Leaving the Cariboo

It is now the evening of Monday, May 30^th. I have no wi-fi or means to upload the Blog, but I can prepare it for upload when we get to that point. I believe we left off with our evening at the Wells Hotel, following our welcome discovery of the single malt whisky cache. The next morning we decided to have a breakfast befitting our location, so had flapjacks and sausage for breakfast, before setting out again to visit Barkerville. We were there bright and early (0930), and were able to explore many of the old and restored homes and stores in the settlement, and to partake in a few more presentations by the costumed period people. We visited the old schoolhouse where Mrs. Hall, the schoolmistress, treated us to an hour of lessons as they would have been in the 1860's. We also had a chat with Billy Barker himself, who told us his life-story and stories of the area. He looked very good for a man who'd been dead for about 199 years! We also had a demonstration of a Cornish water-wheel pump, all done in the guise of trying to sell us shares in a mine operation (as it may have been in those olden days). We enjoyed everything immensely, except for the one problem – the weather. It was very cold, and even snowing off and on throughout the morning, and had rained and snowed all night as well, so we were very glad we'd sprung for the hotel. By 1330 we were cold and had seen most of what we wanted in Barkerville, so we had a hot chocolate as we sat around a cozy wood stove with a blazing fire within.

It was time to hit the road again, so back out the highway to Quesnel we went. We'd been invited to visit a friend in Quesnel, a school chum of Linda's from back in Vernon in high school and university. Evi has a new patio home in Quesnel, and she welcomed us with open arms. We had a nice visit, chatted about old times, and took a couple of walks with her and her dog Brandy. We were treated to a delicious dinner, and slept in a very comfortable bed in a room much warmer than the 4 deg. C outside. We were even within cell phone coverage again (not so anywhere near Barkerville), and got a phone call from my brother in Ontario. In the morning we were treated to a lovely breakfast, and we said our farewells at 1030. I admit to being remiss here....I wanted to take a photo of our hostess – but somehow with all of our fond farewells, we forgot to do so. On the way out of town, however, we passed a giant gold pan which I'll add here.

Quesnel is into Moiling for Gold

This central portion of BC which we'd been driving through the past few days, from Lillooet, past 100 Mile, Williams Lake, and Quesnel, sits between the Coast Mountain range to the west and the Rockies to the east. It's mostly rolling ranchland interspersed with lakes and rivers. Now northbound out of Quesnel, we were leaving the Cariboo, and getting more into the northern portion of BC. We drove north for about an hour and a half, into Prince George. Here we had to make a decision. We could continue north and east, toward Dawson Creek, which would take us to the start of the Alaska Highway, and into the western part of the Rockies – or, we could turn west, back toward the Coast range, and then north into the Yukon. A short stop at Tim Horton's, with an online check, revealed the presence of numerous wildfires near our routing to the east. So we turned left and headed west again. After about an hour and a bit, we were entering Vanderhoof, which advertises itself as the geographic centre of BC! So in spite of all that I've just told you, with the Cariboo seemingly the centre, apparently Vanderhoof is the very centre....I still feel like I'm in the north, though. We were hoping to visit another historic site with costumed storytellers, in Fort St James (fur trading history), but we turned out to be too early again – closed until June 1. So we continued a few more miles and set up camp at the east end of Fraser Lake in a provincial park campground called Beaumont. Being seniors, the price was a reasonable $11.00. We had our choice of campsites, and after setting up under clear skies (finally!), a few other campers and RV's arrived. This is actually our first night of camping, with hopefully many more to come. One thing I found surprising was the proliferation of big black ants. In fact, fairly close to our campsite was an anthill I never would have guessed to exist in Canada....about 8 to 9 feet in length, and 3-4 feet wide, perhaps 4 feet high. I'll add a short video to show you this wildlife – a short pan to our tent at the end. I'm typing this out in the tent, using a word processing program, and will upload all when I can, with any updates.

Blogging in the tent

 

Farewell to the Wet Coast?

Our evening in Squamish continued almost as planned.  The hotel manager recommended a cafe around the corner for dinner, so we ended up at the Copper Coil which specializes in Louisiana-style meals (who'dathunkit???).  Gumbo and Jambalaya in Squamish...a good way to bid farewell to the Pacific Shores.  Of course, we also had to try the brewery, and ended up trying a few sampler flats to try out the local brew with dessert.  We liked, but didn't love the beers we tasted, but the view from the windows, looking out toward the Chief, was spectacular.  Our weather forecast had been correct, too - it was pouring rain with thunder and lightning. We managed to get only a little wet on our run back to the hotel for bed.
Next morning we got off to an early (for me) start, and hit the road at 0800, aiming for Whistler for breakfast.  Many years make many changes, and Whistler is now a very upscale place.  We had a short walk around the village, found some gloves for Linda's cold hands, and did breakfast, before heading out again, now in a Northeasterly direction, and into the mountains and away from the Sea.  Next tidal water, hopefully, will be the Arctic Ocean.  As we approached Pemberton we saw our first bear of the trip, as he fed peacefully on the highway's grassy shoulder.  We dropped into the local liquor store here to pick up some wine/beer for our hosts for the evening.  The road north and east from Pemberton (Hwy 99) winds through some very scenic countryside, but none of our pictures could do it justice.  We climbed and descended on many steep and winding sections of highway, crossing several one-lane bridges.  One of these bridges, crossing Cayoosh Creek, was being rebuilt due to several mishaps of semis with trailers going over the side, and even being featured on the tv series "Highway to Hell".  We stopped our eastbound trekking near Clinton and continued northbound on Hwy 97, through Lillooet.  From here, places are mostly named as mileages north of Lillooet, as many of the early gold-rush coaches ran up this trail, stopping at inns named for their distance from mile 0 at Lillooet.  We were aiming for just south of 100 Mile, to visit some friends, Steve and Laura.  But first we took a short detour to visit a place called the Chasm, just a few short km off our route.  On the road in, we saw some goats feeding along the railway tracks, and at the Chasm itself (a steep, deep gorge with reddish-coloured layers) we met a couple from Auckland New Zealand.

Goats on the Railway tracks

Cows greeted us at the entrance to Steve & Laura's place

At 93 mile we took a right turn onto Hwy 24 and followed our friend Gary's hand-drawn map to find our destination.  We got within a half mile, and then had to find a hill to get a bar of cell coverage for final phone directions. Weather all the way north had been quite showery, with some rain, hail, snow, and wind - so we were thankful to be staying with friends rather than camping.  Steve and Laura live off the grid on 160 acres, in a self-built log home.  Cooking is on a wood stove, propane heats the water, and electricity comes via solar panels and batteries.  The property is waterfront, on a picturesque lake.  They are looking after their daughter's Golden Lab puppy (2 months old) - of course I wanted to adopt the little guy, but I resisted.   We had a lovely dinner and visit with our friends before saying goodnight.

Steve and Laura with puppy Nemo

S & L's lovely Log Home

Next morning it was onward, back to Hwy 97 and north, past 100 Mile, Williams Lake, and Quesnel.  The aim was to visit Barkerville, a historic gold-rush era town which has been preserved mostly as it was.  We headed east again from Quesnel, driving some 50 km, and again through snow, hail, rain and cold (5 deg. C).  We also passed our second bear of the trip, this one also munching on the side of the road.  Still not great for camping, so 8 km from Barkerville we pulled into a small village called Wells (actually itself a gold-rush town from a subsequent 1930's boom), and got a room in the Wells Hotel.  Then on to Barkerville, where we managed to fill a couple of hours of touring the area.  They have extremely well-acted tours of the place put on by "period" residents, and we enjoyed it thoroughly - but not completely, so plan to return in the morning to finish our exploration of the place.  Again, we were getting damp and cold in the snow showers, so ended up purchasing a toque for Linda before returning to Wells for the evening.  Now I'm beginning to believe in fate.....we went into the pub at the Wells Hotel, and what to my wondering eyes should be seen, but an unbelievably vast collection of Single Malt Whisky.  This bar has over 240 different types of scotch!  Naturally, Linda and I had to try a few before dinner, and then a few more after.  They have all of my favourites, and many which I'd never heard of, and some I had heard of, but never tasted.  Fate, pure and simple.
So now I'm sitting warm and happy in my hotel room, finishing up the Blog du jour.  Tomorrow will be a bit more Barkerville, before returning to Quesnel to visit another friend.  The forecast continues to call for cold and showers, so perhaps we'll be camping after that, on Monday's warm and sunny disposition.

A "magistrate" explains the Law in early Barkerville

Getting Guided through Barkerville

Wells Hotel

Barkerville Schoolhouse

Some fine single malts

Even more in this collection

Off to a good start....

We managed to cross off the items on our lists and finally got underway today, Thursday May 26.  By leaving at 0900 we were able to catch the 1040 ferry from Departure Bay in Nanaimo (actually we almost didn't catch it - they loaded, and loaded, and loaded.....and then we squeaked onto the vessel as the second-last vehicle on-board).  Our neighbour from across the street left out a sign for our departure.  He knows about our plans and actually (being a geologist by trade) gave us some gold-panning lessons and some equipment to try out our luck as we head north, and, of course, try moiling for gold.

Our friend and neighbour, Dixon, left us this message on our departure.

The ferry crossing was uneventful, getting us into Horseshoe Bay (West Vancouver) just past noon.  Now that we were off Vancouver Island, we felt as if our adventure had begun, and we headed northbound on the Sea to Sky Highway - so named because on your left is the Sea (Pacific Ocean/Howe Sound) and on your right, as you wind your way north, are the coast mountains.  Very scenic.  In thinking back, it has been over 20 years since we've traveled this road, and it has improved a lot in those years, but is still quite scenic.  We had to make a stop about 20 km. north of Horseshoe Bay to look at Porteau Cove - a Provincial Park with lookouts on Howe Sound, and a scuba diving paradise with numerous artificial reefs.  It was here that we used to dive with our friends in our diving club back in the 1990's. 
Then a few more km. to the north, we had to stop and walk up a trail to Shannon Falls, a waterfall which drops 1,099 feet to become the third highest falls in B.C.  On the trail to the falls was evidence of logging from long ago.

Don admiring Shannon Falls

                                                  

This old cedar tree was cut down many years ago (see notches for lumberjacks to stand and saw), then nursed a new tree from the stump.

                 

A few km. further north, we passed the Stawamus Chief, a  large granite mountain (actually the second largest granite monolith in the world).  It is difficult to fit the whole thing in, in a photo from our not-too-expensive camera, but we had a shot at it.

Stawamus Chief

                    
The weather forecast was for rain, and possible thundershowers in this area, and we don't enjoy setting up camp in these conditions.  So for night one, we are staying in a local hotel in the town of Squamish.  It's halfway between Vancouver and Whistler, and the point where we will leave the Pacific Ocean behind to start into the B.C. interior and mountains.  By 3 PM we were happily checked into the reasonably priced and friendly  Hotel Squamish.  Still early, so time for a walk around town.  Of course, we also had to check out the waterfront.  We saw a quite nice little yacht club here, and as we walked a trail along a slough, came across an interesting float home - which I had to photograph and add to the Blog.  Surprisingly, the salmon berries are already ripe here, so we managed to grab a few handfuls of these on our walk.

The berries are ripe already!

If a Hobbit had a houseboat, it would look like this

We are now off to dinner at the Howe Sound Brewery (which also has a restaurant).  Then a bit more exploring of Squamish for tonight, before we continue north through Whistler and Pemberton areas tomorrow.

Lists

Today it is Monday, May 23 2016.  The Blog has been resting for a few years, following our return from Haida Gwaii.  I've changed the title of the Blog to reflect that we are no longer "Goin' For the Gwaii".  Instead, Linda and myself are preparing to depart on a roadtrip to take us through northern British Columbia into the Yukon Territory, and hopefully continue north on the Dempster Highway to the end of the road at Inuvik, Northwest Territories.  This road is being extended from Inuvik across the permafrost layers to end at Tuktoyaktuk, at the mouth of the Mackenzie River, and on the Beaufort Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean).  Because of climate change, the permafrost is a bit less permanent, so the highway project is experiencing delays and considerably more layers of gravel bed.  If we want to get to Tuk, we will likely have to find an airplane ride or a boat down the Mackenzie River - which I'd really like to do, but our limited budget may not allow it.  Several of my bucket list items include crossing the Arctic Circle, wading (or perhaps sticking my toe ) in the Arctic Ocean - so Tuk has become part of the bucket list.

Speaking of lists, we are in the throes of checking our preparatory lists of things to do and take.  We don't have a lot of room for food, but hope to camp most of the way, whenever and wherever possible.  So camping, fishing, and traveling items are all on separate lists.  We'll be traveling into grizzly bear territory (also black bears - and - who knows? - perhaps polar bears).  So we have purchased bear spray which reputedly will discourage a bear attack, although after seeing the movie "The Revenant", I'm not sure that pepper spraying from 15 yards a grizzly charging at 40 miles per hour is going to slow the animal down, and may only make me taste a bit spicier.  But we also have bear-bangers, which are pen-like flare guns to make a big bang and maybe scare the animal.  Just in case, our SUV is rigged out with a 4 inch foam layer so we can sleep in the car, and attach the tent through the back for a bit of room.  An SUV is hopefully a bit more protection for our sleeping times!  So stay tuned to the Blog to find out if we get eaten or mauled.

The first verse of the poem by Robert Service, "The Cremation of Sam McGee", begins....
There are strange things done in the Midnight Sun        By the men who moil for gold
The Arctic Trails have their secret tales       That would make your blood run cold!
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights       But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Labarge     I cremated Sam McGee.
So this is the inspiration for the new title of the Blog.  I also hope to have memorized all 13 versed of the ode, to be able to recite it when we get to Lake Labarge (which is just north of Whitehorse, in the Yukon).  I know that sounds a bit weird,  but I've always liked the poem, and I feel that such eccentricities may be forgiven on such a trip.

We will likely not leave for a few more days yet.....Wednesday or Thursday seem likely as our departure time, and then we should be adventuring our way in short hops for about 7 weeks, due home by the end of  July to allow us to dog-sit for our neighbours, who will be leaving for vacation at that time.  I expect that 7 weeks of mosquitoes and black flies may be enough for both of us, anyway.
So this posting is a "heads up" for those of you following the Blog, and a commitment from me to have a go at continuing and recording our story.  Next entry in a few days, when we depart.

This is our SUV tent hooked up to the car on a test run.