Lower British Columbia

Days 22 through 25. Tuesday, May 12 through Friday May 15.


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With a fully loaded RV, and a baby strapped in and riding shotgun the five (and a half) of us set out from vancouver to the North. The first leg was up to Whistler for lunch to check out the village and see if any thing was happening for the upcoming Winter Olympics. What we saw on the way, other than the beautiful drive along Howe Sound) was construction, and a lot of it. We made it in for a late lunch and bought some things in some of the village shops, Casey and I mostly finding Canada-related stuff at the Roots store.




And while we had not yet had any official Sasqutach sightings, we knew they were abundant in the area as we saw many Sasquatch crossing signs:




We did have a few close calls though, but they just turned out to be glorious mullets, or "hockey hair" as its called by the natives.

Speaking of mullets we also saw this van:



If you can't read the side, it says, "FREE CANDY". Classy.

We then set out for our campsite in Marble Canyon Provincial Park, but didn't quite make it that far. The road north of Whistler was in pretty bad shape and some weather started to come in giving us some rain and a little snow along the way. This slowed us a little, but wasn't a big deal. What was a big deal was the five straight kilometers of 11 and 13 percent grades leading us down into the town of Lillooet (also fun to say with a Canadian accent). At the bottom of the grade Harvey's brakes were toasty and stanky. The driving day ended in town when Harvey's hot brakes failed to do their job completely and we rolled through a stop sign. Clara expressed her dismay and we decided to stop for the night in Lillooet.




Wednesday morning I looked into the brakes and everything was good after they had cooled, so we took off for a long driving day up to Beaumont Provincial Park. We spent about eleven hours on the road, eight of them driving. Also during this time were the only three hours on record where I did not drive Harvey. Andy gave me a much needed break for a stretch and I chilled on the couch the whole time; Harvey even rocked me to sleep. Awesome. We arrived at Beaumont late in the evening, but it was becoming noticeable how far north we were getting and the sun didn't set until around nine.




The following day we didn't drive and spent the time exploring the park and playing euchre in the sun. There was a short trail in the woods that explained much of the area and showed all the beaver activity, though we didn't see much wildlife. The park brochure also described a hiking trail that sounded perfect for the day, but was pretty cryptic on the location of the trail head and we never did find it. So we played more euchre while Clara walked the dogs.





Andy and I finally broke out the fishing gear Friday morning and spent a very cold hour or two, coffee in hand, catching our limit of seaweed. We didn't really mind though, it was good to get out and cast a few. We then packed up Harv and took off. We stopped in Smithers for lunch, this was a neat little town according to the travel guides and has a alpine themed main street, but we all kinda felt disappointed with it. I was expecting more shops and a greater feel for the heritage of the area. (The salmon chowder kicked ass though)



(they apparently have Sasquatch there too)

From Smithers, we drove an hour to the Hazeltons. New, Old, and South Hazelton are three small communities that clam to be the totem pole capital of the world. The 'Ksan village in Old Hazelton has quite a few of them. We arrive a little after closing, but were still able to walk around and see some of the art.





Our campground, Seeley Lake Provincial Park, was not far past the Hazeltons and was just breathtaking. It's a very small place, just the campsites really, but it was right on the water. Andy and I were able to fish a bit more to relax, but noting was biting yet.