Today is a planned rest and laundry day but our last
overnight stop in Smithers didn’t have laundry facilities. We checked the map
and Karen found a First Nation campground in Hazelton that had everything we
needed. We did a drive by of downtown Smithers, stopped at a RV car wash and
then headed up the road for the short one hour’s drive. We stopped along the
way for some amazing river views and arrived at the ‘Ksan Campground mid-morning.
We found the campground on the far side of a one lane suspension bridge built
in 1923. The bridge spans the Bulkley river at a height of 260 ft. It is still
one of the highest suspension bridges in Canada. The campground is nice and
comes with a nice laundry facility. From our host we received a thorough education
on the area’s attractions and the history of the Gitanmaax people who have been
in this area for centuries. The after contact history began here in 1866 and
this site has been a popular trade and cultural crossroads for many years. They
have a reconstructed native village with longhouses to show the building
traditions of the area. The Skeena River and the Bulkley River meet here so
this was a traditional fishing village for a long time. The Skeena is a world renowned
steelhead river and holds the record for the largest one ever caught.
Charlie and I took a
long walk into Old Town Hazelton and found the town filled with old buildings
from the late eighteen hundreds. Karen stayed with the motorhome and did all of
the laundry. She claims she pounded the clothing clean on the rocks in the
river but I supplied her with plenty of Loonies so I’m thinking she used the
machines.
Tomorrow we plan to move on to Stewart to see if the bears
are out. So far on the trip the wildlife has been sparse. Three deer (two alive
and one roadkill), one moose (roadkill) and one owl (alive) sitting on a power
line. We have seen a number of Canadian
geese (up here called just geese). The next 450 miles on the Cassiar Highway
promises more live scenery. We will see.
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| The view from our campsite. |
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| Confluence of the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers. |
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| Entry at 'Ksan Campground and Historic Village |
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| Two of the several Longhouses and totem poles. |
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| Charlie had to be dragged away growling and snarling at this carving , |
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| Charlie was intrigued with this totem pole. | |
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