British Columbia – Vancouver to Telkwa

2022 May 17

 

We had to return home for a week for work, then returned to Vancouver where we were able to catch up with family again while finalizing the car preparation. Here is what we had pending:

 

• Installed the “self-inflating” mattress and arranged a tie-down system
• Acquired storage boxes for tools, kitchen equipment, food, and a water storage bottle
• Acquired a stove – a minimalist butane stove that collapses to fit into a small box
• Acquired a camp table from MEC
• Received camp chairs from Amazon
• Acquired and fitted a fire extinguisher
• Acquired emergency warning triangles
• Acquired jumper cables
• Acquired wheel chocks and a bottle jack
• Acquired some supplies for general work – duck tape, tie wraps
• Acquire a duvet, sheets, pillows, and pillowcases – MUJI  (with sheets and pillowcases from home)
• Acquire a Canadian cellphone SIM (ordered from Rogers to be sent to Vancouver) – Rogers didn't work out (!), the Rogers agent in Burnaby was useless; we obtained a SIM from Telus, whose agent was excellent.
• Received window rain shields from Amazon.
• Bought food

 

We achieved these in 4 days and set off from Vancouver on May 11th.

 

The weather continued colder than expected, apparently colder than normal. During the next couple of weeks, we found snow in many areas, and indeed, it was snowing en route to Green Lake. At Telkwa, the temperature was -2o C one morning, and we heard that the bees had not yet come out!

 

Chilliwack Lake

 

Our first campsite was overlooking the lake, with the sun setting we dined and set up to sleep. Everything worked as planned and, although it was a cold night, we were warm enough. We walked down to the lakeshore beforehand and again in the morning. It was still early enough for there to be few others at the campground, resulting in a tranquility and silence which was a great opportunity to breathe the mountain air in peace.

 

In the morning, after our walk, we fitted the window rain shields. These protect from the rain while the windows are open a little, allowing the windows to remain open in bad weather to provide ventilation overnight. The wind noise is a little higher but hardly noticeable.

 

Chilliwack Lake

 

Chilliwack Lake campsite

Fraser Canyon, Blue Lake campsite

We headed east, stopping in Yarrow, then at the Great Blue Heron Reserve, then at a point where one can see the Fraser/Coquihalla Confluence in Hope. The waters of the Fraser and Coquihalla Rivers are quite different in color – the Fraser being a muddy brown and the Coquihalla a blue/green – and the confluence is where they meet, with the two colors remaining separate, at least at this point. We had thought to visit a couple of places on the way north, however, the combination of being too early in the season and, no doubt, the pandemic, meant that most places remained closed. Our campsite was at Blue Lake, in front of the lake, with a deck out into it; in summer this would be a beautiful spot, however, it was cold so our time enjoying the view from the deck was short by choice.

The site was in a beautiful setting and the facilities were adequate, although, it has to be said that, the price was high in our opinion – four times the rate for the Provincial Park campsites, with the main advantage being the availability of shower facilities, for which one has to pay extra (loonies in a slot).

 

Blue Lake

 

Lillooet, Green Lake campsite

Back to the Fraser Canyon, we headed north, leaving the TransCanada Highway to Lillooet through an impressive scenery. At Lillooet we enjoyed coffee at A.bun.dance and then spent some time at the Museum, chatting with the informative lady running the place. We later stopped at Pavilion Lake and Seton Lake before finding our way to Green Lake. On the way, we stopped at a marsh where the birdlife was rich – an excellent spot! Still, it snowed on the way and the night was cold.

The Green Lake campsite was on the shore, with a great view of the distant snow-capped mountains. There was an almost full moon, a clear sky, and loons calling over the water.

en route to Lillooet

  

Seton Lake

  

Green Lake

 

Green Lake

  

Williams Lake, Ten Mile Lake campsite

In the morning we headed to Lone Butte, stopping for a coffee at the High Ground café, where the weekly “high tea” was starting (a little out of sync in terms of the hour, however clearly an event). We browsed in the surprising antique shop, then continued via Horse Lake to 100 Mile House, where we walked around enjoying the bird life; then walked up to Bridge Creek Falls from Centennial Park. Our next stop was 108 Mile Ranch, where there was a small market (we bought delicious sticky buns there) and the Rusty Iron Café. Then on to Williams Lake. We had identified Scout Island as a stop; although the Reserve Centre was closed, the walk around the island was excellent.

That night we camped at Ten Mile Lake Provincial Park, at the Lakeside Campground. There were more visitors here than at previous campsites, however it was still tranquil and a great setting overlooking the lake. We bought firewood and enjoyed the fireside in the evening – the day was warmer than we had experienced so far however the temperature was cold enough for this to be well worthwhile, as well as bringing back memories of previous campfires in Africa and Australia.

Ten Mile Lake Campsite

 

Barkerville, Wells, and Prince George

We had identified Barkerville as a point of interest, and headed eastwards through forested mountains during the morning, arriving to find that the Historic Village was closed. This was a common theme – the communication between various places and Google Maps was inadequate, so they showed up on Google Maps as open but proved to be still closed before the summer season. However, although the village was not yet open, in terms of being able to go into the old houses and businesses, it was possible to walk through the village and read the information on each property, which proved interesting and enjoyable. The large proportion of businesses run by Chinese descendants was of note.

 

Not far from Barkerville is Wells, where we found Island Mountain Arts, an excellent surprise in terms of the art on exhibition. We were looking for a place to get a coffee and the lady there told us that we should first go to the Sunset Theatre Café, which was soon to close, and that we could find coffee there and then return, which we did.

 

We then took the short road to Bowron Lake and lunched on the pier into the lake from the campground.

 

We then headed for Prince George, where we planned to stay at a hotel to get good internet access for the first day of remote working.

 

The day was outstanding in many ways, including the sighting of wildlife – during the day we saw a black bear at Troll Ski Resort, taking advantage of the snow-free lower slopes to enjoy fresh flora. We then saw the same bear and a second black bear on our way back to Highway 97, a moose on a side track from this road, a young bear on the roadside nearing the junction to Highway 97, and another black bear once on the Highway. 

In Prince George we took advantage of the opportunity to pick up a mattress topper (the air mattress was fine however an additional 50 cm of support would be better, we felt), as well as a couple of other items, before heading west to Telkwa. This trajectory was a long run, at least in terms of our usual practice; we stopped for coffee and pie at the North Country Inn in Vanderhoof (originally van der Hoof, one assumes) and for breaks at Beaumont Provincial Park and Burns Lake. We arrived at Telkwa and settled into the inn at the Creamery to be home for the week. We have just now arrived in Northern BC – it’s bigger than you think!

 

Our next stages of the trip:

We plan to stay in Telkwa this week, then head west to Prince Rupert, then North, and continue forth. 

Additional items to handle:

We’ve now sorted nearly all of the pending tasks. There remains only one:

• Pick up some spares for the vehicle – fuses and bulbs (however, these may not be needed)

 

Hugs

Alan & Marce