Travels With Sir Charles: 05/12/16

Smithers, BC

Today was another day of mostly travel. We did a five-hour drive and covered about 270 miles. We are now 1/3 of the way to Anchorage. These are not Charlie or Karen’s favorite days, mostly driving with no exploring or interesting stops. Charlie seems a bit spooked by the smells in this area. Maybe the bears, moose, elk or deer. We left around 8:00 this morning and passed thru Prince George, the 4^th biggest city in BC. Too much traffic for our enjoyment. After only one U-turn, we were soon on the open road and driving became easier. The roads are only two lanes but they provide passing lanes ever few miles so we didn’t hold up traffic too much. Canadian drivers are courteous and wait for the passing lanes in most cases.

The last 40 miles into Smithers were very scenic - to the southwest are the Hudson Bay Mountains, to the northeast are the Babine Mountains, and toward the coast are the Skeena Mountain range. All of these are still snowcapped and beautiful. Hudson Bay Mountain is known as one of the best ski areas in British Columbia.

We arrived in Smithers in the early afternoon and found three campgrounds in town. The first one is a city owned park and opens in mid-May. We are too early. The second was five miles west of town, near the main highway and to dirty. The third was on a Par 3 Golf Course/RV Park and was just right. We felt like the Three Bears. We had planned on staying here for a couple of days for rest and laundry but decided to move down the road a few miles tomorrow and try another park. Tomorrow we will get to the beginning of the Cassiar Highway, which we will follow to Alaska.

The beautiful views from our campsite:

Hixon, BC

Today was pretty uneventful. We covered about 230 miles mostly in light to moderate rain so scenery was at a minimum. We did accomplish two things today. We found a Boston Pizza in Williams Lake so lunch and dinner was a treat. Also, we were finally able to set our odometer correctly to correspond with "The MilePost 2016" guide book we had purchased for the trip. Once set properly, it was very easy to see where we were and the interesting sites along our route.

We decided to spend the night in Hixon, a very small village 30 miles south of Prince George. Staying here with 500 people seemed better than Prince George with 85,000. Charlie and I took a nice walk on an ECO Trail next to the river and Karen stayed at home worrying about the two of us being eaten by a bear. Well, at least she was worried about Charlie. At the desk when we checked into this park the hostess told she had chased a bear from the campground with a garbage can lid and a wooden spoon this morning. They grow their women tough in this neck of the woods. Hell with a gun, just attack with a wooden spoon!

Our Hixon, BC campsite

A walk in the woods - lookout for bears!

Fork in the river

Charlie panning for gold

Let's play!

Cache Creek, BC

We decided to get a later start today so we could have some time to explore the quaint town of Hope before moving on down the road. Hope is the host to The International Chainsaw Carving Competition every two years (2015 being the last one). The streets are decorated with many of the previous pieces of art work. The statues are amazing. They also have a beautiful riverside park on the Fraser River and Hope is the site for the filming of Rambo: First Blood. Many store fronts from the movie are still here.

We walked the streets and then headed out of town toward our planned stop at Hells Gate in the Fraser River Canyon. The road was sometimes narrow and steep, hanging on the edge of the cliffs with the river running wildly below. We found the parking lot for Hells Gate and also a sign informing us that the site was very DOG friendly. Charlie can be included in the 1,000’ decent to the river via the gondola ride and he doesn’t require an entrance fee! With very little coaxing, he hopped aboard the car with Karen, myself, and the rest of the tourists as we plunged into the gorge. He was very brave and I tried my best to not show him my concern. I am not a big fan of high places. At the bottom we toured the history exhibits and shopped in the gift store (Charlie included). I panned for gold but only found a few colorful stones and then off we went to the gondola for the ride back up the cliff.

This river gorge has been a route for the natives and early explorers for thousands of years. Rope ladders and hanging logs served as pathways along the cliffs for eons. Simon Fraser traveled the area and used the trail while exploring the Fraser River (odd that he found a river with the same name as his ;). He described it as a place where no human should venture and named it Hells Gate. The water this day was 146’ deep and can be over 200’ deep at flood stage. More water passes thru the gorge than goes over Niagara Falls. OK, enough history and hydrology info for one day.

After leaving the canyon we followed the Fraser River north thru dry areas that reminded us of the views of eastern Washington. Sandstone, granite hills, sagebrush, and very little else can be found here. We found our way to Cache Creek and stayed overnight. It was a short mileage day but very scenic. Went to bed early with plans to cover more territory tomorrow. Hoping to get an early start.

P.S. Not much humor today. I’m still recovering from that gondola ride L