September road trip: Williams Lake and Barkerville

The next destination was Williams Lake, about 4 hours east of Anahim Lake. The road is unpaved until about Nimpo Lake, but after that it is easy driving. About half way we stopped at Bull Canyon Provincial Park to walk around a bit. 

Before reaching Williams Lake we turned south on a gravel road toward Farwell Canyon. There is a great view of the canyon. Someone we talked to in Williams Lake said that because of the flooding and landslides recently, the shape of the canyon and river at the bottom has changed significantly.

Williams Lake is real ranch country. I think the Williams Lake Stampede is the second biggest rodeo next to the Calgary Stampede. True to form, on the way to Farwell Canyon we saw cowboys on horses rounding up cattle. 

Williams Lake is fairly small, and we got some recommendations for places to eat and get coffee, from the man at the Eagles Nest Resort. There is also a craft brewery in town called Fox Mountain Brewing. 

While in the Chilcotins, Celene wanted to do some horseback riding. When I was planning the trip I enquired at a couple of places, but everything was booked up. We asked again at the Tourist Information Center in Williams Lake, but the only places they knew about were about an hour and a half away, closer to 100 Mile House. 

The next day we had a full day in Williams Lake. We did laundry, walked around town, looked in the Station House Gallery, and stopped for coffee at The Bean Counter.  At a bulletin board at the back of the coffee shop there was a poster for horseback riding,  just outside town, called Wyld Whisper Trails. It is run by one person, Bobi. We called her up and arranged for horseback riding the next day.  The rest of the day we took it easy, went to the craft beer place.

The next morning we went horseback riding. We met Bobi at her ranch and she set us up with boots and horses, and we road for a couple of hours on and off trail in the surrounding woods. She has a real love of horses and knows a lot. I haven't been on a horse since I was a kid, but it was very comfortable.

In the afternoon we drove to Barkerville, a perfectly preserved mining town from the gold rush of the late 1800's.  

 I had been there a couple of years ago, so I booked the same place I'd stayed in last time, the authentic St. George Hotel, right in the middle of the town. Everything inside is from the 1800s, so it is quite an experience to stay there. The host also dresses in costume. There a beautiful sitting area where we had breakfast and met other guests. That night we had dinner in the nearby town of Wells. 

We had one full day in Barkerville. Unfortunately the programming like the shows and tours had already finished for the season, and the hotel was the only thing open, but it was still very interesting to walk around and read about the buildings. There is also a trail that goes a few kilometers beyond Barkerville to what was once a mining town called Richfield, but all that remains is the old courthouse. It was interesting that along the path, which follows Williams Creek, there were signs indicating active claims. So the area is still being searched for gold!

The day before while driving from Williams Lake, we stopped at the tourist information center in Quesnel. There we saw a poster about an old silent movie show with panio accompaniment, at the 100 year old theatre in Wells. The woman at the St. George Hotel knew about it and highly recommended it. 

So in the late afternoon we went to Wells, spent some time looking around, had dinner, and went to the show. Wells dates back to about the 1930's, and now it is an artistic community. There is the Island Mountain Arts organization, which had programs and events like shows and workshops. We visited the gallery of Peter Corbett, located in an old church, and saw his amazing oil paintings of mountain landscapes. We had dinner at the Wells Hotel, and then went to see the show at the Sunset Theatre. The show was a lot of fun, featuring a couple of silent films of Buster Keaton, and the pianist was a known jazz musician from the area, Patrick Courtin. 

The next day was the first of two long driving days back to Vancouver. We stopped overnight at Cache Creek. By chance, that day there was a large old-fashioned car show in the park beside the hotel. People came from all around, and there were cars of the 1960's, 1930's, and even earlier.

Finally, the last day of the road trip, driving from Cache Creek to Vancouver, via the old No. 1 highway.

September road trip: Anahim Lake

The next destination after Bella Coola was in the Chilcotins, just on the other side of Tweedsmuir Park, at the end of Anahim Lake. It was not a long distance to drive, but we had to climb 'The Hill' to Heckman Pass. I'd heard so much about it that I was nervous to start the day. The Hill climbs over 1000 m in less than 20 km, and the grade on some of the switchbacks is over 15%. Apparently trucks and RV's can't do the switchback turns at once, but have to do a three-point turn to get around them. It is gravel, no guardrails, and a sheer drop-off on the side. Fortunately the road was widened a few years ago, so it actually wasn't that bad. The reputation was worse than the reality.

Once up on the Chilcotin plateau, the climate and landscape were totally different - from the lush coastal zone of Bella Coola to the dry rolling hills of the Chilcoltins. The road continued unpaved for the rest of the day, and after a couple of hours we reach the Eagles Nest Resort on the west side of Anahim Lake. It has a rustic lodge with a beautifully decorated, ornate restaurant inside with a view of the lake. The rooms in the surrounding buildings were simple but had everything we needed, and it was very quiet. There was a nice garden in the front for sitting, and we hung out there for a while before dinner. The resort is run by an elderly couple and the wife prepares all the meals. 

The next day I took the car and drove about 40 minute west back to Tweedsmuir Park to do the Rainbow Range hike, while Celene stayed at the resort to do a walk on a trail by the lake. The Rainbow Range hike is 9km one way, and fairly flat, through amazing scenery. The first part climbed a bit through an area that was burned by forest fire a few years ago. 

There were great views of the coastal mountains to the west.

It then flattened out to a rolling, sub-alpine forest with small lakes, with views of the rainbow range to the northeast. 

Geologically, the area was formed by a combination of volcanic activity and glaciation. The different colours of the volcanic rock give the range it's name.

On the hike I met a group of seniors from Calgary with backpacks, and they doing a five-day hike all the way to the Burnt Bridge Loop Trail in the Bella Coola area. It is all part of a larger trail system called the Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail. 

I hiked to the end of the day-hike trail, had lunch, and turned around. On the way back I met a Danish couple who were on the ferry, and who we sat with at the Beer and Burger night at the legion in Bella Coola. 

A little while later I met another couple who had been on the ferry. They were a young couple and they said they had been camping, and asked about accommodation. I told them about the Eagles Nest Resort.

I made my back to the resort. Celene's easy hike turned out to be more stressful than planned, since she had a close encounter with a bear. We had dinner at the resort and called it a night.

The next day I got up early and went to the dock on the lake to watch the morning mist. 

I saw something swimming and diving by the dock. I tried to get a picture of it. It's face look like a rodent, so I figured it was a muskrat.

In the morning, on the recommendation of the man at the resort, we followed a gravel highway south for about 10 km and then a logging road for a while, to get to Hotnarko Canyon. It is a large canyon formed of volcanic rock with walls of large basalt square columns in places. 

In the afternoon we drove a bit further east of the resort, to the little town of Anahim Lake, and had a late lunch at Donna's Place. Next we continued east to another little place called Nimpo Lake and walked around a bit. 

Back at the resort, we sat in the garden and chatted for a while with the young couple from the ferry that I had met on the hike and told about the resort.

September road trip: Bella Coola

I have always wanted to do one of the long ferry rides up the coast. The ferry we took goes up a long inlet to Bella Coola, and it takes about 10 hours. It is famous for the spectacular West Coast scenery.  We were at the ferry dock in Port Hardy before 6:00 am, and we sat in the waiting room with coffee with everyone else. We boarded the ferry, and for the first hour it was still kind of dark and foggy. Fortunately there was lots of room on board so I stretched out on a seat and had a nap.

As the fog started to lift there was a kind of rainbow.

During the day there was the great views of the mountains along the inlet. 

The ferry was not that busy, so we met many of the people on board. It was funny that over the next week, we kept bumping into people we'd met on the ferry. There was also a person from Bella Coola Tourist Information, who gave us lots of useful information about shopping, what to see, the road condition, etc. 

By 5:00pm we pulled into Bella Coola. We picked up some groceries at the local Co-op and made our we about 10km east to Hagensborg where our hotel was, the Bella Coola Mountain Lodge. We made dinner in the room and just hung out there for the evening.

The next morning we got up early and headed back to the dock, for a half day of kayaking in the Bella Coola inlet with Aegir Kayaking. It is a one-man show with Hunter, our guide, providing kayaks, and taking us around the estuary at the end of the inlet and then down the other side to the side of an abandoned cannery. It was a fantastic, sunny, calm day for kayaking. Hunter was full of information on the local ecology and Bella Coola in general. I didn't know what to expect about Bella Coola, but I thought it was interesting when he said we should think of it more as a mountain town, rather than a coast one. And it's true. The local mountains rival what we saw in the Rockies. And there is a ton of hiking to do, although it is more difficult to access. While kayaking we saw salmon coming into the estuary, and eagles. We stopped at the old cannery site for lunch and then headed back.

Afterward we poked around the town of Bella Coola itself for a bit, looked in some art galleries, but the place is very small. There is actually more towards Hagensborg. Hunter told us that on Thursday, the little place beside our hotel has good pizza, so we went there for dinner. In general, it seems many of the shops and restaurants seem to open kind of randomly now and then. Very laid back.

The next day we drove east toward the Belarko Bear Viewing Platform, which is run by BC Parks in September when the grizzly bears come down to the creeks to fish for salmon. Before we went there, however, we stopped in at a place the Tourist Information person told us about: a day use area and campground called Fisheries Pool. It is inside the Tweedsmuir Park area. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, we knew something was up. There was a group of people at one end, all pointing their big cameras off to one direction. We parked and walked toward them, and sure enough, there was a grizzly fishing in the creek. He was not bothered by us at all, although everyone was good about keeping their distance. After he caught something he went into a shaded pool to eat, and then walked down the creek right past us.

This year apparently the pink salmon run was very good. Looking into the creek you could see was full of them. 

For lunch we stopped at the beautiful Tweedsmuir Lodge. The staff were really great about letting us hang out for a bit. 

In the afternoon we did the short Burnt Bridge Loop Trail hike for a couple of hours. 

It has some great views of the mountains in the area.

For dinner, Hunter had told us that Friday at the local legion was a burger and beer night, so we went there. It turned out that most of the people we met on the ferry were there as well, so it was a lot of fun.

September road trip: North Vancouver Island

 Like I said in the last post, this year we decided to a couple of local road trips instead of international trips. The second road trip was a two-week trip in September: North Vancouver Island, the ferry to Bella Coola, Tweedsmuir Park in the Chilcotins, Barkerville in the Cariboo, and back down to Vancouver.

This post is about the first part: North Vancouver Island. 

The first day was mostly driving to Port McNeil in the North Island. I love the remoteness of the North Island. Previously we've been there for kayaking trips, but now we'll have a couple of days to explore a bit more. We arrived at Port McNeil and checked into the Black Bear Resort, which is fairly basic looking but has nice facilities like an outdoor BBQ spot, sauna, and breakfast. While we were doing our BBQ for dinner there as a large group of people outside preparing for their kayaking trip, leaving from nearby Telegraph Cove the next day. 

The next day we got up early to catch the small ferry to Alert Bay. It is a small island that is mostly a native town, and the former site of an infamous residential school. We had been there before briefly, but just by walking, so we didn't have much chance to look around. This time we had a great local experience and we saw a lot. As it turns out, a couple of weeks before the trip, Celene was visiting friends in the Okanogan and met Amanda, who was visiting from Alert Bay. Since we were in the neighbourhood, she offered to meet us and show us around. Not only that, she invited us to a potlatch that happened to be going on that day. The potlatch was in the 'Big House' up the hill on the edge of town, and it was full of about a thousand people. It seemed most of the island was there, as well as many visitors. People from different nations on the coast all came to perform their dances. It was a great experience. The protocol was interesting: no getting up to leave during a dance. And there was apparently a fine if you fell down or caused any disturbance. After some time at the potlatch (it goes on for at least a couple of days) we went to Amanda's mothers place for a bite to eat, and she drove us around the island a bit.

On the ferry back we saw several otters in the water. It was hard to get a good picture by here goes. 

Back in Port McNeil, we had dinner at a craft brewery called Devils Bath Brewing. Love the name: Apparently named after a cenote (flooded sinkhole) that is outside of Port Alice in the North Island.  

The next day we drove a rough logging road to Little Huson Cave, where a creek runs through a large cavern. 

The water was very clear, and the weather turned out to be warm enough that, despite the rough road to get there, there we a lot of people swimming.

In the evening we stopped at Telegraph Cove to look around. Very picturesque and lots of history, with these old wooden structures on stills dating back to the early 1900s. We had dinner there at the Old Saltery Pub.

The next day was just a drive to Port Hardy, which is only about 30km north of Port McNeil. The ferry leaves from Port Hardy and we have to be there before 6:00am, so I wanted to stay in Port Hardy the night before. Since it was close, we still had most of the day to look around. We turned onto Highway 30 which goes west to Port Alice. On the way we stopped at the Marble River Recreation Site, where we did an 8km hike along the river. It was a mostly easy hike with view nice views of the river. 

 We drove all the way to Port Alice, which very small (one coffee shop, one restaurant) and at the end of some very steep road down to the inlet. It felt very remote.

By the end of the day we drove to Port Hardy, and checked into the nice, native-run Kwalilas Hotel. After dinner there we walked down to the water, where some teens were fishing for salmon and pulling in one after the other. 

Calgary road trip, June 2024

This year, instead of an international trip, we decided to do a couple of local road trips. The first was to Calgary, in June. I grew up in Calgary, and have not been back in many years. Also, Celene had still never done the drive through the Rockies. And I actually really like road trips.

The first day was from Vancouver to Revelstoke. We took the usual route through Hope, and up the Coquihalla Highway towards Kamloops. The town of Merritt is about half way up the Coquihalla, and instead of passing right by like we always do, we decided to stop and have look. It has a historical, kind of old west feel to it. We went into Baillie House, which is part tourist information center and part store full of knick-knacks. Kind of fun to poke around.

We continued up to Kamloops and on to Revelstoke. At Revelstoke, instead of staying in town, we stayed at the Coast Hillcrest Hotel which is up the hill off the highway east of town. Nice place with great view of Mt. Begbie. Even better, it is just a few minutes walk from Mt. Begbie Brewery. 

The next day we continued east, with a stop at a cafe in Golden for a coffee and a snack. Then continued on to Lake Louise. When I was planning the trip, I had assumed we could just stop and drive right in and have a look at Lake Louise. By chance, a couple of weeks beforehand, when visiting a friend of Celene's who was familiar with the area, he said: "so did you book the shuttle?" To which I replied "What shuttle?" That's how I found out that you really can't drive into Lake Louise any more. Just too many people. Parks Canada has a shuttle from the large parking lot at the Lake Louise ski resort, which you can book online 48 hours in advance. Fortunately I got a spot, and we were able to go to Lake Louse and Moraine Lake. This was the start of Celene's real introduction to the spectacular scenery of the Rocky Mountains. 

From there we continued straight to Canmore where we stayed at a very nice apartment from Spring Creek Vacations. 

Once we settled in, in the evening we drove to the Kananaskis area. We enjoyed the Kananaskis Nordic Spa, which was amazing with several different temperature pools, steam rooms, and saunas. Afterward had dinner in the hotel there.

The next day we spent in Banff. We had booked the Gondola for a certain arrival time. As we drove into Banff we saw that it was best to park at this huge parking lot just on the edge of town. Just too many people visiting to even think about driving into town. And this wasn't even peak season. It was a short walk to the main street, and a packed public bus ride to the Gondola. 

A short ride up the gondola and there was the fantastic scenery of the Rockies, overlooking Banff. And a couple of young bighorn sheep. 

Afterward we spent time exploring the Banff town.

Later in the day, back in Canmore, we met some very interesting people. Celene's friend Patrick, who told us about the Lake Louise shuttle, is in his 90's and had written a memoire. Since we were visiting this area, he asked if we could drop off the memoire to a couple of friends of his who live here. We all met at a pub in Canmore, and they were people who have spent their lives in the mountains. One of the friends was an expert on hydrology and consults for the UN, the other was pioneering ski and mountain guide. There was also Lynn Martel who wrote a book, 'Stories of Ice', which I bought a bookstore there and I highly recommend it.

The next day Celene wandered around the beautiful town of Canmore while I went on a hike I've wanted to do for a long time. It is the Stanley Glacier hike. Here's the story: When I was about 6 years old my parents took me on this hike. At that time the area had just been burned down by a forest fire, and I remember being fascinated as I walked through the area of charred trees. We stopped just at the tree line, from which I got my very first view of a glacier. Now, the area has a lot of new growth, but you can still see the burned logs on the ground underneath, with some charred trees still sticking up.

I walked to the tree line where I'm pretty sure we stopped before. I then kept going to the end of the loop trail. Only one side of the loop was passable because there was still too much snow. On the way I got a view of the (much smaller) glacier that I saw all those years ago.

The next day we drove the Icefield Parkway to Jasper. This must be some of the best scenery in the world, with the mountains towering on either side so that you feel like you are in the land of giants. We stopped at the Columbia Icefields.

We continued to Jasper where we stayed one night. We spent the evening looking around town and getting something to eat. Kind of surreal to think that a few weeks later, a third of the town was destroyed by wildfire, and a lot of the stores and restaurants we stopped at are no longer there.

The next day we drove from Jasper to Calgary.

We stayed for three nights with my friend Adrian, who was my neighbour during my high school years. We went over to the old houses where we used to live.

We also met up with a couple of Celene's high school friends, who moved to Calgary many years ago, and we haven't seen them in about 12 years. We met at a restaurant, and we were so busy catching up that whenever the waitress came to take our order, we still hadn't looked at the menu. 

We had a free day while in Calgary, so we drove to Drumheller. Celene has never been, and I don't think I'd been since I was a kid. 

It was very cool to see the Hoodoos and the badlands like Horseshoe Canyon again.

The next day we drove back to Vancouver, via another overnight stop in Revelstoke. On the way we stopped at Field, just inside BC. A small, historic place, where we found a nice pottery studio called Velvet Antler Pottery, where I bought a beautiful mug with a hand-engraved picture of a mountain on the side.