Hazelton, BC

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.

The view from our campsite. 

Confluence of the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers.

Entry at 'Ksan Campground and Historic Village

Two of the several Longhouses and totem poles.

Charlie had to be dragged away growling and snarling at this carving ,

Charlie was intrigued with this totem pole.

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!