British Columbia 2018 Summary

In the spring and summer of 2018 we explored south and central British Columbia. We stayed at 21 different places for more than one night. It should have been 23 but by the end of July the smoke from all the forest fires started getting bad. By mid August we decided that it was not worth going to Lake Louise and Banff so we cancelled those and headed home early. We also shortened our last two stops due to the smoke. Up until then we had great weather.

Click here for the first post of the trip

The map below marks the major places we visited. If you click on one of the red markers you will get a link to the first post for that area.

Favourite Days

While almost everyday of the trip was great and I encourage you to look at them all, these are the ones I consider the most memorable. From the size of the table there were a lot of memorable days. I tried to put the REALLY good ones near the top.

If you click on the picture you will be taken the post for the day.

Rainbow Range, Hunlen Falls, Monarch Icefields, Nimpo Lake	Othello Tunnels, Hope	Joffre Lakes Hike, Whistler
Great Glacier Trail, Glacier National Park	Wells Gray Provincial Park Waterfalls	Princess Louisa Inlet Tour, Sechelt
Myra Canyon Trestles, Kelowna	Stawamus Chief Hike, Squamish	Little Tunnel Bike Ride, Penticton
Fintry Falls, Kelowna	Lindeman Lake Hike, Chilliwack	Cascade Falls, Chilliwack
Sea to Sky Gondola, Squamish	Lighthouse Park, Vancouver	Lynn Canyon, Vancouver
Train Wreck Hike, Whistler	Radio Telescope	Bridge River Canyon Drive, Lillooet
Farwell Canyon, Williams Lake	Sicamous Creek Falls, Sicamous	M Gurr Lake Hike, Bella Coola
Trophy Meadows Hike, Wells Gray PP	Kokanee Creek Provincial Park, Nelson	Fletcher Falls, Kaslo

Statistics

4 1/2 months or 137 days spent in the RV since we left home (April 16 – Aug31). We spent September staying in the RV at our cottage but that doesn’t really count in the total.

Together with other years that makes 1156 days (over 3 years worth) that we have stayed in the RV (away from home and cottage).

8000 pictures saved (who know how many taken, at least double). It seems I posted over 3400 to the blog.

Distances

1. No idea on how far we hiked. It was not a year for long hikes.
2. 14000 km on the RV
3. 6000 km on the CRV just in day trips.

Money

I didn’t keep track of the money. It was an expensive summer as we mostly stayed in private campgrounds, although the provincial park are quite expensive as well. Gas was also very expensive as it was usually in the $1.40 to $1.50 range in BC. The expensive touristy things we did were the sightseeing float plane trip from Nimpo Lake and the boat cruise when at Sechelt.

Aug 26-31 - To the cottage

It’s pretty boring post. I just wanted to record the trip back east.

Sunday Aug 26 – To Medicine Hat, Alberta

When we woke up in Fort Steele, I think the smell of smoke was the strongest yet. It was definitely as encouragement to get moving.

Today’s drive to Medicine Hat took about 6 hours and was very easy. Fort Steele is at about 450 m in elevation. We did a long gentle climb up to about 1300 m at Crowsnest Pass. Then another gentle descent to about 700 m to western Alberta. From there is was essentially flat all the way to the Walmart in Medicine Hat. Cruise control all the way and we even had a tail wind so we got great gas mileage.

The smoke was pretty thick all day. It would have been nice to see some of the scenery around the pass. Once we were in Alberta everything was just a hazy ghost off in the distance.

We also went through a few spot where we were just pelted with bugs.

The view with the bugs photoshopped out.

And not.

We had a nice quiet night in the parking lot with about 6 other RVs.

Monday Aug 27 – To Regina, Saskatchewan

Today was opposite day. It was a much tougher drive to Regina, especially in the morning.

For the first time in a very long time we had some rain and lots of it. It just poured down all morning. And the wind was from the northeast so it hit the RV on the left front corner. It slowed us down and bounced us around a bit. At least it was not gusty.

I forgot how rolling western Saskatchewan. There was just enough up and down that cruise control was not very useful, specially since on any uphill grade the RV with downshift like crazy trying to keep up the speed.

During the hardest rain our windshield wipers started acting up. The driver’s side blade started going too far out the side of the RV and made a huge racket. It also got stuck out there once and I had to stop to free it up. It made me hesitant to use them but thankfully the rain was light for the rest of the day.

Tonight I looked under the hood and three screws had come off on the bracket that holds the wiper motor to the chassis. It worked much better after I replaced them. I think its time for some new blades as well. I think the last time I bought some was in Alaska in 2012.

After we had lunch in Swift Current, the rain stopped for a while and we were into wide open flat country. We still couldn't see very far away but this time I think it was because of the rain and not smoke anymore. We went through a few more period of rain.

To me the grain terminals, off on the horizon, always look like giant cathedrals.

The long flat sections were even more boring with the mist and no long distance views.

Tonight we at are the Regina South Walmart.

Tuesday Aug 28 – To Portage La Prairie, Manitoba

An easy driving day. Straight, flat and mainly smooth pavement with cruise control most of the way. It was just very boring.

There was s steady light rain all morning.

Some very long trains went by.

In the afternoon we actually got  a few minutes of sun before it clouded over again.

Wednesday Aug 29 – To Dryden, Ontario

Today we woke up to our very first clear blue sky in what seem like a very long time.

I use a website that lists all the Walmarts in North America and says whether you can stay overnight in the parking lot. People post comments about their stays. The comments for the one in Portage La Prairie said that the lot was very quiet except for the trains that went by.

I didn’t realize how close the tracks were.

Unfortunately there was a level crossing near by which meant the trains had to blow their whistles. A lot of them went by in the evening but we only got woken up once during the night.

The morning’s drive to the Ontario border was much the same as yesterday, straight, flat and 4 lane. As soon as you cross the border you can tell you are in Northern Ontario. Two lane rough highway that twists and turns around and through all the rock cuts and lakes.

The other times we have come this way we stayed at the Walmart in Dryden. On reading newer comments on the website, they said that the lot is not owned by Walmart and is now signed as”No overnight parking”. People still do but the owner has been know to call the cops to get everyone evicted.

I decided not to risk it and just get a full hookup site about 20 km farther east at Lake Wabigoon RV Resort.

It is a small place with easy access from the highway but that means we are right next to the highway. This evening the truck noise has been pretty bad. I hope it calms down. I think it will be an earplug night.

Thursday Aug 30 – To Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, Ontario

Another blue sky day but most of the scenery up to Thunder Bay was just the trees beside the road.

After that we got some nice views of Lake Superior. I didn’t take a lot of pictures because the road had enough twists and hills that I really had to pay attention but also because the windshield was just covered in bugs. I cleaned it at lunch but it was soon covered again.

I cleaned this one up.

An interesting new bridge around Nipigon. Is this the one to replace the one that failed several years ago?

We are at the Rossport campground of Rainbow Falls Provincial park, about 180 km east of Thunder Bay. Its a relatively small campground on a point between the highway and the lake.

A big site.

With a nice view of the lake.

But not very level. Normally I would put blocks under the wheels if I had to lift them this high but it was only for one night. It did let the RV sway a lot when we walked around though.

We checked out the rocky beach. Not great for swimming but OK to explore.

Friday Aug 31 – To the Cottage

I picked the wrong section of the trip to make an extra long day. We did about 650 km in around 9 hours. The section until Sault Ste Marie had a lot of steep hills and curves. The RV could only creep up the hills. Then I would have to try and limit the speed on the steep downhills only to come around a corner to face the next hill. It made the day seem even longer. If we do this again I will extend one of the prairie days.

The wind was also extremely strong. It was from the south so for the first part of the trip it hit from the side and was especially bad when we got hit extra hard when passing an opening in the trees. Heading down to the Soo it was a head wind and just generally slowed us down and bounced us around.

The weather was also all over the place. In the early morning whenever we climbed a hill we would hit some fog.

It was a mainly cloudy day with some rain but we did have the occasional bit of blue sky.

Once again I didn’t take a lot of pictures, although there were some nice views of Lake Superior and smaller inland lakes. First, I had to concentrate pretty hard on driving and I just wanted to get the day over and stop for a while. Second, the windshield was either rainy or buggy. Third, a lot of the viewpoint stops said “Cars Only”.

So I think the trip is over for this year. The plan is to stay at the cottage for the month and then head home. If we get bored we might take a side trip on the way home first.

A highlights post is coming soon.

Aug 24,25 – To Fort Steele, British Columbia

Yesterday we both woke up with sore throats and stuffy noses. On going outside there was a strong smoke smell and even the trees near us in town were partially obscured.

The forecast had called for a day of rain showers. I had hoped that they might clear up some of the smoke but it was obvious that the rain was not going to happen.

The only things I had left on my todo list where some drives with short hikes to viewpoints and a longer hike up a canyon. Since the viewpoints were pointless and we didn’t really want to work too hard in this air, we decided to cut our losses and hit the road. We had paid for a week here and we don’t get money back leaving 3 nights early but there was no point in staying.

So we moved on to the Fort Steele RV Resort near Cranbrook. I called first to make sure we could move up our arrival date.

Just south of Kaslo we got stopped for a short time while they cleaned up an accident. It looked like a head on collision as the front ends of both cars were pretty mashed up but the passenger compartments seemed mostly intact so I hope they weren’t too badly hurt.

At Balfour we got to take the longest free ferry in the world over to Kootenay Bay. It takes about 40 minutes to cross the lake. Once again we arrived just as a ferry left the dock but here they run two ferries so we only had to wait the 40 minutes to board the next one.

There was an interesting shop at the dockside.

The air around Balfour was actually much clearer than near Kaslo. We could see some things while on the ferry, although not much of the mountains on the shoreline.

The other ferry seems much smaller than this one.

We ended up right in the middle of all the cars.

We were just about the last ones off and those that were behind us, we quickly let by. The road down the eastern side of Kootenay Lake to Creston is 60 kph all the way with even more twists and turns than the road to Nelson or Kaslo. At least it was relatively flat and for most of the time we had the road to ourselves.

The road from Creston onwards was being paved so we hit a few delays but again there were no big climbs or downhills.

As we got nearer Cranbrook it again got very smoky.

With not deciding to leave until later than usual and the change back to mountain time it was after 6 by the time we got to the campground.

Fort Steele RV Resort is pretty big with about 125 sites, with some in the trees and some like ours, out in the open.

Just a hint of the scenery around us.

When I was planning the trip we were scheduled to stay were for 5 days but once again most of the things would be pointless if you can’t see anything in the smoke or if we just don’t want to breathe too much of it. We are just staying for 2 nights before we start the long trek back across the prairies to the cottage in Northern Ontario.

Today we went to check out the nearby Fort Steele Heritage Town. It was never a military fort but just a small community. It is named after Superintendent  Sam Steele of the Northwest Mounted Police, who came here at one time to mediate a dispute between the settlers and the Ktunaxa First Nation.

It was not very busy today.

First up was the water tower, which didn’t seem structurally strong enough to have held much water.

It is now an observing platform. This is a very distorted panorama of the stairs.

And a photosphere.

They have about 60 buildings, not all open, around a large square.

They have a herd of huge black Clydesdales that pull this wagon. For $5 you can take a ride around the grounds.

At the end of the day, the driver was leading them back to the stable.

She disappeared.

Some of the building have people giving demonstrations.

The leather shop.

The blacksmith.

A nice bandstand in the middle of the square.

You can stay in the hotel. $250 a night for the suite and $150 for a smaller room, with breakfast.

The candy store.

What used to be 25c all day suckers are now a bit pricier.

Some of the building without attendants in them were protected by this wire mesh which was just small enough to make it hard to take pictures.

The print shop, taken through the front window.

Some of the building were beyond repair.

There was a field full of what I assume is all the equipment that they couldn’t repair.

There were a lot of homes that you could look at but they got a bit repetitive.

At the bakery we bought a sausage roll and a cinnamon bun for lunch. Both very good.

The bakery is famous for its sourdough bread. As we were eating a fresh batch came out of the oven.

I asked them to run it through the slicer but probably shouldn’t have. The slices turned out to be very thin. I like a good thick slice of bread. Still very good.

This huge waterwheel was brought here from a mine where it used to run the pumps. It is perched on a hill over the highway to entice people to come in.  

The surveyor and assayer’s house started small but as he got married and had kids its got a few additions.

Nice house.

The assay office.

Checking out the samples.

I am not sure why they put these fake storefronts when they had so many real buildings.

This building used to be a hotel. You can now rent the lower floor ballroom for functions.

The upper floor is a museum.

Some old “medicines”. Arsenic, cocaine, heroin, morphine and strychnine.

Out on the street this group came by looking for new dancers for their hall. The local widow was not happy.

They gave everyone lessons.

We headed over to check out the steam train that gives rides around a looping track.

You could go up in the cab.

We didn’t go for the ride but just watched it start as we left the park.

And so, sadly, this is the premature end to this year’s exploration of southern British Columbia.

Tomorrow we will start the cross Canada trip back to our cottage. I don’t think we will pause anywhere. We just want to see some clear skies.