From Penticton to Vancouver

We had been warned to avoid Highway 3 across to Vancouver as it was twisty with steep grades. Therefore from Penticton, we went back to Kelowna, and across 97A to Merritt. We climbed about 20 kilometres on a divided highway to the Pennask Summit, at 1728 metres.  Across the summit it was like a meadow, with a lot of clear-cuts and several patches of snow.

The Penask Summit

The trip down was 5% and 6% grades, but fairly straight.

A long down hill

Downhill, and right back up...

We took the Coquihalla Highway out of Merrick towards Hope.

Merrick

This was built from Kamloops as a toll road, as an alternate the Trans Canada, which follows the Fraser River. It is no longer a toll road, but is a good, divided highway with more climbing, winding sections, and long down-hills,

Going down...

often through treed valleys. We learned that if a hill has a name, Beware! It will be steep! One of the steepest, and most winding was the 8% descent from the Coquihalla Pass.

The road into Hope twisted and turned, and went down for about 40 kilometres.

Long winding hill

Still going down...

Down into Hope- construction here too

The drive from Hope through the Fraser Valley was pleasant through a wide valley with mountains on either side.

Finally- a wide valley...

The Fraser- a flat stretch

Since it was by now late afternoon, we decided to stay in Chilliwack at the local Walmart. There were 7 or 8 other RV’s staying there too.

Since our light was now working, if you tapped it, we decided to go to Porteau Cove Provincial Park north of Vancouver, and to use this as a base to visit Vancouver and Whistler. The drive through Vancouver was on a beautiful, divided 6-lane highway. Although for much of the time, there were trees on both sides, so you couldn’t see much of the cities.

The Port Mann bridge over the Fraser River is beautiful (it should be, it’s a toll bridge!).

Driving under the Port Mann  Bridge

and off to West Vancouver

Sea to Sky Highway to Porteau Cove

Rock cuts on the Sea to Sky Highway too

We had a beautiful site in Porteau Cove, right on the pebble beach of Howe Sound.

Our welcoming Bluebird at Porteau Cove

Our site backing onto Howe Sound

The view out the trailer window

It was low tide when we arrived, so there were lots of dead salmon and jellyfish, both white and red. Apparently, the red jellyfish are poisonous and can ‘sting’ even when they are dead! One poor dog got too close and, one very swollen paw, a trip to the vet and many antibiotics later, he might have learned his lesson. We walked up to the public dock, where there are several informative signs explaining the ecology of the area, and several raised platforms with benches, so you can enjoy the beauty up and down the Sound.

Divers' Buoys to the north on Howe Sound

Off the end of the dock, is an underwater park for divers to explore, including three sunken ships and artificial reefs.

The view to the South from the dock

After dinner, I discovered some water under the sink. We took everything out of the cupboard and dried the shelf. We tried to see a leak, but none was apparent, so we put a towel down to check. Sure enough, next morning the towel was damp. It looked like the connection under the sink, but we couldn’t reach it to check any further, so we decided to monitor it.

We visited Squamish a couple of times, to visit the Visitors’ Centre to get info, to use the wifi, and to enjoy their excellent lattes and cappuccinos. There were two laundromats in town, so we were able to get everything washed and most of it dried. Drying things which can’t go in the dryer is a bit of a challenge. We had shirts and socks hung all over the trailer at night! During the day, we used our portable drying rack outside. After the laundry, as we were headed back to the car, we saw some excitement in the laneway behind the main street. There was a bear cub in the lane rummaging for food. It was joined a few minutes later by another cub. When we looked around, we discovered the mother up the tree, just watching the cubs play. There 10 or 12  people around by this time, and one of the men who rode up said he had put some apples out for them that morning.

One Bear

Two Bears

And Mama Bear keeping watch

Another day after our wifi check, we went to Shannon Falls just south of Squamish. This is a spectacular sight as it cascades down the granite rock-face in a series of waterfalls.

Shannon Falls

Just south of Squamish, is Britiannia Beach, and the Britiannia Mine, which, in the early 20^th century was the largest copper mine in the British Commonwealth. The miners lived together in their own town, up the mountain above the mine. The only link with Vancouver, in the early days, was by ship as there was no road. Although it mined mainly copper, gold and silver were side products. The mine tailings were run through a wool blanket which caught the gold flakes. We had a 2 hour tour and talk by ‘Miner Lora”, our guide, as we climbed aboard a mine train and rumbled into a real mine tunnel and then into Mill 3,

The site of Mill 2

Mill 3

The Forgery

Some of the Core Samples from the mine- all numbered

to discover the inner workings of the massive mill building, once the heartbeat of the Britannia community and today one of the last remaining gravity- fed mills in North America.

The stairs straight up to the top- no railings when it was a working mill.

Mill 3 - Built right into the rock face

Mill 3 is the only one remaining: Mill 1 was replaced when it was no longer large enough, and Mill 2 was destroyed by fire. It was fascinating to walk through a piece of history, and read peoples' accounts of their lives.

We also spent a day at Whistler. On the drive up, we stopped at Brandywine Waterfall. This is a spectacular, Niagara-type of waterfall, with water tumbling off a rock shelf, down to the floor of the gorge.

Brandywine Falls

We drove up to the Olympic Park, but it was still closed. On the way down, we saw another bear beside the highway, roaming through the tall grass. The centre of the town of Whistler is really a series of smaller shopping and lodging plazas along a winding pedestrian road.

Whistler street

The Olympic Rings at the Medal site in Whistler

At the end is a mountain with a chair lift and a series of trails for mountain bikers. There was quite a crowd, from beginners to experts enjoying the challenging trails.

Mountain Bikers Haven

We decided to drive up to the Sliding Centre, as a man we’d met at Britiannia Mine said the International Luge practice trials were to begin today. We got up there in time to “see” six or seven Lugers. Actually you hear them, then see a blur, then hear them again!

Looking up towards the start

Looking down

Oh yes, and we saw another bear on the way up! This one was in a field beside the road and just across from a large house.

Water continued to seep from under the sink, so we figured we’d better get it fixed, and made an appointment with the Airstream dealer in Langley. Porteau Cove is so popular that there was a lady waiting with her chair at the end of our site when we got up. She checked to be sure that we were leaving, and then promptly put her chair by the table to indicate the site was taken.

As the repair time depended on the seriousness of the leak, we decided to stay at the Burnaby Cariboo RV Park. It is clean, well kept with level sites, an indoor pool and hot tub, a roof patio, a small gym, an RV wash bay with a platform to get to the top, and a truck/car/trailer wash area.

Hedges divide the sites for privacy

but they are close together...

Roof-top Patio above the pool

Run Around Sue has to be cleaned too

It was ideally situated to take the Skytrain to downtown. It was a 15-minute walk, or a 5-minute walk and a bus ride to the nearest station.  The leak turned out to be a loose fitting, so was a quick fix [once they found someone with a small enough hand to get in, under and up to tighten it]. We had more time to sightsee.  One evening, we took the Skytrain in to meet a friend for dinner at Granville Island. We ate at a wonderful seafood restaurant, right under the bridge. We went back to spend some time wandering around the Island, investigating the innumerable shops.

 

Another day we took it in to meet a cousin for lunch, and then walked around Canada Place, and Gas Town.

We could not leave Vancouver before we visited Stanley Park. We were amazed that there were still beautiful flowers in the gardens.

 
 As we were walking , admiring the beautiful scenery, and the size of the trees, we spotted a bald eagle.

The size of many of the trees amazed us

As we walked around the NE side of the Island, we got a different view of the city, and saw the magnificent totem poles.

Vancouver skyline

Canada Place from Granville Island

Bbeautiful Totem Poles

There is lots of autumn yellow and gold, but little red in the West. There are some maple trees which have been planted, some Japanese Maples, and some sumacs. I was amazed at the size of the maple tree leaves.

The one on the right is the size of an Ontario Maple Leaf

It was time to leave Vancouver, so we decided to take the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. We started out in bright sun....

Paying for the Ferry

Driving onto the Ferry

Leaving Vancouver for Nanaimo in Sunshine

But, what is that????

Into British Columbia

Into British Columbia

Leaving Banff, we had to drive up past Lake Louise on the Trans Canada Hwy to the Kicking Horse Pass. The weather was not in our favour, torrential rain in the morning delayed our departure. It is no fun hitching in the pouring rain. When it cleared by mid-morning, the snow line had dropped down the mountains noticeably – time to move on!

More snow on the mountains

Along the Alberta part of the highway, Parks Canada has constructed quite a few tunnels and overpasses allowing wildlife to safely cross the highway (better for both animals and traffic).

Animal Overpass

We went over the Kicking Horse Pass, 1647m, about 1 pm. They are doing bridge work in BC too. We thought we had left that behind in Ontario!

A slow-down, but no delay

We drove in and out of rain all day.

Tunnels on the BC side of the Kicking Horse Pass down to Field

One of the Tunnels

Diagram of the Railroad down the mountain

 The highway through to Golden wended through a valley with mountains on either side. Fewer of the mountains had snow on them. There were lots of yellow- aspens- interspersed with the green of the fir trees on the mountain sides.

The highway went through a wide valley, 6%- grade hill going down for 10 miles, then rock-cuts, zig zags, and an 8%-grade to the valley floor and into Golden. In John’s words, “there were a few moments through the mountains when I gripped the steering wheel tightly - the descent from Kicking Horse Pass to Field, and later Golden, and descending the Coquihalla Highway into Hope.” From Golden, we drove through a wide valley, or fir trees down to the road, but few snowy mountains.

We climbed to Rogers Pass, 1327m, in Glacier National Park. Although not as high as Kicking Horse, it is renowned for the amount of snow it gets. An average of 12 metres falls in the Pass each year. Operation PALACI is a Canadian Forces operation that supports Parks’ Canada’s avalanche control program. These reduce the likelihood of unexpected avalanches. The howitzer crews fire high into the alpine trigger zones. We were lucky, we had only rain. On the roads here, there are no bridges for animals, but there are many avalanche tunnels.

An Avalanch Tunnel

A model of the Rogers Pass in winter

A model of Rogers Pass in the  Information Centre

After a lot more climbing and long downhill runs,

we decided to spend the night at Williamson Lake Campground in Revelstoke in the Monashee Mountains. It is a municipal campground with pull-through sites on a wide open field, and back-in sites around the perimeter. It is a well-run, small park. There is a sandy beach on the river, a beautiful children’s playground and several trails. During the summer, there is mini golf, and a variety of activities for campers and day visitors.

Our site at Williamson Lake Campground

The next day we headed to Kelowna, once again in fog, off-and-on pouring rain, and finally blue sky. This highway is designated as a “Scenic Highway” from the Kicking Horse Pass past Salmon Arm, on the Trans Canada. There were fewer mountains and a winding road into Sicamous. From there, we drove south on Highway 97A to the Okanagan Valley.

Down towards Sicamous

Continuing down and around

Snow only on the highest mountain peaks

Sun's out! Mara Lake, a chance for a break

From the time we turned onto 97A, we saw billboards advertising The Log Barn, so of course we had to stop when we reached it.

The first thing you see as you drive in

So we had to visit the goats...

There is amazing array of Log Barn jams, jellies, sauces, Mennonite sausages, and a gift shop

We decided to stay in West Kelowna at the West Bay RV Resort on Lake Okanagan. It was lovely. We had a grassy lake-view. There was even a large platform for us to put under our stairs to make an extra step. Since we are a couple of weeks later than we had originally expected, the RV campgrounds generally have lots of room, and we are able to pick our site. Here we were able to pull through, so we actually had 2 sites! It also means it was a little cooler than we had planned, but on the up-side, we had sun. The week before had been very wet and rainy here.

West Bay RV Resort on Lake Okanagan

our beach, looking across to Kelowna

The first thing we did was to check out the Tourist Information. They were very helpful, even to pointing us in the direction of a couple of good places for coffee. John wanted to check out the trail across the Trestles. Since they are high above the canyon, I wasn’t so sure! We walked around the downtown for awhile, had coffee at. We also discovered not far from the marina, The Okanagan Spirits, a local distillery. We had a fascinating visit, and ended up buying Blackberry and Raspberry Liqueurs. These are just two of their range of fruit liqueurs, and spirits. They are wonderful explosions of flavour. They also make excellent Canadian whiskey, absinthe and vodkas.

Since Kelowna, and in particular the area of West Kelowna where we were, has a lot of wineries, these were first on our list of places to visit. We started with Quails’ Gate. The wine was excellent, and the winery one of the biggest and beautifully tended. The vineyards of the six wineries in this area lie on the south-facing, well-drained slopes of Mount Boucherie, an extinct volcano. We were intrigued by the restaurant, Old Vines, so the next day we decided to have lunch there. Interesting choices, delicious food, good wine, and excellent service made this a wonderful experience.

Quails' Gate vines down to the lake Our site is just past those houses.

Vine on the  side of Mount Boucherie

Quails' Gate grapes

Quails' Gate and Old Vines Restaurant

We did try to walk the trestle trail, me with a good book in case the height was too much for me. However, we ended up on the wrong road and decided to do the canyon walk first. Just as we were about to leave, a park Ranger drove up, and informed us that the sign on the gate was accurate.

There was indeed a large cougar in the area. These are dangerous, as they will stalk humans and will attack. She did tell us about a park in downtown Kelowna with a man-made, natural-looking stream for salmon spawning. We decided this was a better choice. The park is lovely with a series of trails. We were able to see some small salmon going up river.

Man-made river in downtown Kelowna for salmon to spawn

On our first walk we discovered that Rush was being shown at the Paramount Theatre downtown. Also, just around the corner, at Tonics Pub the Friday Special was ribs. So we decided to go on a date, dinner and a movie!

Our outdoor light on the airstream had become temperamental - It worked only periodically. We called CanAm, who suggested we see a dealer in Penticton. We discovered that if we slammed the door, the light worked. However, on leaving Kelowna, we drove to Penticton to see the RV Dealer CanAm had suggested. Driving through the Okanagan valley was not quite what we had expected. We both expected the Okanagan Valley to be a wide valley with lots of fruit orchards. However, although there were fewer mountains, the road was winding, and often narrowed by mountains to the road.

A valley?

Cliffs above the road

just north of Penticton in the Okanagan valley, along Lake Okanagan

The fire line from the 2003 forest fires, the left is just coming back, the right is forested.

The Penticton dealer was very helpful, but was unable to help us for a while, so he referred us to a dealer in Langley.

And we were off towards Vancouver...