June 25, 2014

This our second day in Stewart, BC. We just cannot say how magnificently beautiful this area of BC is.

We had a bit of a slow start this AM and left the RV park at 11:00. Our sightseeing today was to the Salmon River Glacier. This glacier is located approximately 30 miles north of the towns of Stewart/Hyder

The road to the glacier started as a 2-lane paved road (30 mph), the to a 1½ lane gravel surfaced road, to a one lane semi-surfaced road with periodic turnouts. Since we are early in the tourist season the traffic was very light.

Our first stop was at the Fish Creek wildlife viewing area. This area is actually in Alaska and is a USFS facility. This is the place where visitors can safely watch black and grizzly bears catch salmon. Unfortunately for us, the salmon run doesn't start until the 3^rd week of July. Oh well!! There was a creek on each side of of the walkway. Very pretty!!

From the viewing area we traveled on to the Salmon River Glacier. I previously mentioned that
the road had turned into a one lane with turnouts. Well...the further we climbed in elevation the more snow we found. In places, the road was only one lane with a huge snow drift towards the inside of the lane.

Not only was there the enormous Salmon glacier (1/2 mile wide by 6 miles long), there was also the Berdon Glacier about 5 miles north of the Salmon. We were not only impressed with the larger glaciers, we were astonished by the number of smaller glaciers tucked away in the upper snow chutes. We have no idea how many glaciers we were able to see, perhaps 15-20. We took over 50 photos today.

Tomorrow, we will continue our journey north towards the Yukon Territory with an over night stop at Dease Lake, BC.

All is well here, we hope it is the same for you!!

June 24, 2014 – Tuesday

We left Hazelton for Stewart at 9:20. It was raining lightly and the temp was about 54. The drive was a bit mundane as we saw about the same types of scenery as yesterday. The road was in much better shape than we expected and we were able to roll right along.

The road from the Ksan Campground crossed a 300' deep river ravine. The bridge was a one-lane suspension bridge. Traffic was to yield to the oncoming cars. Gayle wasn't too sure of taking the pickup/trailer across it – but we made it.

As I said, the trip north was mundane. In ways, the scenery reminded us a bit of the N Idaho area, except more birch trees and large lakes and rivers. This was true until we got to the Mezladin Junction and headed west towards Stewart.

In a matter of minutes, we went from N Idaho to the Swiss Alps. Glaciers, water falls, lakes, etc, etc, etc. The valley walls were extremely steep. Avalanche chutes were evident everywhere and huge mounds of snow laid at the bottoms of the chutes. With the warmer weather, the avalanche chutes have been transformed into water ways and water falls. Words cannot describe the views and our photos certainly do not do justice to the actual views.

We arrived at the Bear River RV Park at about 2:30. The campground is very nice and very well maintained. The view in every direction is supreme.

We set up the trailer and then took a short drive to Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK. These communities are located at the confluence of the Bear and Salmon Rivers. This is also the location of the Portland Canal which connects these communities to the Pacific Ocean. The main exports are logs and mining ore (copper maybe??).

While we were at the confluence dock, we got to see our first of real wildlife of our trip – 2 black bears. We suspect that is why they call it the “Bear” river.

We returned to the campground, had dinner, and had a relaxing evening.

June 23, 2014

Hello to all!!

Sorry this is late. The campground where we were staying has WiFi but not very far from the modem. So this post is a bit late. This is being sent form Stewart, BC.

We went to bed last night at 10:00 PM. It was still daylight outside. I awoke at 3:45 AM. It was daylight outside. We are not sure what happened between 10 PM and 3:45 PM????

We left Vanderhoof at 9:15 and drove the 230 miles to Hazelton. Our path took us through Fraser Lake, Burns Lake and Smithers. We arrived at Hazelton around 4:00 PM.

We have traveled approximately 1,000 miles and have not seen much in the way of wildfife- a few deer and a dead raccoon. However, we did see several moose crossing signs. Where are the moose??

Smithers is an Alpine-themed city of about 12,500. We decided to stop there a bit, buy some staples (food), and walk Main Street. We were a bit disappointed in the retail area but the mountains to the south and west of the city were really dynamic. Snow peaked with a glacier near the top of one of the peaks. We addressed our disappointment with a stop at Diary Queen - all is good now!!

We stopped at a Chevron station in Hazelton to fuel up. I swiped my card but had to check in with the attendant – apparently, Chevron doesn't accept American credit cards??? Glad to know that now - so we found a station near our RV park. Gas is still running $4.80/gal.

The Ksan Campground is a “village-owned” facility. We have come to understand that “village-owned” in Canadian lingo can be translated to American as tribally-owned. The campground is immaculate and the backdrop is two large peaks, one with a glacier. This place is absolutely amazing.

When we arrived, it was cloudy, the temp was about 80, and the humidity was a little muggy. It started raining lightly around 5:30.and the temp dropped to 69. How nice.

Tomorrow, we will drive about 150 miles to Stewart, BC. As we travel further north, we will likely see more spectacular scenery. Also, the spring salmon run has begun and we are hopeful we will see a few bears in the rivers and streams

June 22, 2014 Vanderhoof, BC, Canada

Well.... We are still having problems with our Blog. Since we are in Canada, we cannot access the blog to create new posts. Big thanks to Jeremy – he can access the blog. We will send the info and Jeremy will create the post. Thanks again Jerm for your help!!

Today was an uneventful day – which is not necessarily a bad thing!!

We left the RV Park in Lac le Hache at about 8:15. We drove to Vanderhoof and arrived at 3:15 – about 240 miles. The road was great and we were running at about 60 mph, except on the hills where we could only get up to 50. Not bad though. (On the hills, I was wishing we has a diesel engine!!) We had a little problem too keeping up to the posted speed limit.

We drove through Williams Lake, Quesnel, and Prince George. The only exciting thing today was in Williams Lake. As we pulled in to a quick stop get gas, there were 2 women (an older and a younger – mom and daughter??) filling BMW motorcycles. We couldn't get far enough ahead to reach our tank, but that was no big deal. I washed about 2.3 million bugs off the windshield while we waited.

The women were trying to hurry in order to let us pull forward. In their rush the younger woman's mc tipped over. Another fellow and I helped pick it up – man are those things heavy!!

The terrain along the way was forested with aspen/birch and some evergreens. There are several log home “factories” and one specialized in cedar logs – very magnificent!! There are also many, many lakes and meadows. A lot of cattle, too.

We stop frequently at the Rest Areas. They are not quite the same as the ones in the “States”. We use the bathroom in the trailer. It is nice to be able to stop whenever you want and have a clean restroom!!

Below is a photo of our trailer and the RV park.

June 21, 2014 Lac la Hache, BC, Canada

Greetings once again!! We have been having problems with our Blogspot. Apparently, when you enter another country, the url changes. Sorry this is late getting out.

We left Oroville at 8:30 this morning. We drove to Lac la Hache via Keremeos, Princeton, Merritt, and Cache Creek. We arrived at 4:30.

Our first challenge (minor) was gaining permission to enter Canada. We both got Washington Enhanced Drivers Licenses a few months back. So you would think answer a few questions (cash over $10k, long guns, hand guns, ammunition, etc) and be on our way. Not quite. Among other things, we were asked where we lived previously to Spokane for 20 yrs, if we own any hand guns, how many, and if our handguns are locked up at home. All in all it took about 45 mins to get across. Oh well, we will know what to expect on the way back.

We then drove through the mountains, along the Similkameen River to Keremoes. The mountains and river were gorgeous. We kind of understand why they call it Beautiful British Columbia. We drive on to Princeton (another beautiful region).

We stopped in Merritt for gas ($5.34/ US gal) and onto Spence Bridge. That 36 miles of road was windy, twisty, rough and took about an hour. We stopped along the Thompson River at Spence for lunch. A little R&R helped and the river was running a good pace and a bit larger than the Snake River.

We are staying at the Big Country RV park near Lac la Hache, BC. A comparison of the Oroville park to this one would be the Sahara Desert to the Lochsa River. This is a really nice park.

One other thing!! Jack Kidd and I have been talking about getting a backhoe attachment for our tractor. I think I found it. I tried it out and it works perfectly!! I plan to make an offer – hope it works out.

We will post our next adventure as we can.

Having a great time - but haven't seen any animals yet - only 2 deer, a dead racoon, and one drunk Indian!!. 

Oroville, WA

We left Spokane this morning at 9;30 and arrived in Oroville at 3:45.  We travelled through Coulee Dam, Bridgeport, and Omak.

The top gates of Coulee Dam were open which allows the water to cascade down the face of the dam.  Quite beautiful.

Below is a picture of our pickup and trailer.  The backdrop is Lake Osoyoos and the Okanogan Range.

Tomorrow we will travel into BC and stay in the Lac la Hache area. 

Good evening to all!!

June 19, 2014 - Ready to go

We have the trailer loaded (all but our final things in the morning).  We plan to get up, get ready, hook up the trailer and pull away around 8:00 AM.

We plan to drive to an RV Park near the Canadian border just north of Oroville, WA.  The drive will be about 6 hrs. 

We can't wait to get started.  More blog tomorrow night!!