked by Derinda. Her aim was to see Whales and Bears, which we did by the bucketload!
We started by going across to Vancouver Island, driving the length, getting the ferry to Bella Coola, and eventually coming back via Williams Lake. The island and the Bella Coola valley were certainly the highlights of the trip.
The following is a transcript of the blog I posted during our travels.
We flew in and out of Vancouver Airport, hired a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and took a 2000 mile road trip on the Coast Cariboo circle route through British Columbia. All planning, bookings and accomodation was pre-booked by Derinda. Her aim was to see Whales and Bears, which we did by the bucketload!
We started by going across to Vancouver Island, driving the length, getting the ferry to Bella Coola, and eventually coming back via Williams Lake. The island and the Bella Coola valley were certainly the highlights of the trip.
The following is a transcript of the blog I posted during our travels.
On our way...
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Heathrow
Well the BA flight has been upgraded, due to Tina getting a favour from a friend!
That is the good news, the bad was Derinda waking up with a swollen face. So the morning was spent at the local GP's getting antibiotics just in case.
Seems a bit better already, although she just spent ten minutes looking for her glasses, then realised she had them on.
Hey Ho
Heathrow
Well the BA flight has been upgraded, due to Tina getting a favour from a friend!
That is the good news, the bad was Derinda waking up with a swollen face. So the morning was spent at the local GP's getting antibiotics just in case.
Seems a bit better already, although she just spent ten minutes looking for her glasses, then realised she had them on.
Hey Ho
Vancouver
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Jet Lag Jottings
Well here we are!
The flight was fine, the upgrade was excellent. We had trouble booking in; the guy
couldn’t find the reservation. We just looked at each other thinking here we go again. But then he found it had an optional upgrade applied, £500 a person for free, so we were well chuffed. We had a separate compartment on the jumbo, only eight seats wide instead of ten, and as much legroom as we wanted. Endless free drinks, roast dinner to start, sandwiches at the end. Individual movies, TV, papers, flight socks, blanket, pillow, overnight kit.
We slept a little, Derinda more than me, because I was sat still my joints were painful. Luckily I could stand up behind our seats, as we were at the rear of our compartment, and stretch a bit, but it would have been unbearable in an economy seat. Will dose
some painkillers for the return trip.
We got the Jeep Grand Cherokee we had booked, had the choice between that and a better spec Ford something, but we
liked the Jeep better for our needs. The Avis chap asked where we were going, and I said the Island and up to Williams Lake, and he looked happy. I omitted to mention Bella Coola and the gravel road up ‘The Hill’, or the small forays we might have to the odd National Park, but we did take the ‘all-risks’ insurance as it seemed a good idea.
The Hotel was just down the road from the airport, we found it straight away using the GPS on the iPhone. Trouble was we passed it
on the opposite side of the dual carriageway. We came off the first junction to do a U turn, and just ended up on another dual carriageway. We tried the same manoeuvre on the next junction, and just ended up on another dual carriageway.
By now I think we were heading towards the USA, with no idea where we were. It was about now that I was thinking the £35 for the Tom Tom Canada mapping software actually wasn’t a lot of money, and perhaps I should have bought it!
However, Derinda got serious with the iPhone, and put her glasses on, and we navigated back to the Hotel with much success.
The Accent hotel was fine, a treble bed, A/C, outside door Motel style, and all very clean. It had free Wi-Fi, but we were well past posting on blogs by this time. It was 10.00 pm local time, but 6.00am GMT, and we were both pretty shattered. Derinda sat in
bed watching Top Gun for the 23rd time, whilst I fell straight asleep.
Apart from a brief phone call about 3.00am (Hayley!), I slept fairly well, Derinda not quite as well, but we both felt better the next day.
The ferry across to Vancouver Island was next on the agenda this morning, Wednesday, I think? We set off early for the 11.00 ferry, and again did battle with the dual carriageway driving on the wrong side thing. Derinda had directions, a map of sorts, and sat
swearing at the iPhone GPS, as she does. Despite this, it went to plan, and we ended up on the 10.00 ferry. I grabbed a table in the cafeteria bit whilst Derinda sourced some scrambled egg and burnt bacon, and we were on our nautical way. Our route went between the islands off Swartz Bay, just as I went up to test out the smoking area, and the scenery was really beautiful. Timber seaside cabins on rocky shorelines against a forest hillside setting. What had been a cloudy start cleared to a sunny blue sky, and all was well in our world.
We left the ferry and headed across towards Victoria, then our next hotel at Nanaimo. Lunch was needed and we had no provisions, so we looked out for somewhere to stop. There were loads of places, little clusters of shops, restaurants and supermarkets, all on the southbound carriageway. Not a lot of good to us on the northbound though. We decided to head into a town in our quest, and Derinda, impressively without her glasses, spotted a Tourist Office sign. Despite her usual navigation system of telling me to turn left whilst pointing right, we stumbled across it. We left with bundles of guides and maps, and the directions to the Ladysmith supermarket, which loaded the Jeep with goodies. Real teabags and fresh milk at last! We sat in the sun outside the adjacent coffee shop, determined to extract all the enjoyment we could from our tea, coffee and shared beef roll. At £10 we needed to.
The next quest was to locate the Days Inn hotel in Nanaimo, easy we thought; we had the map off Tripit on the iPhone. As an added navigation aid I decided to turn on ‘roaming’ on the iPhone, so we could use the Google Maps as well as the on board Canada mapping app, and we now had decent paper maps as well. Despite one wrong turn, we got to the section of road where the Days Inn should be, but, no sign. Lots of passes, looking at maps, taking GPS readings, unanswered phone calls, nothing. We tried
other stretches of the same road, no sign. We got lost several times, and found our way back. We found the Travelodge, Toolmart, Best Western, Holiday Inn, Ferry terminal; we went everywhere, no Days Inn. Eventually we went back on the road we missed due to our wrong turn, and several miles away from where we were searching, was another road with the same name, and guess what, the Days Inn hotel! It was about now that the iPhone announced it had just consumed all of the £30 credit I had on it, all in 90 minutes. Needless to say ‘roaming’ is not roaming anymore!
All is well now though. It is 9.00pm, we are settled in our air conditioned room, and Derinda is watching TV with her eyes closed. She has nearly mastered boiling water in a coffee percolator; we have tea, coffee, sugar and milk. We had a nice meal in the restaurant. The scenery is beautiful, the people friendly, the cars awesome. Whilst we were having our lunch I heard this wonderful sound of a V8 going past, and turned around to see an old white box van! Even the most ordinary vehicles sound unbelievable!
We are getting on ok with the Jeep. It is comfortable, quick on getaways when you pull out in front of people, tight turning circle for those frequent U turns, and copes well when you go up kerbs. It is also confusing – I turned off the Autostart in the menu as I hate machines doing things on their own – and now it doesn't start up on its own when you unlock it!
Weather forecast is between 22C to 27C and sunny, which has got Derinda in a spin as she has only bought cold weather clothes.
Anyway, I had better join Derinda, it’s been a tough day…………
Jet Lag Jottings
Well here we are!
The flight was fine, the upgrade was excellent. We had trouble booking in; the guy
couldn’t find the reservation. We just looked at each other thinking here we go again. But then he found it had an optional upgrade applied, £500 a person for free, so we were well chuffed. We had a separate compartment on the jumbo, only eight seats wide instead of ten, and as much legroom as we wanted. Endless free drinks, roast dinner to start, sandwiches at the end. Individual movies, TV, papers, flight socks, blanket, pillow, overnight kit.
We slept a little, Derinda more than me, because I was sat still my joints were painful. Luckily I could stand up behind our seats, as we were at the rear of our compartment, and stretch a bit, but it would have been unbearable in an economy seat. Will dose
some painkillers for the return trip.
We got the Jeep Grand Cherokee we had booked, had the choice between that and a better spec Ford something, but we
liked the Jeep better for our needs. The Avis chap asked where we were going, and I said the Island and up to Williams Lake, and he looked happy. I omitted to mention Bella Coola and the gravel road up ‘The Hill’, or the small forays we might have to the odd National Park, but we did take the ‘all-risks’ insurance as it seemed a good idea.
The Hotel was just down the road from the airport, we found it straight away using the GPS on the iPhone. Trouble was we passed it
on the opposite side of the dual carriageway. We came off the first junction to do a U turn, and just ended up on another dual carriageway. We tried the same manoeuvre on the next junction, and just ended up on another dual carriageway.
By now I think we were heading towards the USA, with no idea where we were. It was about now that I was thinking the £35 for the Tom Tom Canada mapping software actually wasn’t a lot of money, and perhaps I should have bought it!
However, Derinda got serious with the iPhone, and put her glasses on, and we navigated back to the Hotel with much success.
The Accent hotel was fine, a treble bed, A/C, outside door Motel style, and all very clean. It had free Wi-Fi, but we were well past posting on blogs by this time. It was 10.00 pm local time, but 6.00am GMT, and we were both pretty shattered. Derinda sat in
bed watching Top Gun for the 23rd time, whilst I fell straight asleep.
Apart from a brief phone call about 3.00am (Hayley!), I slept fairly well, Derinda not quite as well, but we both felt better the next day.
The ferry across to Vancouver Island was next on the agenda this morning, Wednesday, I think? We set off early for the 11.00 ferry, and again did battle with the dual carriageway driving on the wrong side thing. Derinda had directions, a map of sorts, and sat
swearing at the iPhone GPS, as she does. Despite this, it went to plan, and we ended up on the 10.00 ferry. I grabbed a table in the cafeteria bit whilst Derinda sourced some scrambled egg and burnt bacon, and we were on our nautical way. Our route went between the islands off Swartz Bay, just as I went up to test out the smoking area, and the scenery was really beautiful. Timber seaside cabins on rocky shorelines against a forest hillside setting. What had been a cloudy start cleared to a sunny blue sky, and all was well in our world.
We left the ferry and headed across towards Victoria, then our next hotel at Nanaimo. Lunch was needed and we had no provisions, so we looked out for somewhere to stop. There were loads of places, little clusters of shops, restaurants and supermarkets, all on the southbound carriageway. Not a lot of good to us on the northbound though. We decided to head into a town in our quest, and Derinda, impressively without her glasses, spotted a Tourist Office sign. Despite her usual navigation system of telling me to turn left whilst pointing right, we stumbled across it. We left with bundles of guides and maps, and the directions to the Ladysmith supermarket, which loaded the Jeep with goodies. Real teabags and fresh milk at last! We sat in the sun outside the adjacent coffee shop, determined to extract all the enjoyment we could from our tea, coffee and shared beef roll. At £10 we needed to.
The next quest was to locate the Days Inn hotel in Nanaimo, easy we thought; we had the map off Tripit on the iPhone. As an added navigation aid I decided to turn on ‘roaming’ on the iPhone, so we could use the Google Maps as well as the on board Canada mapping app, and we now had decent paper maps as well. Despite one wrong turn, we got to the section of road where the Days Inn should be, but, no sign. Lots of passes, looking at maps, taking GPS readings, unanswered phone calls, nothing. We tried
other stretches of the same road, no sign. We got lost several times, and found our way back. We found the Travelodge, Toolmart, Best Western, Holiday Inn, Ferry terminal; we went everywhere, no Days Inn. Eventually we went back on the road we missed due to our wrong turn, and several miles away from where we were searching, was another road with the same name, and guess what, the Days Inn hotel! It was about now that the iPhone announced it had just consumed all of the £30 credit I had on it, all in 90 minutes. Needless to say ‘roaming’ is not roaming anymore!
All is well now though. It is 9.00pm, we are settled in our air conditioned room, and Derinda is watching TV with her eyes closed. She has nearly mastered boiling water in a coffee percolator; we have tea, coffee, sugar and milk. We had a nice meal in the restaurant. The scenery is beautiful, the people friendly, the cars awesome. Whilst we were having our lunch I heard this wonderful sound of a V8 going past, and turned around to see an old white box van! Even the most ordinary vehicles sound unbelievable!
We are getting on ok with the Jeep. It is comfortable, quick on getaways when you pull out in front of people, tight turning circle for those frequent U turns, and copes well when you go up kerbs. It is also confusing – I turned off the Autostart in the menu as I hate machines doing things on their own – and now it doesn't start up on its own when you unlock it!
Weather forecast is between 22C to 27C and sunny, which has got Derinda in a spin as she has only bought cold weather clothes.
Anyway, I had better join Derinda, it’s been a tough day…………
Vancouver Island West Coast
Friday, 2 September 2011
Ucluelet
Well the Days Inn was good. We were befriended by a part First Nations lady over breakfast, which was interesting, but delayed our departure a little. We headed through Nanaimo and across to Parksville, then Port Alberni. From there on the scenery was fantastic, with snow-capped mountains, fast flowing rivers, and roads clinging to the mountainsides.
We stopped off several places, waterfalls, old forests, and checked out an 800 year old pine tree. We manoeuvred our way to a Tim Horton’s (or something like that – a sort of Canadian McDonalds) for lunch – it was on the eastbound carriageway, and we found the junction we used only had a half set of traffic lights – great fun!
We were in bear country, so we were straining our eyes to see one, and Derinda put her glasses on. Kilometre after kilometre
and no sign, then all of a sudden I glanced one in a bush on a roadside lay-by. We swerved off the highway and sat to watch, but it had gone. Then 20 yards away it appeared complete with its Mum, just down a logging track. We briefly had a great view, and got a couple of pictures. I looked around and Derinda was bouncing up and down on her seat with joy!
We arrived at the Snug Harbour Inn in Ucluelet around 5.30, found it fine. Amazing location, high up with great views over a secluded inlet with the Pacific Ocean beyond. It is a sort of up market B&B purpose built with around six rooms. Our room has a balcony overlooking the sea, four poster brass bed, Jacuzzi bath and all the trimmings.
There is a communal lounge with kitchen, leading out onto the patio with a hot tub, then a path down to the rocky foreshore with a further patio area. There is a telescope focussed on the Bald Eagle nest on the island just out to sea, and some bells on the patio gateway to warn if bears come up the path, But of course there is a downside, well for me at least, the whole place is non-smoking. So I have to sneak out down the drive and hide behind the Jeep to have a smoke – I can’t even get in, because the bloody Jeep is non-smoking as well. If I wasn’t so stressed out about it, I might give up!
Well, it’s 9.30, and Derinda has been asleep since 9.00, and she didn’t even put the TV on. We had a look see where the whale trip was departing from tomorrow, and tried this little quaint café style place. It was certainly popular. I had seafood chowder, and then we both had coconut prawns and chips. Sounds different and it certainly was – excellent!
Well I am off out to check the Jeep one last time, then I suppose it’s another early night………
Ucluelet
Well the Days Inn was good. We were befriended by a part First Nations lady over breakfast, which was interesting, but delayed our departure a little. We headed through Nanaimo and across to Parksville, then Port Alberni. From there on the scenery was fantastic, with snow-capped mountains, fast flowing rivers, and roads clinging to the mountainsides.
We stopped off several places, waterfalls, old forests, and checked out an 800 year old pine tree. We manoeuvred our way to a Tim Horton’s (or something like that – a sort of Canadian McDonalds) for lunch – it was on the eastbound carriageway, and we found the junction we used only had a half set of traffic lights – great fun!
We were in bear country, so we were straining our eyes to see one, and Derinda put her glasses on. Kilometre after kilometre
and no sign, then all of a sudden I glanced one in a bush on a roadside lay-by. We swerved off the highway and sat to watch, but it had gone. Then 20 yards away it appeared complete with its Mum, just down a logging track. We briefly had a great view, and got a couple of pictures. I looked around and Derinda was bouncing up and down on her seat with joy!
We arrived at the Snug Harbour Inn in Ucluelet around 5.30, found it fine. Amazing location, high up with great views over a secluded inlet with the Pacific Ocean beyond. It is a sort of up market B&B purpose built with around six rooms. Our room has a balcony overlooking the sea, four poster brass bed, Jacuzzi bath and all the trimmings.
There is a communal lounge with kitchen, leading out onto the patio with a hot tub, then a path down to the rocky foreshore with a further patio area. There is a telescope focussed on the Bald Eagle nest on the island just out to sea, and some bells on the patio gateway to warn if bears come up the path, But of course there is a downside, well for me at least, the whole place is non-smoking. So I have to sneak out down the drive and hide behind the Jeep to have a smoke – I can’t even get in, because the bloody Jeep is non-smoking as well. If I wasn’t so stressed out about it, I might give up!
Well, it’s 9.30, and Derinda has been asleep since 9.00, and she didn’t even put the TV on. We had a look see where the whale trip was departing from tomorrow, and tried this little quaint café style place. It was certainly popular. I had seafood chowder, and then we both had coconut prawns and chips. Sounds different and it certainly was – excellent!
Well I am off out to check the Jeep one last time, then I suppose it’s another early night………
Ucluelet
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Sea Safari
Today was the first of three whale watching tours, three hours on a sixty foot boat out in the Pacific Ocean.
Now I hate boats. I can just about stand an hour stood outside on the channel ferry on a calm day, but that’s it. So Derinda’s birthday treat was my nightmare!
So what do you need for breakfast before a boat trip? Toast, cereal, porridge, or something bland? We had smoothes and spicy pizza topped with scrambled egg and cheese, followed by pecan syrup sponge. Well I left the spicy pizza base and passed on the pecan delight and I did manage to keep it all down, just. There were several green passengers just as pleased to reach terra firma at the end of the trip as me!
It was good for the purpose, we saw a couple of whales, one many times, as well as eagles, seals, etc. What started as a cloudy
day turned into blue skies and brilliant sunshine.
We took a drive over to Tofino, saw the surfing beaches, National Park, and I did catch Derinda looking out for bears on the way back with her eyes closed? We have seen several deer in Ucluelet, one in a garden and one walking up the road last night while we were eating dinner.
Tonight was a very posh birthday dinner, and Derinda is finishing off now with her usual watching TV with her eyes closed bit. I am just looking forward to what culinary delights await us for breakfast?
Oh well, better go check the Jeep one last time……….
Sea Safari
Today was the first of three whale watching tours, three hours on a sixty foot boat out in the Pacific Ocean.
Now I hate boats. I can just about stand an hour stood outside on the channel ferry on a calm day, but that’s it. So Derinda’s birthday treat was my nightmare!
So what do you need for breakfast before a boat trip? Toast, cereal, porridge, or something bland? We had smoothes and spicy pizza topped with scrambled egg and cheese, followed by pecan syrup sponge. Well I left the spicy pizza base and passed on the pecan delight and I did manage to keep it all down, just. There were several green passengers just as pleased to reach terra firma at the end of the trip as me!
It was good for the purpose, we saw a couple of whales, one many times, as well as eagles, seals, etc. What started as a cloudy
day turned into blue skies and brilliant sunshine.
We took a drive over to Tofino, saw the surfing beaches, National Park, and I did catch Derinda looking out for bears on the way back with her eyes closed? We have seen several deer in Ucluelet, one in a garden and one walking up the road last night while we were eating dinner.
Tonight was a very posh birthday dinner, and Derinda is finishing off now with her usual watching TV with her eyes closed bit. I am just looking forward to what culinary delights await us for breakfast?
Oh well, better go check the Jeep one last time……….
Port Alberni
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Salmon Fest
Breakfast was actually an omelette today, so it went down well. We took a trip down the steps to the seashore after, blue skies, blue sea, rugged rocky coastline, and just sat on the rocks savouring the moment – wonderful!
We set off on our 250km trek to Campbell River, but stopped off in Port Alberni on the way. There was a Labour weekend Salmon Festival on, so we went to take a look. The locals launch their boats and race up the river, catch the biggest salmon they can find, race back, and get them weighed. The heaviest over the weekend wins. Derinda found me a trailer
selling tea, then we both shared a smoked salmon barbeque lunch. We were offered a fresh salmon free by a chap we sat next to, but had no way of keeping it, it was just a ten pounder – he said the winner will be forty pounds plus. Great day!
We drove on and got on Highway 19, a fairly empty dual carriageway all the way to Campbell River. Derinda put her sunglasses on, a less than cunning plan, the true reason becoming apparent as soon as she started snoring. 25C and blue skies fringed with mountains, glorious.
We pulled into the Travel Inn, our abode for two nights. It lacks the location and splendour of previous nights, but has two very important benefits. An excellent A/C unit and (civilisation at last) a smoking area.
We did a quick tour. I was expecting a sleepy fishing / tourist place, but found a busy town full of commerce. It even has a Wal Mart, we are quite excited about going there, and will take my camera!
There are a few motor dealers here as well, so might have a look around. We saw a V10 pick-up today, real monster. The Grand Cherokee is just a compact SUV over here; it is dwarfed by some of the pick-ups. And the Coastguard gets the same SUVs the FBI use, the big black ones – I want one!
Oh well, the film Derinda wasn’t watching has finished, so better go now……..
Salmon Fest
Breakfast was actually an omelette today, so it went down well. We took a trip down the steps to the seashore after, blue skies, blue sea, rugged rocky coastline, and just sat on the rocks savouring the moment – wonderful!
We set off on our 250km trek to Campbell River, but stopped off in Port Alberni on the way. There was a Labour weekend Salmon Festival on, so we went to take a look. The locals launch their boats and race up the river, catch the biggest salmon they can find, race back, and get them weighed. The heaviest over the weekend wins. Derinda found me a trailer
selling tea, then we both shared a smoked salmon barbeque lunch. We were offered a fresh salmon free by a chap we sat next to, but had no way of keeping it, it was just a ten pounder – he said the winner will be forty pounds plus. Great day!
We drove on and got on Highway 19, a fairly empty dual carriageway all the way to Campbell River. Derinda put her sunglasses on, a less than cunning plan, the true reason becoming apparent as soon as she started snoring. 25C and blue skies fringed with mountains, glorious.
We pulled into the Travel Inn, our abode for two nights. It lacks the location and splendour of previous nights, but has two very important benefits. An excellent A/C unit and (civilisation at last) a smoking area.
We did a quick tour. I was expecting a sleepy fishing / tourist place, but found a busy town full of commerce. It even has a Wal Mart, we are quite excited about going there, and will take my camera!
There are a few motor dealers here as well, so might have a look around. We saw a V10 pick-up today, real monster. The Grand Cherokee is just a compact SUV over here; it is dwarfed by some of the pick-ups. And the Coastguard gets the same SUVs the FBI use, the big black ones – I want one!
Oh well, the film Derinda wasn’t watching has finished, so better go now……..
Campbell River
Monday, 5 September 2011
Campbell River
I am just back from over the road at the Travel Inn. It’s a bit different to the UK. Over the road here we have
the sea. I sat on one of the thousands of logs washed up and watched and listened to the waves gently lapping on the beach. It is late evening, the sun has just set, and Quadra Island is silhouetted over the sea, set against the backdrop of snow-capped mountains on the mainland. The lighthouse on Cape Mudge
is gently flashing its warning light, and a solitary seagull is slowly passing by. Behind me the silence is occasionally punctuated by the glorious sound of a custom V8 pickup passing by. This is Campbell River.
I learnt of the car show from a fellow guest this morning, so off we set to the Quay area. Sure enough the streets had been taken over by all manner of classic cars and hot rods, I was in heaven. Everything you could imagine, from classic hot rod coupes, T
birds, Galaxy’s, Shelby Cobras, Vipers (0-60 3.4 seconds!), a V8 Toyota 70 series, MG’s, an Austin A30 pickup, and a custom motor home. All with rock music on the PA system. Likely around 200 cars in all.
So our plan for the day started late, which was Strathcona Provincial Park and Gold River. Most of the driving to and at Strathcona was lakeside, which means little until you realise the lake is about 50 km long. You tend to pay attention driving these roads;
they consist mostly of bends clinging to the mountainside. On the way down you are on the side of the 100 foot drop into the lake, but they use natural crash barriers to stop you driving into the water, a few trees. Admittedly the odd bad bit has a 2 foot high concrete barrier, but only when there aren’t any trees, which means you are right over the water. The return trip is less hazardous; you just need to stay out of the 3 foot deep storm drain on the land side.
The scenery is breath-taking, crystal clear lakes fringed with fir trees, topped by snow-capped mountains. We took in a waterfall, a wide stony riverbed, the lake itself, and a mine at the end of the road. There were a few locals out on boats or just sat on the water’s edge, but so much space and so few people. At times we went 20 minutes without seeing another vehicle, and if we had a vehicle
behind us we would let them pass so we could be on our own.
After that we headed across to Gold River, without really knowing what was there, but we were getting hungry, and had not passed any sort of food place for four hours, in fact we hadn’t passed anything apart from leisure spots and lay-bys for four hours. The route took us through another part of the park, it is a quarter of a million hectares in total, and Derinda had her first drive for a few km’s. Gold river is a small township, very clean, as is all BC, with nice mostly single storey timber houses. We found the local Deli, which sold fried chicken and filled rolls, and took these to a local park by the river. Having satisfied our hunger we walked down to the ‘beach’, a stony riverbed with gently flowing water about a foot deep by up to 20 yards wide. There were a couple of families with kids playing in the water, one white water rafting on a lilo ring, all very safe, and just yards from the houses, although right in the forest. It was 27C by this time, blue skies and just so hot. We were sat by the water when Derinda saw her second black bear, just 30 yards up the beach from us, walking across some rocks. We wanted it to come our way, whilst the Canadian people were trying to get it to go away, but in between times I got it on video.
After this we headed back to Campbell River, the end of our 250km day trip. But the best was yet to come. We needed a couple of provisions, so an excellent reason for our virgin visit to none other than Wal Mart! We followed this with dinner in a, we guess, fairly typical Canadian Diner. Which brings me back to where I started.
Derinda has just started her 53rd viewing of Jurassic Park, having not actually managed to see it all on the previous 52 attempts. I am leaving it to her to sort out when we are picking up our dog and taking her back to her real home, and to reply to Wayne and Christine, but let’s not hold our breath, the eyes are fading fast!
Monday, 5 September 2011
Derinda's version
I thought it was time for to add a bit to the blog. Firstly I no longer resemble a hamster; the antibiotics have kicked in thank goodness. I do seem to have been affected by jet lag which I thought would be on our return but all I seem to do is want to sleep, maybe it is all the miles we are doing or maybe it is Phil’s driving along the hairpin roads, just joking. It is all probably due to us trying to fit in as much as possible. Three weeks is far too short a time to see everything.
The scenery is amazing and the photos will not be able to really show just how wonderful it all is. The sea and lakes are a deeper blue than the cloudless sky against a backdrop of fir tree covered mountains which still have snow in places. I definitely didn't expect such hot weather; I have few short sleeve T shirts and only walking trainers and boots.
Poor Phil, what with having to cope with all the boat trips, not being able to smoke when and where he wants, he had to go
almost all day today without a cup of tea and his dinner included his hated broccoli, urgh.. We are slowly getting kitted out with our own tea, sugar, and coffee and now after the excitement of visiting Wal-Mart, we have a mug each as well as spoons to use instead of the plastic sticks supplied.
Off to Port McNeill tomorrow for another two boat trips, one leaves from Telegraph Cove and so we will have a good look around there as Wayne and Christine have suggested.
Will sign off now, more blogs later ...... by the way, I was watching Indiana Jones and not Jurassic Park.
Derinda
Campbell River
I am just back from over the road at the Travel Inn. It’s a bit different to the UK. Over the road here we have
the sea. I sat on one of the thousands of logs washed up and watched and listened to the waves gently lapping on the beach. It is late evening, the sun has just set, and Quadra Island is silhouetted over the sea, set against the backdrop of snow-capped mountains on the mainland. The lighthouse on Cape Mudge
is gently flashing its warning light, and a solitary seagull is slowly passing by. Behind me the silence is occasionally punctuated by the glorious sound of a custom V8 pickup passing by. This is Campbell River.
I learnt of the car show from a fellow guest this morning, so off we set to the Quay area. Sure enough the streets had been taken over by all manner of classic cars and hot rods, I was in heaven. Everything you could imagine, from classic hot rod coupes, T
birds, Galaxy’s, Shelby Cobras, Vipers (0-60 3.4 seconds!), a V8 Toyota 70 series, MG’s, an Austin A30 pickup, and a custom motor home. All with rock music on the PA system. Likely around 200 cars in all.
So our plan for the day started late, which was Strathcona Provincial Park and Gold River. Most of the driving to and at Strathcona was lakeside, which means little until you realise the lake is about 50 km long. You tend to pay attention driving these roads;
they consist mostly of bends clinging to the mountainside. On the way down you are on the side of the 100 foot drop into the lake, but they use natural crash barriers to stop you driving into the water, a few trees. Admittedly the odd bad bit has a 2 foot high concrete barrier, but only when there aren’t any trees, which means you are right over the water. The return trip is less hazardous; you just need to stay out of the 3 foot deep storm drain on the land side.
The scenery is breath-taking, crystal clear lakes fringed with fir trees, topped by snow-capped mountains. We took in a waterfall, a wide stony riverbed, the lake itself, and a mine at the end of the road. There were a few locals out on boats or just sat on the water’s edge, but so much space and so few people. At times we went 20 minutes without seeing another vehicle, and if we had a vehicle
behind us we would let them pass so we could be on our own.
After that we headed across to Gold River, without really knowing what was there, but we were getting hungry, and had not passed any sort of food place for four hours, in fact we hadn’t passed anything apart from leisure spots and lay-bys for four hours. The route took us through another part of the park, it is a quarter of a million hectares in total, and Derinda had her first drive for a few km’s. Gold river is a small township, very clean, as is all BC, with nice mostly single storey timber houses. We found the local Deli, which sold fried chicken and filled rolls, and took these to a local park by the river. Having satisfied our hunger we walked down to the ‘beach’, a stony riverbed with gently flowing water about a foot deep by up to 20 yards wide. There were a couple of families with kids playing in the water, one white water rafting on a lilo ring, all very safe, and just yards from the houses, although right in the forest. It was 27C by this time, blue skies and just so hot. We were sat by the water when Derinda saw her second black bear, just 30 yards up the beach from us, walking across some rocks. We wanted it to come our way, whilst the Canadian people were trying to get it to go away, but in between times I got it on video.
After this we headed back to Campbell River, the end of our 250km day trip. But the best was yet to come. We needed a couple of provisions, so an excellent reason for our virgin visit to none other than Wal Mart! We followed this with dinner in a, we guess, fairly typical Canadian Diner. Which brings me back to where I started.
Derinda has just started her 53rd viewing of Jurassic Park, having not actually managed to see it all on the previous 52 attempts. I am leaving it to her to sort out when we are picking up our dog and taking her back to her real home, and to reply to Wayne and Christine, but let’s not hold our breath, the eyes are fading fast!
Monday, 5 September 2011
Derinda's version
I thought it was time for to add a bit to the blog. Firstly I no longer resemble a hamster; the antibiotics have kicked in thank goodness. I do seem to have been affected by jet lag which I thought would be on our return but all I seem to do is want to sleep, maybe it is all the miles we are doing or maybe it is Phil’s driving along the hairpin roads, just joking. It is all probably due to us trying to fit in as much as possible. Three weeks is far too short a time to see everything.
The scenery is amazing and the photos will not be able to really show just how wonderful it all is. The sea and lakes are a deeper blue than the cloudless sky against a backdrop of fir tree covered mountains which still have snow in places. I definitely didn't expect such hot weather; I have few short sleeve T shirts and only walking trainers and boots.
Poor Phil, what with having to cope with all the boat trips, not being able to smoke when and where he wants, he had to go
almost all day today without a cup of tea and his dinner included his hated broccoli, urgh.. We are slowly getting kitted out with our own tea, sugar, and coffee and now after the excitement of visiting Wal-Mart, we have a mug each as well as spoons to use instead of the plastic sticks supplied.
Off to Port McNeill tomorrow for another two boat trips, one leaves from Telegraph Cove and so we will have a good look around there as Wayne and Christine have suggested.
Will sign off now, more blogs later ...... by the way, I was watching Indiana Jones and not Jurassic Park.
Derinda
Port McNeill
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Port McNeill
Our tour is pretty well mapped out, the Coast Caribou circle route, although I think we are going around backwards!
Tonight we are in Port McNeill, a small sleepy coastal town stead based around a fairly busy harbour. Tiny compared to Campbell River, and in the north of the island, which is a pretty remote region. Another 200km north, we have two nights here, in a fairly new two storey pine timber motel of 40 rooms. It has an indoor pool and gas barbeque area, and includes breakfast. It is much fresher than the Travel Inn, which was a little past it’s prime, but sadly is without A/C. Room is huge, and overlooks the town and harbour.
Derinda has been confused by the weather. Thermals and cold weather gear yes, but summer stuff no. She had no sandals that went with her trousers that converted to shorts, so of course she couldn’t take the legs off. Hence our first priority of the day was a second trip to Wal-Mart. I also picked up a cooler bag for the entourage of essential supplies such as milk, tea, sugar, etc. We then tried out somewhere called ‘Canadian Superstore’, a bit like an upmarket Wal-Mart, it was a lovely shop, such a wonderful choice. There is certainly a good standard of living over here.
Next stop was Campbell River Museum, really interesting, and quite shocking how we treated the indigenous ‘First Nations’ population. How the salmon and lumber industry grew is fascinating.
After a few stops (but no bear sightings) we arrived at our destination. We had a quick trip up to Telegraph Cove, a remote old telegraph station 25km south, now just a collection of wooden buildings put to tourist use, and a small harbour. We inspected the boat for tomorrow’s whale trip, about 60 foot, so ok I suppose. At least it is calm, the weather forecast is excellent, and it is on the sheltered east coast. No Orca’s seen today, but a breeching Humpback, so Derinda is more excited than usual. Our second boat trip, I might get some sea legs, perhaps later this century?
Labour Day here today, so lots of RV’s and fifth wheel pick-ups heading south after the holiday weekend. Guess life will be more typical here tomorrow onwards.
Telegraph Cove
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Whales and Workers
The motel has been transformed. It was only a quarter full last night, but has no vacancies
tonight. We have been invaded by workers, mostly utility companies, including a complete road marking crew, and a few fishermen. The parking lot is brimming with a half dozen trucks and twenty pickups.
Today was an early start to get over to Telegraph Cove and a Stubbs Island Whaling trip. The area is populated mainly by Orca’s, Killer Whales, but these have headed away for a while. Instead we saw the much rarer Humpback Whales, seven in total, plus porpoises, walruses and seals. The real highlight was a school of around 400 dolphins, we got in
amongst them and they played around the boat, skimming and jumping along as fast as we could go. It was a real problem knowing where to point the camera.
The sea was like a millpond, well mostly. The day started with some light cloud, but soon turned to blue skies and brilliant sunshine. This afternoon it was burning our skin through our trousers, it was so hot. Derinda had her usual quandary that she had her normal trousers on this morning and wanted her leg-offs on this afternoon. She actually had the A/C on her side in the Jeep.
She saw another bear this morning raiding a bin, but sadly we had no time to stop and watch. We are getting acquainted with the birds now; we know Blue Jays, but not the red ones yet. Crows are pretty tame around the towns, and of course Bald Headed
Eagles are everywhere.
We did a garden tour this afternoon, just a private garden with the owner taking us around, interesting. There was a bear in the
woods just a few yards away, but their dog chased it away. Nobody over here seems to understand that we actually want to see bears! Not the Cougars though, unless we are in the car, there is a local campsite closed because it is too dangerous to camp there at the moment.
Tomorrow guess what we are doing, yes, another boat trip. Off on a slightly smaller boat to god knows where, but this time it is 4-5 hours. Great! Derinda was pleased we get lunch provided, like I want to eat food on a boat!
Hey Ho!
Whales and Workers
The motel has been transformed. It was only a quarter full last night, but has no vacancies
tonight. We have been invaded by workers, mostly utility companies, including a complete road marking crew, and a few fishermen. The parking lot is brimming with a half dozen trucks and twenty pickups.
Today was an early start to get over to Telegraph Cove and a Stubbs Island Whaling trip. The area is populated mainly by Orca’s, Killer Whales, but these have headed away for a while. Instead we saw the much rarer Humpback Whales, seven in total, plus porpoises, walruses and seals. The real highlight was a school of around 400 dolphins, we got in
amongst them and they played around the boat, skimming and jumping along as fast as we could go. It was a real problem knowing where to point the camera.
The sea was like a millpond, well mostly. The day started with some light cloud, but soon turned to blue skies and brilliant sunshine. This afternoon it was burning our skin through our trousers, it was so hot. Derinda had her usual quandary that she had her normal trousers on this morning and wanted her leg-offs on this afternoon. She actually had the A/C on her side in the Jeep.
She saw another bear this morning raiding a bin, but sadly we had no time to stop and watch. We are getting acquainted with the birds now; we know Blue Jays, but not the red ones yet. Crows are pretty tame around the towns, and of course Bald Headed
Eagles are everywhere.
We did a garden tour this afternoon, just a private garden with the owner taking us around, interesting. There was a bear in the
woods just a few yards away, but their dog chased it away. Nobody over here seems to understand that we actually want to see bears! Not the Cougars though, unless we are in the car, there is a local campsite closed because it is too dangerous to camp there at the moment.
Tomorrow guess what we are doing, yes, another boat trip. Off on a slightly smaller boat to god knows where, but this time it is 4-5 hours. Great! Derinda was pleased we get lunch provided, like I want to eat food on a boat!
Hey Ho!
Port Hardy
Thursday, 8 September 2011
No Trains or Planes, just Boats......
I am sat on our third floor balcony overlooking the harbour. The sky is a clear blue and it is 25C, the gulls are gently calling, I have a cup of tea in one hand and a cigarette in the other. To my left is a small fleet of fishing boats and opposite them a collection of small boats and yachts, all safely moored in the
harbour for the night. Over the other side of the inlet are a cargo boat and a logging station with booms encircling logs floating in the sea, providing a perch for a flock of seagulls. An empty log barge sits idle on the water like a
solitary soldier guarding the logs, a sea plane having just passed it on another journey to some remote island waterway. There are several cabins almost hidden in the fir trees opposite, and somewhere a chain saw is quietly humming. At the head of the inlet the fir trees come down to meet the sea, and to my right another sea plane sits tied to a dock next to the pilot’s boat. Out in the
distance there is a fishing boat returning, gently rippling the otherwise still clear blue sea, with the snow-capped mountains on the mainland as a backdrop. At my feet a half dozen seagulls are trolling the foreshore at low tide, finding tasty morsels, whilst a heron has just landed in the water’s edge and is stealthily wading the shallows and grabbing passing fish with incredible ease.
In deeper water a seal will occasionally bob its head up, and just as quickly disappear, whilst once in a while a salmon will launch itself skywards. Overhead the cloudless sky is patrolled by a circling Bald Headed Eagle.
All is well in our world.
This is Port Hardy.
Our day started well, with a good breakfast, Derinda cooking her first waffle. We emerged from our room to a blue sky and a
nearly empty parking lot, the maintenance crews having disappeared like ghosts in the early morning mist. We headed downtown to the quay, just a one minute drive, and booked in for another boat trip, five hours this time. This one was a fifty foot twin prop aluminium craft capable of 30 knots. After the usual introductions about a dozen of us headed off at speed southwards. It is a tight
knit community, and all the fishing boats and water planes report back whale sightings, so we knew where to go. It was a 30 minute trip getting out, almost to the mainland, much the same location as the previous day. Today the Orcas were back, a pod of about ten, and they were performing. The seven Humpback whales were still in residence as well, so we were surrounded. Breaching, tail
flips, and lots of manoeuvres I know not the name of. The highlight was a Humpback blowing right next to the boat, then swimming around and under us – it couldn’t have been any closer unless it had jumped in. We backed off, as the closest we are supposed to be is 100 metres, but this one had decided different.
We had fish chowder and a roll for lunch, and yes I enjoyed it! The skipper remarked that it is very rare to get a clear blue sky without any wind; it really was like a millpond, not a ripple anywhere. We also captured views of seals, sea lions, porpoises, eagles, and had a few dolphins swim along with us. It couldn’t have been any better.
So guess what’s on the agenda for tomorrow? Yes, another boat trip! This time a lot bigger, but a lot longer. We are just heading back to the mainland, Bella Coola to be precise. A bit like the Isle of Wight ferry, Canadian style - twelve hours forty five minutes………. I
think we might need sandwiches.
No Trains or Planes, just Boats......
I am sat on our third floor balcony overlooking the harbour. The sky is a clear blue and it is 25C, the gulls are gently calling, I have a cup of tea in one hand and a cigarette in the other. To my left is a small fleet of fishing boats and opposite them a collection of small boats and yachts, all safely moored in the
harbour for the night. Over the other side of the inlet are a cargo boat and a logging station with booms encircling logs floating in the sea, providing a perch for a flock of seagulls. An empty log barge sits idle on the water like a
solitary soldier guarding the logs, a sea plane having just passed it on another journey to some remote island waterway. There are several cabins almost hidden in the fir trees opposite, and somewhere a chain saw is quietly humming. At the head of the inlet the fir trees come down to meet the sea, and to my right another sea plane sits tied to a dock next to the pilot’s boat. Out in the
distance there is a fishing boat returning, gently rippling the otherwise still clear blue sea, with the snow-capped mountains on the mainland as a backdrop. At my feet a half dozen seagulls are trolling the foreshore at low tide, finding tasty morsels, whilst a heron has just landed in the water’s edge and is stealthily wading the shallows and grabbing passing fish with incredible ease.
In deeper water a seal will occasionally bob its head up, and just as quickly disappear, whilst once in a while a salmon will launch itself skywards. Overhead the cloudless sky is patrolled by a circling Bald Headed Eagle.
All is well in our world.
This is Port Hardy.
Our day started well, with a good breakfast, Derinda cooking her first waffle. We emerged from our room to a blue sky and a
nearly empty parking lot, the maintenance crews having disappeared like ghosts in the early morning mist. We headed downtown to the quay, just a one minute drive, and booked in for another boat trip, five hours this time. This one was a fifty foot twin prop aluminium craft capable of 30 knots. After the usual introductions about a dozen of us headed off at speed southwards. It is a tight
knit community, and all the fishing boats and water planes report back whale sightings, so we knew where to go. It was a 30 minute trip getting out, almost to the mainland, much the same location as the previous day. Today the Orcas were back, a pod of about ten, and they were performing. The seven Humpback whales were still in residence as well, so we were surrounded. Breaching, tail
flips, and lots of manoeuvres I know not the name of. The highlight was a Humpback blowing right next to the boat, then swimming around and under us – it couldn’t have been any closer unless it had jumped in. We backed off, as the closest we are supposed to be is 100 metres, but this one had decided different.
We had fish chowder and a roll for lunch, and yes I enjoyed it! The skipper remarked that it is very rare to get a clear blue sky without any wind; it really was like a millpond, not a ripple anywhere. We also captured views of seals, sea lions, porpoises, eagles, and had a few dolphins swim along with us. It couldn’t have been any better.
So guess what’s on the agenda for tomorrow? Yes, another boat trip! This time a lot bigger, but a lot longer. We are just heading back to the mainland, Bella Coola to be precise. A bit like the Isle of Wight ferry, Canadian style - twelve hours forty five minutes………. I
think we might need sandwiches.
Bella Coola
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Wi-Fi at last!
We set off from our hotel in Port Hardy at 8.0 am for the 15 minute trip to the BC Ferry port. Various
formalities and loading take 2 hours, and 10.15 sees our departure from Vancouver Island. The ferry is a fairly old 375 foot vessel with one passenger deck, 2 vehicle decks under, and 2 outside decks over. It has all you need, and was only about two thirds full, but we missed out on the reclining seats, not knowing you need to grab these first – with quite a few Germans on board these all had coats and bags on them.
Now it was still like a mill pond, although a very foggy one, but once we hit the Pacific Ocean there was quite a swell, enough for the boat to roll a lot. Advised to keep our seats, some passengers brave enough to walk around ended up on the floor! This went on in varying degrees for about four hours until we hit the more sheltered waters on the first inlet. At this point the fog cleared and we went up on deck Whale watching.
Having become quite proficient, we can now spot a spout at around three miles, and during the afternoon we spotted around ten Humpbacks that passed by a few hundred metres away. The scenery was stunning, winding our way through inlets between mountains. We were well catered for with food, and for the evening meal there was a barbeque outside on the fore deck, the day being warm and sunny. The boat was turned around for this so the smoke was kept away from the passengers and went backwards (although being a roll on / roll off, it made little difference). However, this put the smoking area on the aft deck in the front, which just proves that barbeque smoke must be worse than cigarette smoke? Having lost time in the fog being unable to maintain the usual 15 knots, we were running over an hour behind schedule. This eventually put us in the dock at Bella Coola around 12.30 midnight. This was just a mooring, without any lighting, and the ship used searchlights to see where to dock, which took quite
a while. Eventually we disembarked and drove the couple of miles to the Bella Coola Inn and our bed.
The next day I was tired, and we mooched around the place a little, taking in the General Store, a food store, and a small Café. The
population is around 80% Nuxalk, the local First Nations tribe of aboriginal Indians, some of whom live in Bella Coola, others on a reservation further along the valley. Further up still are the cabins of Hagensborg, where the Norwegians first settled, and now very much inhabited by BC Canadians.
It is a very sad tale of what we did to the indigenous population, who had lived here seemingly since the beginning of time (10,000 years in fact), in total harmony with the environment. We gave them Smallpox and other western diseases which decimated
their population from 50,000 to 5,000 in just one generation, we banned their tribal customs, took 99.5% of their lands, and put all their children into boarding schools to indoctrinate them with our customs and beliefs. We have only been here 200 years and have created havoc, but it would seem conservation, the environment and the native population are now high on the Canadian agenda. It seems a very rich country with excellent living standards and a very friendly relaxed population, but we are still to fathom out exactly what people do for a living?
We took in the Bella Coola Museum, luckily since it was its last open day of the season. Most settlers came with a free passage and were given 160 acres of land, but that was forest that had to be cleared by hand, a house built, livestock cared for, crops sown, soil dug. It must have been a really hard existence.
We then visited all the trails and points of interest we could find. The area from Bella Coola to Williams Lake consists of just one
road, Highway 20, 300 miles of it. We chatted to a lady at the Café, who visits her local Wal-Mart just twice a year. It takes her three days, and yes, her nearest one is in Williams Lake.
We started at the sea, North Bentinck Arm, the narrow channel between mountains that was our final seafaring trip on the
Ferry, one of many travelled the last two thirds of our journey. After half a mile off road at the start of Highway 20 we found a Hydro plant at the base of a waterfall, there were other sights to be seen on this dusty potholed track, but as the next nearest was 10 miles away, there seemed little point risking the hire car on such an uncomfortable trip.
Just down from the Hydro was the sea shore, and a picnic area in the woods. There are picnic areas everywhere, all signed, all with toilets and information boards. Derinda has graded most toilets with a minus star rating, but I note she keeps using them! It was here that I spotted the Black Bear climbing down a tree about 15 yards away. I stood videoing him while he clung to the tree watching me. He eventually came to ground and disappeared from view. I wanted a picture of the water, so left Derinda keeping an eye out for the bear whilst I climbed out over the piles of trees which formed the driftwood on the water’s edge. Having spent a few minutes getting out to my desired position, I took my video landscape. It was then that I heard this ‘Christ, he’s running, I’m going to get my feet wet’ as I glimpsed Derinda running towards me, leaping deftly from log to log at incredible speed, covering the ground that had taken me minutes in just seconds! There in the distance under the same tree was the bear watching Derinda’s dexterity with little interest. What is the one thing not to do when you encounter a Bear? Yes, you got it, run away!
The Friday drew to a close without much else happening.
I logged onto the Wi-Fi with the phone ok, but no amount trickery or cajoling would get the laptop to communicate effectively with the wireless modem, so I eventually gave up.
Saturday we have recovered from the Ferry trip, and have had a nice day exploring further up the highway in Hagensborg. We have also moved Hotel to the Bella Coola Mountain Lodge, which is actually in Hagensborg. As a comparison, Bella Coola had four stores and three restaurants, Hagensborg has just one shop. I thought Bella Coola a one horse town, but here just three dogs!
After much exploration we have found a spot where the Saloompt River meets the main Bella Coola River. On the Saloompt we climbed down onto the shingle banks and just watched the Spring Salmon making their way up the river, fighting against the
fast flowing water and jumping up the rapids, and just swimming on the spot whilst recovering in the slower moving lagoons. We could have just reached in and touched them, just feet away. Every so often one would jump right out of the water for no apparent reason, maybe up to a metre high. Sadly many dead Salmon were also in the water.
On the bridge over the Saloompt three Canadians were fishing into the deep wide water five metres below. It was just a couple of
lures dropped in and jerked along through the Salmon below. And there were Salmon below, it was slow moving under the bridge, and the water was black with them, maybe 500 within sight of the bridge. They were pulling one out every few minutes, but letting virtually all of them go again. Not huge, maybe up to 750mm.
We saw a Black Bear on the roadside along this road, and pulled up and took a video of one in someone’s meadow off Highway 20. No Grizzly’s yet though, seems not so many are about this year. We are off on our first Grizzly trip at 7.45 tomorrow, and yes, another boat!
We knew our Ferry, the Queen of Chilliwack, had broken down before our voyage, but learnt today it has broken down again since our voyage. A lady at this Motel is having to fly over to the Island to get there.
Wi-Fi at last!
We set off from our hotel in Port Hardy at 8.0 am for the 15 minute trip to the BC Ferry port. Various
formalities and loading take 2 hours, and 10.15 sees our departure from Vancouver Island. The ferry is a fairly old 375 foot vessel with one passenger deck, 2 vehicle decks under, and 2 outside decks over. It has all you need, and was only about two thirds full, but we missed out on the reclining seats, not knowing you need to grab these first – with quite a few Germans on board these all had coats and bags on them.
Now it was still like a mill pond, although a very foggy one, but once we hit the Pacific Ocean there was quite a swell, enough for the boat to roll a lot. Advised to keep our seats, some passengers brave enough to walk around ended up on the floor! This went on in varying degrees for about four hours until we hit the more sheltered waters on the first inlet. At this point the fog cleared and we went up on deck Whale watching.
Having become quite proficient, we can now spot a spout at around three miles, and during the afternoon we spotted around ten Humpbacks that passed by a few hundred metres away. The scenery was stunning, winding our way through inlets between mountains. We were well catered for with food, and for the evening meal there was a barbeque outside on the fore deck, the day being warm and sunny. The boat was turned around for this so the smoke was kept away from the passengers and went backwards (although being a roll on / roll off, it made little difference). However, this put the smoking area on the aft deck in the front, which just proves that barbeque smoke must be worse than cigarette smoke? Having lost time in the fog being unable to maintain the usual 15 knots, we were running over an hour behind schedule. This eventually put us in the dock at Bella Coola around 12.30 midnight. This was just a mooring, without any lighting, and the ship used searchlights to see where to dock, which took quite
a while. Eventually we disembarked and drove the couple of miles to the Bella Coola Inn and our bed.
The next day I was tired, and we mooched around the place a little, taking in the General Store, a food store, and a small Café. The
population is around 80% Nuxalk, the local First Nations tribe of aboriginal Indians, some of whom live in Bella Coola, others on a reservation further along the valley. Further up still are the cabins of Hagensborg, where the Norwegians first settled, and now very much inhabited by BC Canadians.
It is a very sad tale of what we did to the indigenous population, who had lived here seemingly since the beginning of time (10,000 years in fact), in total harmony with the environment. We gave them Smallpox and other western diseases which decimated
their population from 50,000 to 5,000 in just one generation, we banned their tribal customs, took 99.5% of their lands, and put all their children into boarding schools to indoctrinate them with our customs and beliefs. We have only been here 200 years and have created havoc, but it would seem conservation, the environment and the native population are now high on the Canadian agenda. It seems a very rich country with excellent living standards and a very friendly relaxed population, but we are still to fathom out exactly what people do for a living?
We took in the Bella Coola Museum, luckily since it was its last open day of the season. Most settlers came with a free passage and were given 160 acres of land, but that was forest that had to be cleared by hand, a house built, livestock cared for, crops sown, soil dug. It must have been a really hard existence.
We then visited all the trails and points of interest we could find. The area from Bella Coola to Williams Lake consists of just one
road, Highway 20, 300 miles of it. We chatted to a lady at the Café, who visits her local Wal-Mart just twice a year. It takes her three days, and yes, her nearest one is in Williams Lake.
We started at the sea, North Bentinck Arm, the narrow channel between mountains that was our final seafaring trip on the
Ferry, one of many travelled the last two thirds of our journey. After half a mile off road at the start of Highway 20 we found a Hydro plant at the base of a waterfall, there were other sights to be seen on this dusty potholed track, but as the next nearest was 10 miles away, there seemed little point risking the hire car on such an uncomfortable trip.
Just down from the Hydro was the sea shore, and a picnic area in the woods. There are picnic areas everywhere, all signed, all with toilets and information boards. Derinda has graded most toilets with a minus star rating, but I note she keeps using them! It was here that I spotted the Black Bear climbing down a tree about 15 yards away. I stood videoing him while he clung to the tree watching me. He eventually came to ground and disappeared from view. I wanted a picture of the water, so left Derinda keeping an eye out for the bear whilst I climbed out over the piles of trees which formed the driftwood on the water’s edge. Having spent a few minutes getting out to my desired position, I took my video landscape. It was then that I heard this ‘Christ, he’s running, I’m going to get my feet wet’ as I glimpsed Derinda running towards me, leaping deftly from log to log at incredible speed, covering the ground that had taken me minutes in just seconds! There in the distance under the same tree was the bear watching Derinda’s dexterity with little interest. What is the one thing not to do when you encounter a Bear? Yes, you got it, run away!
The Friday drew to a close without much else happening.
I logged onto the Wi-Fi with the phone ok, but no amount trickery or cajoling would get the laptop to communicate effectively with the wireless modem, so I eventually gave up.
Saturday we have recovered from the Ferry trip, and have had a nice day exploring further up the highway in Hagensborg. We have also moved Hotel to the Bella Coola Mountain Lodge, which is actually in Hagensborg. As a comparison, Bella Coola had four stores and three restaurants, Hagensborg has just one shop. I thought Bella Coola a one horse town, but here just three dogs!
After much exploration we have found a spot where the Saloompt River meets the main Bella Coola River. On the Saloompt we climbed down onto the shingle banks and just watched the Spring Salmon making their way up the river, fighting against the
fast flowing water and jumping up the rapids, and just swimming on the spot whilst recovering in the slower moving lagoons. We could have just reached in and touched them, just feet away. Every so often one would jump right out of the water for no apparent reason, maybe up to a metre high. Sadly many dead Salmon were also in the water.
On the bridge over the Saloompt three Canadians were fishing into the deep wide water five metres below. It was just a couple of
lures dropped in and jerked along through the Salmon below. And there were Salmon below, it was slow moving under the bridge, and the water was black with them, maybe 500 within sight of the bridge. They were pulling one out every few minutes, but letting virtually all of them go again. Not huge, maybe up to 750mm.
We saw a Black Bear on the roadside along this road, and pulled up and took a video of one in someone’s meadow off Highway 20. No Grizzly’s yet though, seems not so many are about this year. We are off on our first Grizzly trip at 7.45 tomorrow, and yes, another boat!
We knew our Ferry, the Queen of Chilliwack, had broken down before our voyage, but learnt today it has broken down again since our voyage. A lady at this Motel is having to fly over to the Island to get there.
Hagensborg
Monday, 12 September 2011
We have Grizzly's Houston!
Well, here we are still in the Canadian Rainforest. 29C today, we sat in the sun this afternoon,
but only for 30 minutes it was so hot. 8.00 pm now, the sun is setting but still shining on the mountain peaks out of our window, turning them a rich red as it slowly goes down.
Our day started early with breakfast at 7.00 am, then after a 30 minute drive inland up the highway we met our zodiac drift boat at a river spot just outside Stuie. The places are getting smaller as we head inland, Stuie has a winter
population of four, so not even a one cat town. 9.00 saw us sat on the river waiting and watching for a bear, our guide Fraser stood in the water, the zodiac sat stuck on some rapids. Then 30 yards away out came a massive male Grizzly, which promptly walked towards us for a few yards, stood as if posing for our cameras, then swam down river a way before stopping for a few salmon. We watched him for about 20 minutes before he disappeared back in the undergrowth on the bank.
There were six of us in the Zodiac, our hosts at the Inn were also our drift guides, Fraser being a Biologist specialising in Bears, plus a Scandinavian couple. We failed to see any more Bears, which was no problem, as our 4km drift was wonderful on its own, and Fraser proving a font of knowledge on Salmon, Bears, wildlife, fauna and the Valley. It seems, amongst many other facts, that 85% of the Valley receives an income from the government, either directly or indirectly, which answered one of our outstanding questions. We did some mild white water rafting at some points, and sat at another having a mid-morning snack. Excellent stuff!
We headed back down the valley, calling in at every side road to explore. Some were picnic areas, mostly riverside, some old forestry tracks. We headed up one dirt track about a mile and climbed a few hundred feet in the process, ending up driving across the top of a small waterfall. Another took us over an old logging bridge over the main river, just timber sleepers over iron girders, 40 foot over the river. These are rated at about 60 ton, but there are no sides and the sleepers rattle as you drive across. Just nobody tell Avis!
Back at the plush log cabin we call home, we called in the general store opposite, which just about sells everything. We stocked up on our basic provisions, and bought our own dinner for Monday night as the Restaurant here is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. For this reason we decided to eat in the Restaurant tonight, I had a seafood dish of Salmon, Mussels, Prawn, Rice, Asparagus, Mange Tout, Sweet corn, Carrot, and several things I have no idea what they were, but it was extremely tasty, and all were
local fresh ingredients. Tomorrow night Derinda is in the kitchen, but only for a couple of oven cooked things.
And yes, the local Salmon is wonderful, and we are being pretty careful with the Grizzly’s, they seem to demand more respect than the Black Bears, not that we will trust them too much!
We have Grizzly's Houston!
Well, here we are still in the Canadian Rainforest. 29C today, we sat in the sun this afternoon,
but only for 30 minutes it was so hot. 8.00 pm now, the sun is setting but still shining on the mountain peaks out of our window, turning them a rich red as it slowly goes down.
Our day started early with breakfast at 7.00 am, then after a 30 minute drive inland up the highway we met our zodiac drift boat at a river spot just outside Stuie. The places are getting smaller as we head inland, Stuie has a winter
population of four, so not even a one cat town. 9.00 saw us sat on the river waiting and watching for a bear, our guide Fraser stood in the water, the zodiac sat stuck on some rapids. Then 30 yards away out came a massive male Grizzly, which promptly walked towards us for a few yards, stood as if posing for our cameras, then swam down river a way before stopping for a few salmon. We watched him for about 20 minutes before he disappeared back in the undergrowth on the bank.
There were six of us in the Zodiac, our hosts at the Inn were also our drift guides, Fraser being a Biologist specialising in Bears, plus a Scandinavian couple. We failed to see any more Bears, which was no problem, as our 4km drift was wonderful on its own, and Fraser proving a font of knowledge on Salmon, Bears, wildlife, fauna and the Valley. It seems, amongst many other facts, that 85% of the Valley receives an income from the government, either directly or indirectly, which answered one of our outstanding questions. We did some mild white water rafting at some points, and sat at another having a mid-morning snack. Excellent stuff!
We headed back down the valley, calling in at every side road to explore. Some were picnic areas, mostly riverside, some old forestry tracks. We headed up one dirt track about a mile and climbed a few hundred feet in the process, ending up driving across the top of a small waterfall. Another took us over an old logging bridge over the main river, just timber sleepers over iron girders, 40 foot over the river. These are rated at about 60 ton, but there are no sides and the sleepers rattle as you drive across. Just nobody tell Avis!
Back at the plush log cabin we call home, we called in the general store opposite, which just about sells everything. We stocked up on our basic provisions, and bought our own dinner for Monday night as the Restaurant here is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. For this reason we decided to eat in the Restaurant tonight, I had a seafood dish of Salmon, Mussels, Prawn, Rice, Asparagus, Mange Tout, Sweet corn, Carrot, and several things I have no idea what they were, but it was extremely tasty, and all were
local fresh ingredients. Tomorrow night Derinda is in the kitchen, but only for a couple of oven cooked things.
And yes, the local Salmon is wonderful, and we are being pretty careful with the Grizzly’s, they seem to demand more respect than the Black Bears, not that we will trust them too much!
On the Mountain
Monday, 12 September 2011
Tale of a dog!
Must tell you about the BC guy we met out on the mountain.
So we have driven up this dirt track hill for about a mile, single track, no real passing places. Then around the next corner comes a kid on his bike, I mean, we are on a mountain, the nearest cabin must be 5 miles away, so where did this kid come from? We pull over a bit and he cycles past.
Next corner we come across this V8 pickup coming the other way. He finds a spot to pull over (which pleases me greatly, as it's like 500 foot down on Derinda's side), and motions me to stop. He leans out his window and says 'lok out for me dawg, he's comin dowrn behind me'.
So we continue, lokin out for his dawg, not quite believing what might happen next. Sure enough, a few bends and a couple of hundred metres later, we see his dawg heading down the track. He’s a big black canine, and looks like he’s a dawg on a mission. We pull over a bit, the dawg slows down to a trot, we exchange glances as I say ‘Howdy dawg’, and then off he continues down the mountain.
So I am guessing this guy has said to his wife ‘It’s Sunday, I’ll take the dog for a walk and the kid for a ride on his bike, Honey’.
So he takes them up the nearest mountain in his pick-up, chucks them out and drives to the bottom and waits for them.
Got it sussed the Canadians, ehh?
Ferry Post Script
We found out today that our ferry here hit something on the way, unbeknown to us, which is the real reason we were so late, seems it just limped into Bella Coola.
It went back to Port Hardy next day empty, and has been withdrawn from service, going back to dock in Vancouver for repairs.
Someone is smiling on us!
Tale of a dog!
Must tell you about the BC guy we met out on the mountain.
So we have driven up this dirt track hill for about a mile, single track, no real passing places. Then around the next corner comes a kid on his bike, I mean, we are on a mountain, the nearest cabin must be 5 miles away, so where did this kid come from? We pull over a bit and he cycles past.
Next corner we come across this V8 pickup coming the other way. He finds a spot to pull over (which pleases me greatly, as it's like 500 foot down on Derinda's side), and motions me to stop. He leans out his window and says 'lok out for me dawg, he's comin dowrn behind me'.
So we continue, lokin out for his dawg, not quite believing what might happen next. Sure enough, a few bends and a couple of hundred metres later, we see his dawg heading down the track. He’s a big black canine, and looks like he’s a dawg on a mission. We pull over a bit, the dawg slows down to a trot, we exchange glances as I say ‘Howdy dawg’, and then off he continues down the mountain.
So I am guessing this guy has said to his wife ‘It’s Sunday, I’ll take the dog for a walk and the kid for a ride on his bike, Honey’.
So he takes them up the nearest mountain in his pick-up, chucks them out and drives to the bottom and waits for them.
Got it sussed the Canadians, ehh?
Ferry Post Script
We found out today that our ferry here hit something on the way, unbeknown to us, which is the real reason we were so late, seems it just limped into Bella Coola.
It went back to Port Hardy next day empty, and has been withdrawn from service, going back to dock in Vancouver for repairs.
Someone is smiling on us!
BC Rain Forest
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Just Another Day in the Valley
We are starting to feel like the Bear Paparazzi! We had a clear day today, and have been seeking
out the best viewing places and times. We did a couple of hours this morning, saw a Black briefly off the official viewing station, then caught a Grizzly off an RV site.
We broke for the hotter part of the day, just around 23C today, and went to the Saloompt River, now one of our favourite spots, and walked the old forest trails. Back to the Motel for a break, we headed back to the viewing station, doing some logging trails along the way. Around 6.00 we caught Bentear Bear again at the viewing station, and then when it closed at 7.00 we headed back to the RV Park. Nothing in sight but we heard from a drift boat that there was one just around the corner. Three of us headed up the bank, and we joined a guide with a visitor on a fisheries track with a good view. It was a Grizzly, and we had a fair view of him fishing. Eventually he headed for the bank near us, so we all backed off. Another guy was still within sight, and we asked his advice as he walked back. Turns out he was a local guy who knew the bear, and said it was fine to get up close. He took us out onto a fisheries boardwalk viewing platform, and the bear just paddled by less than 5 metres below. He stopped to eat two salmon and I got some superb video. We followed him back to the RV Park, and found a couple of other guys we knew by sight sat filming the Grizzly. We all backed off as he passed by the bank, and watched him drift further down the Atnarko River.
There are a few obsessive Bear viewers about; mostly half a dozen Germans camped all day at the viewing station. The Park
Wardens there are chatty and friendly. Then there are 3 or 4 guides, one professional photographer on an assignment, a few locals, and then tourists like us. The tourists and Germans stay on the viewing platform, but we are finding the RV Park a better spot. When I say RV Park, it is normally empty, and is just a free riverside park for whoever wants to use it. There were two RV’s in there for the night tonight though.
On top of this we saw a couple more squirrels, a couple of something like a cross between a Partridge and Pheasant, two deer
and a snake. Surprisingly, considering this place only has one road, we managed to clock over 200 km today. We drove back 30 km this evening without seeing another vehicle until we got back to Hagensborg. And in only two days here I have noticed the locals in pickups have started to wave as we pass by, and more worrying I am waving back……….
Just Another Day in the Valley
We are starting to feel like the Bear Paparazzi! We had a clear day today, and have been seeking
out the best viewing places and times. We did a couple of hours this morning, saw a Black briefly off the official viewing station, then caught a Grizzly off an RV site.
We broke for the hotter part of the day, just around 23C today, and went to the Saloompt River, now one of our favourite spots, and walked the old forest trails. Back to the Motel for a break, we headed back to the viewing station, doing some logging trails along the way. Around 6.00 we caught Bentear Bear again at the viewing station, and then when it closed at 7.00 we headed back to the RV Park. Nothing in sight but we heard from a drift boat that there was one just around the corner. Three of us headed up the bank, and we joined a guide with a visitor on a fisheries track with a good view. It was a Grizzly, and we had a fair view of him fishing. Eventually he headed for the bank near us, so we all backed off. Another guy was still within sight, and we asked his advice as he walked back. Turns out he was a local guy who knew the bear, and said it was fine to get up close. He took us out onto a fisheries boardwalk viewing platform, and the bear just paddled by less than 5 metres below. He stopped to eat two salmon and I got some superb video. We followed him back to the RV Park, and found a couple of other guys we knew by sight sat filming the Grizzly. We all backed off as he passed by the bank, and watched him drift further down the Atnarko River.
There are a few obsessive Bear viewers about; mostly half a dozen Germans camped all day at the viewing station. The Park
Wardens there are chatty and friendly. Then there are 3 or 4 guides, one professional photographer on an assignment, a few locals, and then tourists like us. The tourists and Germans stay on the viewing platform, but we are finding the RV Park a better spot. When I say RV Park, it is normally empty, and is just a free riverside park for whoever wants to use it. There were two RV’s in there for the night tonight though.
On top of this we saw a couple more squirrels, a couple of something like a cross between a Partridge and Pheasant, two deer
and a snake. Surprisingly, considering this place only has one road, we managed to clock over 200 km today. We drove back 30 km this evening without seeing another vehicle until we got back to Hagensborg. And in only two days here I have noticed the locals in pickups have started to wave as we pass by, and more worrying I am waving back……….
Tweedsmuir Provincial Park
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Movin' on up
Did I tell you about the guy taking his log up ‘The Hill’?
Well the road out from here is Highway 20, but from up the road from where we are it is 60km of shingle un-surfaced road before it returns to tarmac. It was built I think in 1953, took two years, with two
teams of mostly volunteers with bulldozers and dynamite working non-stop from either end. It is the only road out of here. The authorities refused to build it, so the people of the valley got together and did it themselves. The problem
was that one end is one mile higher than the other – yes, one mile. The grades are up to 11%, although now better than the 18% when first opened. There are no crash barriers, just sheer drops. It seems there are some mountains in the way.
So this guy in Hagensborg needs to get this log up to his cabin on the hill. Problem is the log is 30 foot long and he only has an 8 foot bay on his pick-up. But he has an old wheeled axle. Sure enough, he puts one end of the log on his pickup bed and the other end on this old axle, so he has like this non-articulated arctic pick-up. So he chains it all in place. We saw it Sunday morning parked outside his cabin in Hagensborg, then again outside here when we went on the drift boat. He was tightening the chains one last time before the hill.
We haven’t seen or heard anymore. Maybe we will pass the log, maybe the axle, maybe even the pickup, when we go up Thursday?
This morning we broke camp at Hagensborg, re-stocked supplies and gas as we don’t know when we will next find somewhere, but know it won’t be for several days, and headed along to Stuie, and Tweedsmuir Park Lodge, our new abode for two nights. This is right between the Bear Viewing Station and our favoured Fisheries RV Park.
Our first stop was the RV Park, we stayed around an hour or more, mostly we were the only ones there, sadly not even the bears turned up. I perched on an old root forking out the Atnarko River bank, just at the water’s edge. What was a cool morning with clouds over the mountains cleared to sunshine and 23C. The river was rippling past, with the splash of a Salmon landing from its skywards fling breaking the otherwise near silence every few minutes. Now and again a larger red sided salmon would land with a louder than usual thud, as up to 30 lbs of fish hit the water. A dragonfly would zigzag past, without ever stopping. The usual backdrop of Mountains stood behind the fir trees that fringed the river, and a resting salmon would now and again swim silently into the still waters in the sheltered lagoon at my feet, away from the swirling current and its relentless journey upstream. A kingfisher would swoop past, only ever stopping at some far branch over the water. Can life get any better?
We headed up to the bottom of the hill, and stopped at a point where the Atnarko River crosses under the road. There was another picnic area, bounded by the river flowing through a fairly flat area of forest. This was further up the river, and the crystal clear water had narrowed from its 30m width at the RV Park to just 3m here. It was still fast flowing, but eerily finding its way through the forest,
seemingly changing route at a whim. The salmon were up here, amazing when you see the torrent of water they have to swim against. We watched them spellbound, finding hidden areas of relative calm to wind their way to their place of birth and death, against overwhelming odds. Only a handful makes it back, and further up we watched them lay their eggs in the carefully selected gravel beds, and then quietly die.
We finished the day by catching a younger Grizzly pass by the viewing platform, and then a Black Bear fishing at the RV Park. We are now both in the BC Rain Forest and Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. The Park is just one of many, this one being 2.4 million acres, which is bigger than Norfolk and Suffolk together.
Life is good.
Movin' on up
Did I tell you about the guy taking his log up ‘The Hill’?
Well the road out from here is Highway 20, but from up the road from where we are it is 60km of shingle un-surfaced road before it returns to tarmac. It was built I think in 1953, took two years, with two
teams of mostly volunteers with bulldozers and dynamite working non-stop from either end. It is the only road out of here. The authorities refused to build it, so the people of the valley got together and did it themselves. The problem
was that one end is one mile higher than the other – yes, one mile. The grades are up to 11%, although now better than the 18% when first opened. There are no crash barriers, just sheer drops. It seems there are some mountains in the way.
So this guy in Hagensborg needs to get this log up to his cabin on the hill. Problem is the log is 30 foot long and he only has an 8 foot bay on his pick-up. But he has an old wheeled axle. Sure enough, he puts one end of the log on his pickup bed and the other end on this old axle, so he has like this non-articulated arctic pick-up. So he chains it all in place. We saw it Sunday morning parked outside his cabin in Hagensborg, then again outside here when we went on the drift boat. He was tightening the chains one last time before the hill.
We haven’t seen or heard anymore. Maybe we will pass the log, maybe the axle, maybe even the pickup, when we go up Thursday?
This morning we broke camp at Hagensborg, re-stocked supplies and gas as we don’t know when we will next find somewhere, but know it won’t be for several days, and headed along to Stuie, and Tweedsmuir Park Lodge, our new abode for two nights. This is right between the Bear Viewing Station and our favoured Fisheries RV Park.
Our first stop was the RV Park, we stayed around an hour or more, mostly we were the only ones there, sadly not even the bears turned up. I perched on an old root forking out the Atnarko River bank, just at the water’s edge. What was a cool morning with clouds over the mountains cleared to sunshine and 23C. The river was rippling past, with the splash of a Salmon landing from its skywards fling breaking the otherwise near silence every few minutes. Now and again a larger red sided salmon would land with a louder than usual thud, as up to 30 lbs of fish hit the water. A dragonfly would zigzag past, without ever stopping. The usual backdrop of Mountains stood behind the fir trees that fringed the river, and a resting salmon would now and again swim silently into the still waters in the sheltered lagoon at my feet, away from the swirling current and its relentless journey upstream. A kingfisher would swoop past, only ever stopping at some far branch over the water. Can life get any better?
We headed up to the bottom of the hill, and stopped at a point where the Atnarko River crosses under the road. There was another picnic area, bounded by the river flowing through a fairly flat area of forest. This was further up the river, and the crystal clear water had narrowed from its 30m width at the RV Park to just 3m here. It was still fast flowing, but eerily finding its way through the forest,
seemingly changing route at a whim. The salmon were up here, amazing when you see the torrent of water they have to swim against. We watched them spellbound, finding hidden areas of relative calm to wind their way to their place of birth and death, against overwhelming odds. Only a handful makes it back, and further up we watched them lay their eggs in the carefully selected gravel beds, and then quietly die.
We finished the day by catching a younger Grizzly pass by the viewing platform, and then a Black Bear fishing at the RV Park. We are now both in the BC Rain Forest and Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. The Park is just one of many, this one being 2.4 million acres, which is bigger than Norfolk and Suffolk together.
Life is good.
Mountain Men
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Mountain Men
Kenny is a mountain man. He grew up here where we are staying, his father being the second owner of the
original Lodge, went off to earn a living logging, and like the salmon has returned to the valley. He seems a part of the place, I guess he retired long ago, but just keeps going. We have seen him a lot on the river; mostly he has his head down, rowing the tourists down the drift floats, although I once received a slight nod of acknowledgement.
He is a lanky grizzly slightly stooped man, with a slow pained weary gait. He doesn’t speak without good reason, and will often just reply to a question with a simple nod. He broke the oar mount on his fibreglass boat, and is having to use his aluminium boat,
finding it hard to glide it across the stony shallows now the river is falling. He has a cabin with a mooring further down the valley, and does all the long drifts.
All the other guides are younger, but still with that mountain look about them, and mostly full of chat and jokes, but Kenny has been there and is past idle chatter. He greeted us with our packed lunch bags, and we grabbed the shuttle for the two minute drive up to the boat launch at the viewing station. We arrived to see a Grizzly on the opposite bank, and I got 15 minutes of video of him feeding on salmon. The Fisheries guys were there as well, preparing for a day harvesting salmon eggs for the Hatchery down the valley. The Grizzly eventually moved downstream, and stopped to pose for the viewing gallery, before continuing further down.
We set off together with two other drift boats, one with a couple fishing, another with two professional photographers on board. We
drifted aimlessly down the crystal clear Atnarko, surrounded by salmon, mostly on their upstream quest, but some spawning, having reached their final destination, others sadly now lying dormant in the water. All was quiet except for the rippling waters, as we drifted, then waited at favourite bear feeding grounds. We passed the couple now set up fishing in a quiet lagoon, and
eventually reached the Fisheries RV Park, waving to the half dozen bear watchers on the bank.
We headed further downstream than we had previously ventured, to find the Photographers moored on the left hand bank watching a Bear on the right hand shingle. The Bear was feeding, but also simply playing in the water, splashing around, often standing up on its rear legs in the water. It swam around, amazingly fast for such a big animal, and then headed over to the
opposite bank just yards from the other boat. There was some fervent rowing, and the other boat moved back upstream. The bear headed back to the shingle, and we moved down to just past the clicking cameras. I got some excellent video, savouring the Bear performing antics seldom seen on the best wildlife programmes. However, I did miss some, as Kenny decided he was hungry, and was rocking the boat in his quest for a sandwich, not at all concerned about eating food 50 yards from a bear. The boat calmed down as Kenny munched, and I got some more footage, then the bear decided to investigate us, and I had to keep zooming out as it swam towards us. At this point the boat began rocking again as Kenny was struggling to move us away, putting his half eaten sandwich on hold. It was a sobering thought that the bear could swim much faster than any man could row, and could run faster than a horse; he was definitely the king of this particular kingdom, and we were here with his permission.
The Bear seemed to be playing with us, because as soon as we moved he lost interest and went back to his shingle. He then moved into the main river that we were about to join, swimming with ease across the much faster flowing current, and walked up on the far bank.
Now where the bear had been stood was where Kenny stopped for lunch, and today was not going to be any different. So he moored the boat on the shingle, and we all got out and ate our packed lunches, exactly where the bear had been having his lunch just minutes earlier. Derinda asked if there was only one bear around, and Kenny remarked that he sometimes sees three where we are, which was not the news Derinda wanted to hear. I must admit, whilst keeping one eye on the bear opposite, I was keeping the other on the six foot tall grass just a few feet away.
We set off into the swirling current of the glacial murkiness of the main river. We had seen the Photographers swept downstream with alarming speed, disappearing out of view within a minute, but Kenny just did what he had done a thousand times before, and we just drifted the currents with ease. Now I had noticed Kenny did look a little tired, often pausing to rub his eyes. And we had
both noticed the constant sips he took from his hip flask. As a precaution I had worked out how to drop the anchor if needed, worst case scenario. But after all, this was Kenny’s back yard. Surrounded by Grizzly bears whilst white water rafting with a guide well past his sell by date, what could go wrong?
We just surfed the currents, the water being indeterminably deep due to the silt, but it was about 20 yards wide, on a river bed over 50 yards wide. There had been a one in two hundred year rain storm a fraction less than a year ago, and literally hundreds of trees littered the river and banks. Kenny recalled how the waters had risen by 10 foot, most bridges had been swept away, and people had been fishing from our cabin veranda, today some 200 yards from the main river. ‘The boat drifts were blocked by logs’ explained our host, ‘but we went up there with chainsaws and cut our way through’, like it was akin to shovelling snow off the
boardwalk. Whilst the rivers were now low by valley standards, the water we were riding would be classed as a storm flood in the UK.
Further down the valley we encountered Bald Eagles, poised silently on their favourite perches, in total around 25 of them. I think they had feasted on the dead salmon, and hoped they seldom encountered shipwrecked tourists, although they did seem to eye us with some interest.
After traversing 6 miles downriver in total, we reached the boat ramp of Kenny’s cabin, nearly five hours after our departure. Some expert guiding and more than a little rowing against the current put us once again on terra firma. Kenny backed up his fairly new Ford 4x4 pick-up, a leviathan beast, winched on the boat to its trailer, and we were land mobile once again. Derinda sat in the middle, and searched for her seatbelt without success. ‘I took them out, we don’t use them down here’ advised Kenny, in one of his longer than usual sentences. I asked about his shed bulging with several tons of logs, ‘yeah, I just sorta go out and collect it. You aren’t supposed to, but I’ve been doing it so long, I become entitled to now’.
Mountain Men
Kenny is a mountain man. He grew up here where we are staying, his father being the second owner of the
original Lodge, went off to earn a living logging, and like the salmon has returned to the valley. He seems a part of the place, I guess he retired long ago, but just keeps going. We have seen him a lot on the river; mostly he has his head down, rowing the tourists down the drift floats, although I once received a slight nod of acknowledgement.
He is a lanky grizzly slightly stooped man, with a slow pained weary gait. He doesn’t speak without good reason, and will often just reply to a question with a simple nod. He broke the oar mount on his fibreglass boat, and is having to use his aluminium boat,
finding it hard to glide it across the stony shallows now the river is falling. He has a cabin with a mooring further down the valley, and does all the long drifts.
All the other guides are younger, but still with that mountain look about them, and mostly full of chat and jokes, but Kenny has been there and is past idle chatter. He greeted us with our packed lunch bags, and we grabbed the shuttle for the two minute drive up to the boat launch at the viewing station. We arrived to see a Grizzly on the opposite bank, and I got 15 minutes of video of him feeding on salmon. The Fisheries guys were there as well, preparing for a day harvesting salmon eggs for the Hatchery down the valley. The Grizzly eventually moved downstream, and stopped to pose for the viewing gallery, before continuing further down.
We set off together with two other drift boats, one with a couple fishing, another with two professional photographers on board. We
drifted aimlessly down the crystal clear Atnarko, surrounded by salmon, mostly on their upstream quest, but some spawning, having reached their final destination, others sadly now lying dormant in the water. All was quiet except for the rippling waters, as we drifted, then waited at favourite bear feeding grounds. We passed the couple now set up fishing in a quiet lagoon, and
eventually reached the Fisheries RV Park, waving to the half dozen bear watchers on the bank.
We headed further downstream than we had previously ventured, to find the Photographers moored on the left hand bank watching a Bear on the right hand shingle. The Bear was feeding, but also simply playing in the water, splashing around, often standing up on its rear legs in the water. It swam around, amazingly fast for such a big animal, and then headed over to the
opposite bank just yards from the other boat. There was some fervent rowing, and the other boat moved back upstream. The bear headed back to the shingle, and we moved down to just past the clicking cameras. I got some excellent video, savouring the Bear performing antics seldom seen on the best wildlife programmes. However, I did miss some, as Kenny decided he was hungry, and was rocking the boat in his quest for a sandwich, not at all concerned about eating food 50 yards from a bear. The boat calmed down as Kenny munched, and I got some more footage, then the bear decided to investigate us, and I had to keep zooming out as it swam towards us. At this point the boat began rocking again as Kenny was struggling to move us away, putting his half eaten sandwich on hold. It was a sobering thought that the bear could swim much faster than any man could row, and could run faster than a horse; he was definitely the king of this particular kingdom, and we were here with his permission.
The Bear seemed to be playing with us, because as soon as we moved he lost interest and went back to his shingle. He then moved into the main river that we were about to join, swimming with ease across the much faster flowing current, and walked up on the far bank.
Now where the bear had been stood was where Kenny stopped for lunch, and today was not going to be any different. So he moored the boat on the shingle, and we all got out and ate our packed lunches, exactly where the bear had been having his lunch just minutes earlier. Derinda asked if there was only one bear around, and Kenny remarked that he sometimes sees three where we are, which was not the news Derinda wanted to hear. I must admit, whilst keeping one eye on the bear opposite, I was keeping the other on the six foot tall grass just a few feet away.
We set off into the swirling current of the glacial murkiness of the main river. We had seen the Photographers swept downstream with alarming speed, disappearing out of view within a minute, but Kenny just did what he had done a thousand times before, and we just drifted the currents with ease. Now I had noticed Kenny did look a little tired, often pausing to rub his eyes. And we had
both noticed the constant sips he took from his hip flask. As a precaution I had worked out how to drop the anchor if needed, worst case scenario. But after all, this was Kenny’s back yard. Surrounded by Grizzly bears whilst white water rafting with a guide well past his sell by date, what could go wrong?
We just surfed the currents, the water being indeterminably deep due to the silt, but it was about 20 yards wide, on a river bed over 50 yards wide. There had been a one in two hundred year rain storm a fraction less than a year ago, and literally hundreds of trees littered the river and banks. Kenny recalled how the waters had risen by 10 foot, most bridges had been swept away, and people had been fishing from our cabin veranda, today some 200 yards from the main river. ‘The boat drifts were blocked by logs’ explained our host, ‘but we went up there with chainsaws and cut our way through’, like it was akin to shovelling snow off the
boardwalk. Whilst the rivers were now low by valley standards, the water we were riding would be classed as a storm flood in the UK.
Further down the valley we encountered Bald Eagles, poised silently on their favourite perches, in total around 25 of them. I think they had feasted on the dead salmon, and hoped they seldom encountered shipwrecked tourists, although they did seem to eye us with some interest.
After traversing 6 miles downriver in total, we reached the boat ramp of Kenny’s cabin, nearly five hours after our departure. Some expert guiding and more than a little rowing against the current put us once again on terra firma. Kenny backed up his fairly new Ford 4x4 pick-up, a leviathan beast, winched on the boat to its trailer, and we were land mobile once again. Derinda sat in the middle, and searched for her seatbelt without success. ‘I took them out, we don’t use them down here’ advised Kenny, in one of his longer than usual sentences. I asked about his shed bulging with several tons of logs, ‘yeah, I just sorta go out and collect it. You aren’t supposed to, but I’ve been doing it so long, I become entitled to now’.
Freedom Road
Monday, 19 September 2011
The Hill
Thursday morning we awoke to light rain, did a quick check at the viewing station after breakfast and caught two more Grizzlies, checked the Fisheries RV without success, and headed for ‘The Hill’.
Now ‘The Hill’ I have mentioned before. We clocked it; it is 20km of seemingly vertical climb, 20km of mountain road, and 40 more km of gravel road.
We hit it about 11.00am, it had been drizzling all night and there was low cloud over the mountain we were about to climb. The soil here is not soil, but glacial volcanic dust that is very fine, finer than clay. There had been two weeks of hot weather on the Hill, covering the gravel / rock road with a thick layer of dust. With the light rain it was now a slimy greasy covering, akin to our rain
on top of dry bare clay. The Hill starts immediately to climb unendingly, the steering went light, and whilst we had traction, we had very little grip. I could feel the constant sideways twitching of the Michelin road tyres, totally against the advice notice at the start to use chains or winter tyres.
Derinda was chattering without any response from me, bar the odd grunt. Eventually she asked if I wanted her to stop talking, and as I tried not to grip the steering wheel quite so tight, I responded with a curt ‘yes’. We were going up with the mountain on our left; it was now a single track quagmire on top of a mixture of rock and rolled gravel. I was clinging to my left hand side, ever conscious that there was just an open edge on my right with a sheer drop. At the same time I had to keep an eye out for approaching vehicles, and there were a few, it being a case of grabbing a wider passing spot on the right hand edge as soon as you saw one coming.
We just kept going up, I was in first and second gears doing just 20 km maximum, then we hit the cloud. Visibility went down to 10 metres, we had all our lights on, and then we saw the articulated truck coming down the hill. Luckily there was a passing space and we pulled over to the edge as far as we dared. I saw the look of total horror on the truck driver’s face as he passed by without ever taking his glazed eyes off his road ahead. How these guys do this is totally beyond me.
As we continued skywards I kept seeing skid marks on the road, some looking like they had gone sideways down the track, tyres
leaving a crumbling gravel wake behind their frantic efforts to grip sideways. We traversed endless switchbacks, which gave some relief as these had to be wide enough for the Arctic’s. Then we saw the sign ‘Grade Leveller Working’. I had not much idea of what this meant, other than it was bad news. It had obviously gone up the mountain as it had left a 300mm high bank of loose gravel in the nearside, which I straddled up the incline. Sure enough we had just passed a passing ledge when it appeared out of the cloud. It was a six wheeler with a blade after the front axle, about ten feet wide. We carefully reversed back down the Hill, almost blind as the reversing camera was totally covered with silt. I pulled forward into the passing bay as close as I dared to the edge, but there
was still not enough room for this machine to pass us by. Derinda put her head out of her window and shouted out instructions as I manoeuvred to within one metre of the edge. Luckily we couldn’t see in the thick cloud, but we knew there were no trees here, just rock, and no 100 foot drop, more like 5000 feet. No bank, no barrier, just a crumbling edge of gravel. I marvelled at how this guy
could do his job, and what his life expectancy might be, as he slipped his mammoth machine past us in its quest to clean the mud and loose gravel from the track.
We continued, there was an hour of this terrain, just as we thought we might be at the top, a switch back would put us back on the edge of the abyss. A utility pickup caught us up, and I pulled over at a passing place to let him by, with A/T tyres and local knowledge he had the advantage. The climb seemed unending, like spending a Groundhog Day hour on Porlock Hill in an unending
mudslide. After 20km and an hour it levelled out, and I stopped to move my somewhat tense muscles. Derinda started chattering again, exploding in verbal descriptions of what she thought of the Hill. We continued some more and hit a sign for Hardman Pass viewing station. We did not stop, despite the cloud preventing any view, we had in any case already seen enough
The Hill
Thursday morning we awoke to light rain, did a quick check at the viewing station after breakfast and caught two more Grizzlies, checked the Fisheries RV without success, and headed for ‘The Hill’.
Now ‘The Hill’ I have mentioned before. We clocked it; it is 20km of seemingly vertical climb, 20km of mountain road, and 40 more km of gravel road.
We hit it about 11.00am, it had been drizzling all night and there was low cloud over the mountain we were about to climb. The soil here is not soil, but glacial volcanic dust that is very fine, finer than clay. There had been two weeks of hot weather on the Hill, covering the gravel / rock road with a thick layer of dust. With the light rain it was now a slimy greasy covering, akin to our rain
on top of dry bare clay. The Hill starts immediately to climb unendingly, the steering went light, and whilst we had traction, we had very little grip. I could feel the constant sideways twitching of the Michelin road tyres, totally against the advice notice at the start to use chains or winter tyres.
Derinda was chattering without any response from me, bar the odd grunt. Eventually she asked if I wanted her to stop talking, and as I tried not to grip the steering wheel quite so tight, I responded with a curt ‘yes’. We were going up with the mountain on our left; it was now a single track quagmire on top of a mixture of rock and rolled gravel. I was clinging to my left hand side, ever conscious that there was just an open edge on my right with a sheer drop. At the same time I had to keep an eye out for approaching vehicles, and there were a few, it being a case of grabbing a wider passing spot on the right hand edge as soon as you saw one coming.
We just kept going up, I was in first and second gears doing just 20 km maximum, then we hit the cloud. Visibility went down to 10 metres, we had all our lights on, and then we saw the articulated truck coming down the hill. Luckily there was a passing space and we pulled over to the edge as far as we dared. I saw the look of total horror on the truck driver’s face as he passed by without ever taking his glazed eyes off his road ahead. How these guys do this is totally beyond me.
As we continued skywards I kept seeing skid marks on the road, some looking like they had gone sideways down the track, tyres
leaving a crumbling gravel wake behind their frantic efforts to grip sideways. We traversed endless switchbacks, which gave some relief as these had to be wide enough for the Arctic’s. Then we saw the sign ‘Grade Leveller Working’. I had not much idea of what this meant, other than it was bad news. It had obviously gone up the mountain as it had left a 300mm high bank of loose gravel in the nearside, which I straddled up the incline. Sure enough we had just passed a passing ledge when it appeared out of the cloud. It was a six wheeler with a blade after the front axle, about ten feet wide. We carefully reversed back down the Hill, almost blind as the reversing camera was totally covered with silt. I pulled forward into the passing bay as close as I dared to the edge, but there
was still not enough room for this machine to pass us by. Derinda put her head out of her window and shouted out instructions as I manoeuvred to within one metre of the edge. Luckily we couldn’t see in the thick cloud, but we knew there were no trees here, just rock, and no 100 foot drop, more like 5000 feet. No bank, no barrier, just a crumbling edge of gravel. I marvelled at how this guy
could do his job, and what his life expectancy might be, as he slipped his mammoth machine past us in its quest to clean the mud and loose gravel from the track.
We continued, there was an hour of this terrain, just as we thought we might be at the top, a switch back would put us back on the edge of the abyss. A utility pickup caught us up, and I pulled over at a passing place to let him by, with A/T tyres and local knowledge he had the advantage. The climb seemed unending, like spending a Groundhog Day hour on Porlock Hill in an unending
mudslide. After 20km and an hour it levelled out, and I stopped to move my somewhat tense muscles. Derinda started chattering again, exploding in verbal descriptions of what she thought of the Hill. We continued some more and hit a sign for Hardman Pass viewing station. We did not stop, despite the cloud preventing any view, we had in any case already seen enough
Tatla Lake
Monday, 19 September 2011
Chilcotin
We were both pleased to be on the Plateau, it was flat high altitude forests and open grasslands dotted with reed fringed ponds. We had hit 1524 metres high at the top of Heckman Pass. The forests were all new growth, the original mammoth timber having long since been felled in man’s insatiable requirement for lumber. We were on our own on this gravel road, we just drove the centre at 60 or 80 km, it was mostly straight, only moving over for the occasional vehicle heading for The Hill. They were so few we acknowledged each other with a friendly wave, much the same as in the Valley.
We were approaching the tarmac road at Anahim Lake. We had covered 80 km since we last passed a cabin, 120 km since the last general store or gas station. We stopped for a couple of minutes by another vehicle viewing a Black Bear at the roadside. We passed the mostly Indian Anahim Lake settlement and headed towards our next night stop at Tatla Lake. I stopped for a Lynx that was
stood by the roadside, and took some photographs as he silently slid back into the forest. We viewed a Moose in the distance Derinda had spotted in a clearing until it was spooked by an RV stopping alongside us.
We were in poor ranching country, with mostly dilapidated cabins appearing now and again. There were no places to stop, except to view the scenery. There were lakes and ponds and rivers, and this unending road. We pulled off the road for our packed lunch,
and stopped again to investigate a wide flat shingle river bed. Around 4.00 pm we hit Tatla Lake, this was just a collection of around a dozen cabins, mostly ramshackle. Tatla Manor Motel was totally ineptly named, it being an old cabin with some outbuildings converted to one room accommodation, motel style. It was on the lake, together with a mostly closed Diner, and a couple of other shacks.
This was the sort of place where you would ignore the Motel sign and keep going hoping for something better further up the road, but we had booked. We walked in to be greeted enthusiastically by a lady preserving loads of apples, who called us by name, and ran through the facilities. It was homely, if a little eccentric, and we had room 1, but without any key, as nobody locked anything around here. It was basic but comfortable, and had the essential Wi-Fi.
We headed into their dining room for dinner at 6.00 pm. It was roast beef with all the trimmings and fresh vegetables out of the garden. There was one other guest, a BC Government engineer, the lady host, and us. We were slowly joined by a bridge engineer, a logger, and eventually her husband. It was a good chatty joking atmosphere, and we learned a lot about the guys work and this part of BC.
It turned out to be a three cat and one dog town, but only on account of the fact we met them all, not by appearances.
Chilcotin
We were both pleased to be on the Plateau, it was flat high altitude forests and open grasslands dotted with reed fringed ponds. We had hit 1524 metres high at the top of Heckman Pass. The forests were all new growth, the original mammoth timber having long since been felled in man’s insatiable requirement for lumber. We were on our own on this gravel road, we just drove the centre at 60 or 80 km, it was mostly straight, only moving over for the occasional vehicle heading for The Hill. They were so few we acknowledged each other with a friendly wave, much the same as in the Valley.
We were approaching the tarmac road at Anahim Lake. We had covered 80 km since we last passed a cabin, 120 km since the last general store or gas station. We stopped for a couple of minutes by another vehicle viewing a Black Bear at the roadside. We passed the mostly Indian Anahim Lake settlement and headed towards our next night stop at Tatla Lake. I stopped for a Lynx that was
stood by the roadside, and took some photographs as he silently slid back into the forest. We viewed a Moose in the distance Derinda had spotted in a clearing until it was spooked by an RV stopping alongside us.
We were in poor ranching country, with mostly dilapidated cabins appearing now and again. There were no places to stop, except to view the scenery. There were lakes and ponds and rivers, and this unending road. We pulled off the road for our packed lunch,
and stopped again to investigate a wide flat shingle river bed. Around 4.00 pm we hit Tatla Lake, this was just a collection of around a dozen cabins, mostly ramshackle. Tatla Manor Motel was totally ineptly named, it being an old cabin with some outbuildings converted to one room accommodation, motel style. It was on the lake, together with a mostly closed Diner, and a couple of other shacks.
This was the sort of place where you would ignore the Motel sign and keep going hoping for something better further up the road, but we had booked. We walked in to be greeted enthusiastically by a lady preserving loads of apples, who called us by name, and ran through the facilities. It was homely, if a little eccentric, and we had room 1, but without any key, as nobody locked anything around here. It was basic but comfortable, and had the essential Wi-Fi.
We headed into their dining room for dinner at 6.00 pm. It was roast beef with all the trimmings and fresh vegetables out of the garden. There was one other guest, a BC Government engineer, the lady host, and us. We were slowly joined by a bridge engineer, a logger, and eventually her husband. It was a good chatty joking atmosphere, and we learned a lot about the guys work and this part of BC.
It turned out to be a three cat and one dog town, but only on account of the fact we met them all, not by appearances.
Heading Back
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Last Legs
After an excellent breakfast of sunny side up eggs, bacon and truly wonderful potatoes patties, we continued our journey eastwards across the plateau. There were mostly ranches of various descriptions, and it became premonitory range country. It was still mostly void of habitation; I suppose redneck country, with a mix of native Indians. We stopped for a drink and some pie at the first respectable diner we came across, it looked a bit like a junkyard out the back, but then most places did.
We passed through numerous townships, but they only consisted of a collection of cabins. Then we descended down and crossed an excellent bridge across the Fraser River, and stopped entranced, well I was, by the giant logging trucks thundering along the highway. With an abrupt end to the wilderness we hit Williams Lake and habitation, traffic, lights, supermarkets, and all the bustle of a busy town.
We continued on to Horsefly, a small township 60km east, where we had been invited to stay with Ivan and Liz, Ivan being the brother of Alan and Ralph. We found their cabin on the edge of town without problem. We enjoyed two nights with them, complete with Moose and Elk roast dinners and pancake breakfasts. Ivan is a hunter and took us up 5000 feet to the top of Horsefly
Mountain to see the view and watch out for wildlife, which was excellent. He also gave us a prospective of Canadian life in a small community, and the virtual self-sufficiency they enjoy.
Sunday morning saw us continuing our journey, now southwards towards Vancouver. We covered well over 400 km, initially through dry mostly open range, then through the gorges formed by the Thompson and Fraser Rivers, which was startling scenery. We hit the township of Hope around 4.00 pm, and after a meal at the local Diner, settled down for the night at the local Travel Inn.
Monday saw us hit the outskirts of Vancouver using the excellent Trans-Canada Highway 1, and with some navigational expertise
from Derinda we hit our Days Inn just after lunch. A trip followed to Grouse Mountain, the Capilano Dam, finishing off with Stanley Park. We crossed Vancouver with a joint effort between Derinda and the GPS, returning to our Hotel in Surrey. We also passed Guildford and Griffiths Street, together with Westminster, and many other British names. Vancouver seemed to be a mix of
Chinese, Asian and white Canadians, and was much like any big city.
This is our last night; tomorrow we hit the Airport and Blighty.
Last Legs
After an excellent breakfast of sunny side up eggs, bacon and truly wonderful potatoes patties, we continued our journey eastwards across the plateau. There were mostly ranches of various descriptions, and it became premonitory range country. It was still mostly void of habitation; I suppose redneck country, with a mix of native Indians. We stopped for a drink and some pie at the first respectable diner we came across, it looked a bit like a junkyard out the back, but then most places did.
We passed through numerous townships, but they only consisted of a collection of cabins. Then we descended down and crossed an excellent bridge across the Fraser River, and stopped entranced, well I was, by the giant logging trucks thundering along the highway. With an abrupt end to the wilderness we hit Williams Lake and habitation, traffic, lights, supermarkets, and all the bustle of a busy town.
We continued on to Horsefly, a small township 60km east, where we had been invited to stay with Ivan and Liz, Ivan being the brother of Alan and Ralph. We found their cabin on the edge of town without problem. We enjoyed two nights with them, complete with Moose and Elk roast dinners and pancake breakfasts. Ivan is a hunter and took us up 5000 feet to the top of Horsefly
Mountain to see the view and watch out for wildlife, which was excellent. He also gave us a prospective of Canadian life in a small community, and the virtual self-sufficiency they enjoy.
Sunday morning saw us continuing our journey, now southwards towards Vancouver. We covered well over 400 km, initially through dry mostly open range, then through the gorges formed by the Thompson and Fraser Rivers, which was startling scenery. We hit the township of Hope around 4.00 pm, and after a meal at the local Diner, settled down for the night at the local Travel Inn.
Monday saw us hit the outskirts of Vancouver using the excellent Trans-Canada Highway 1, and with some navigational expertise
from Derinda we hit our Days Inn just after lunch. A trip followed to Grouse Mountain, the Capilano Dam, finishing off with Stanley Park. We crossed Vancouver with a joint effort between Derinda and the GPS, returning to our Hotel in Surrey. We also passed Guildford and Griffiths Street, together with Westminster, and many other British names. Vancouver seemed to be a mix of
Chinese, Asian and white Canadians, and was much like any big city.
This is our last night; tomorrow we hit the Airport and Blighty.