Smithers, BC

We drove on the rest of the Cassiar and ended up in Smithters, BC. It was another beautiful day but nothing extraordinary. We saw a couple of bear; some were photo generic and some were not.

We always want to see bears along the highway but not this way! We suspect it was hit by a logging truck.

We stayed at a municipal campground in Smithers. The firewood was free but the weather did not cooperate. It started raining a little as we ate supper and turned into a downpour that lasted until about 6AM.

Prince George, BC

We are spending a few days here in Prince George, catching up on minor repairs, laundry etc. It is a well run camp ground and we have enjoyed chatting with other campers. Some are full time; others have just been on the road for a while. It has been a great time to relax and I am excited to keep moving south to to see my son!

We talked to the woman camping next to us. She and her husband were walking on a trail around a park in town. She came around a curve and a bear was 15 feet away! Even though you are not supposed to turn your back on a bear, she did and ran like hell! Scary!

We spent one afternoon in the town of PG. We went to the Visitor Center but it really did not offer a lot. Then we went to a local brewery.

Back to the campground to get ready to move on tomorrow.

Not sure if I ever wrote this or not. Bears do not hibernate. Their body temperatures do not get low enough to be considered hibernating. However, they go into a deep sleep where there bodily functions slow down enormously. Their blood pressures drop and their heart rates. They do not eat or defecate during this time. It is when the pregnant female gives birth. The spring warmth “wakes them up” each year.

Williams, Lake, BC

The light green of the meadows, hay fields and pastures was a pretty contrast to the dark green of the evergreens.

Cache Creek, BC

The next day we continued our journey toward Vancouver. We were really surprised to see the scenery change drastically to an arid landscape.

Along the way, we stopped at a rest stop that doubled as a historic site, Mile 108 Roadhouse. This was the site of many gastly murders in the 1800’s. A woman named Agnus got er husband and son-in-law to help her kill about 50 people. The husband was one of her victims. She committed suicide in jail but her son-in-law was eventually hanged. Meanwhile, here gold was buried and only a small amount has ever been found. It is estimated there is still $1,000,000 left somewhere on the property.

There are 11 buildings on this site, most of them original.

We have stayed in several Provincial parks throughout Canada. Most of them are very woodsy and primitive. They are a very inexpensive way to camp and we have enjoyed them. We found one more, which is our last Provincial park. This one is a bit different, being very open but we enjoyed it.

Rosedale, BC

It rained most of the night, fairly hard. That surprised us, in this arid area. We were lucky once again, to have dry weather for hooking up to pull out the next day. (We have never unhooked or hooked up in rain except a little mist once in a while.)

There are seven tunnels on this stretch of highway. Some are very short; one has a curve in it. I only captured one of them.

We reached our destination, Camperland RV Resort in Rosedale, BC. We will stay here for three nights and explore nearby (about an hour away) Vancouver. This park is very different from any we have stayed at, with each site separated from the next by tall yews.

For our last day in British Columbia, we decided to drive to Vancouver, about an hour away. It was a beautiful drive but the freeway ends about 3 miles from downtown. It was pretty busy.

We saw more homeless people than I have ever seen. For a couple of blocks, the sidewalks were almost packed with them. I’m not sure how they could even sit or lie down. This was really sad to see.

The purpose of our trip was to visit Stanley Park. This is a huge park on the waterfront. If we were to walk around, it would be a 17 mile trek.

The Stanley Brewing was in the middle of the park and a great place for a quick brew before leaving Vancouver.

Heading back to the campground, we had a great view of Mount Baker, second highest peak in the Cascade Range, in the US. The highest is Mount Ranier. These were seen at Abbottsford.