On Day 26 after spending
eight consecutive days in six Canadian national parks, we return to
civilization by taking the Yellowhead Highway to Prince George, BC.
Leaving Jasper NP and Alberta, we enter Mount Robson Provincial Park
in British Columbia and change our clocks to Pacific time. Mount
Robson is the most impressive peak we have seen so far. It is the
tallest in the Canadian Rockies at 12,972 feet. The summit topped
with fresh snow is majestic in the morning light, surrounded by
forests.
We keep driving west and
stop at Beaver Falls hoping to see some migrating salmon. The only
one we see is on the camera screen of a fellow hiker. We console
ourselves with our delicious sushi lunch. We continue driving
through forests and mountains rarely interrupted by towns until we
reach Prince George, BC. We are surprised at how empty this part of
British Columbia is. On the contrary, Prince George, is claimed as
BC's capital of the north. It's a pretty large town at the
crossroads of important railroads, highways, and rivers. We take
advantage of being in a city to do some grocery shopping at the Real
Canadian Superstore. Then head to our hosts' place. We take BC 97
north, then turn left on a smaller road, then turn right on an even
smaller dirt road, and follow that road even when it takes us into an
unmarked territory on our GPS. After finding the house number, we
drive into a very dense and young forest before arriving to our
destination. We see an unfinished house surrounded by a large
garden, a green house, and some livestock. We are greeted by our
hosts and a big bearlike dog. We spend the rest of the evening
talking with the family over some mint tea and cookies. We find out
their oldest son is also traveling around the continent but with only
his bike and a tarp, mostly stopping in forests to sleep.
The next day we wake up
with the roosters, and we leave pretty early after being sent off
with some fresh tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, and green beans. We
take BC 97 south through the Gold Rush Trail. This trail is closely
related to the history of British Columbia. In fact, in 1858 word
leaked out that gold was found in the Fraser River, and pretty
quickly thousands of people showed up to the area. Because of this
British Columbia was proclaimed a crown colony that same year. We
pass Quesnel, “The Gold Pan City.” Not so far from here there is
the town of Barkerville, which was a leading destination for gold
prospectors that made it into the largest city west of Chicago and
north of San Francisco in 1862. The drive is very pleasant filled
with rolling hills, marshy lands, and old log houses and barns along
the way. These logs structures are so common that we aren't
surprised when we pass through 100 Mile House that claims to be the
“Handcrafted Log Home Capital of North America.”
We turn onto BC 99 south
and the rolling hills turn into rolling mountains and the marshy
lands turn into much drier lands. This highway crosses many First
Nation territories before reaching Vancouver. The houses are sparse,
and Clinton is one of the rare towns on the road. We almost stop at
an all-you-can-eat BBQ place there, but we save that all-you-can-eat
experience for Vancouver.
As the sun goes down, we enter an arid
land that is almost desolate. The road is steep and windy, playing
hide-and-go-seek with the railroad. This very rugged landscape falls
down into the deep gorge of the Fraser River. We are enchanted. And
even more so when we arrive to Fraser Cove Campground in Lillooet, BC
on the shore of the river. We are welcomed by a warm breeze that
makes us feel like we have arrived to the southwest of the US. We
enjoy this new temperature and sleep with the windows open.
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