2015 Summer Journey Canadian Crossing Part 2

 Summer Journey Canadian Crossing Part 2

June 19, 2015
Our traveling adventure has taken through California, Oregon and Washington, 1961 miles from home to be near the Canadian border. It will be about 9 days of roaming in Canada in our home on wheels to reach the Alaskan border.
We had planned on two target places as a must see while in Canada…Salmon Glacier that’s outside of Steward, Canada and Telegraph Creek near Dease Lake on Canadian Hwy 37.

It was a rainy night at Sumas RV Park; the morning brought us scattered clouds with a blue-sky background.

Approaching the Canadian border (Day1), it when somewhat smooth with several questions being asked of us and having to go inside the office for a second check.

Leaving behind us the Canadian customs office and finding our way towards the Transcanadienne Highway 1
Surrounded by thousands of acres of farmland on either side of the highway we swiftly traveled down the road. Shortly after going through Chilliwack, Trans Canada highway starts a slow climb towards the Lillooet Mountain Range.

Transcanadienne 1 made a little change of direction by going through the Township of Hope. One of the self-reminders I had to do…its kilometers, not mile per hour. I found myself driving a wee bit too fast several times.

The climb into the mountains was a lot more noticeable with the sight of the Fraser River below and the railroad train running beside the highway.

A few more miles down the highway, we pulled off the road into a turn out just before a bridge that crossed over the Fraser River.

There are a number of tunnels, boring their way through the mountains and many small communities along this highway.

As quickly as we were in the mountains, our path took us plunging down to along the river where the rocky geology was more exposed.

A change in highway to Canada 97 (Cariboo Hwy) came after Cache Creek and our first sighting of wildlife, Julie got off a couple of photos of deer along the roadway as we motored on by.

Our first day was a long one and as we pulled into the visitor center in Williams Lake, it was closed for the day. We stayed the night right there, undistributed and it poured rain upon us most of the night.
Day2, June 20, 2015 Williams Lake to Smithers

Leaving the Williams Lake visitor center early AM, it is a gorgeous day.

Started seeing many TCs going to and from on the highway, seem to be a lot of same scenery of small towns and a lot of greenery along the road. Before long, a pit stop was necessary at McLeese Lake rest stop.

Here I was able to talk with a local constable and received some good advice traveling on Canadian roads.

About 10:00am we came into Quesnel Visitor Center and Museum, we stayed a bit to look around. The museum had a small fee to look around; there are some nice items in it.

Continuing on Canada 97 towards Prince George rain once again started to pour down on us.

Through several towns, we saw iconic roadside memorials along highway 97.

In Prince George, we re-fueled at Super Saver Dave and another fellow TCer had also pulled in for fuel. Our tanks took 41.6 gal of diesel at 3.68/gal.(US), make our mpg at this time 11.14 mpg since our last fuel stop.

Upon leaving Prince George, a unique signage for a golfing range was seen.

This is we’re changing to Canada Highway 16, also known as the Yellowhead Highway and more wildlife to be spotted along the highway.

Mother Nature had been pouring rain on us off and on all day so far, but the day was still a gorgeous one.

Many eye-appealing sights would present themselves before our end of the day in Smithers, Canada.

Our overnight place would be alongside the Safeway Market in Smithers, Canada.

Tomorrow we’ll be motoring on to Steward, Canada.
Thanks to everyone for following along.

Alex Blasingame

aka, c.travelingman21000

Alex and Julie's Travels

Click for Part 3

2015 Summer Journey, Canadian Crossing part 3

 June 21, 2015…Sunday

We had a restful, dim lighted night next to the Safeway here in Smithers, Canada. During our sleeping time, a fellow RVer pulled in and parked a couple of spaces beyond us. I was able to talk with them, they’re Canadians doing some traveling in their rig that was custom built by the couple.

Hudson Bay Mountain peaks (Bulkey Ranges) are covered in snow with a fluffy cap of clouds making it look like a lazy day.

After a light breakfast, we secured the camper and motored on out of town taking in some of the roadside sights.

Continuing on the Yellowhead Hwy 16 towards Steward, Canada, we made a stop at Glacier View rest area for the view of the glacier. This places us just south of Evelyn, Canada, a better view of the snow-capped mountains of the Bulkey Ranges.

Our bucket list stop that we needed to get to was Steward, Canada; all other stops were simply because we wanted to. Yellowhead Highway 16 snaked its way through several small township with plenty of stop off areas to behold Mother Nature snow cap mountains.

In New Hazelton, we pulled over into a somewhat empty lot to take some photos of Red Rose Mt, part of the Roche De Boule Range (Bulkey Ranges).

As we pass through this quiet town, some activity was at a local swap meet.

Soon the quiet town of New Hazelton was a number of miles behind us as we motor on one of the few stretches of road that sport a 100 km/h speed limit (62mph). We traveled on into the Kitsegukla Indian Reserve 1 crossing the Kitsegukla River that joins the Skeena River at this point.

Reaching Cassiar Hwy 37 (aka Dease Lake Hwy), the road taking us in a more north direction. About 140km from Steward we stopped at a small bridge crossing to stretch our legs and some more photographic shutter bugging.

There was some evidence a bear had been across the road near the bridge, he left his calling card on the road. Back on the road through a corridor of asphalt hugging trees we are motoring to Meziadin Junction. Making a pit stop at Brown Bear rest area, lots of room for any size vehicle.

Like the pervious roads, we had just traveled so far on the Cassiar 37 the nature beauty abounds everywhere.

After using the rest stop facilities and some more photo shots it’s on the road again, we haven’t seen another vehicle in awhile and no sooner said a TC comes towards us. A few more miles down the road, some of the Boundary Mountain Range comes into view.

Along the way we saw several logging area, after that I began to noticed that that road hugging trees was just a façade to hide the clear cutting method that was being done.

Before reaching Meziadin Junction in the early afternoon a bear had walked across the road in front of us, it was quite the sight. We headed west on Highway 37a to Steward, Canada and Hyder, Alaska. At Meziadin Junction., there is a store for buying fuel, food and other items.

Highway 37a funnels down a ever narrowing valley (Cambria Mountain Range) with small ponds and creeks that can be seen from the highway. Mountains towering above up, snow packed pecks reflecting the afternoon sunlight as we motored on to Bear Glacier.

Soon we are at Strohn Lake being fed by Bear Glacier; we did stop here to look at this close wonderful sight, taking in Mother Nature’s creation with many other sightseers.

Daylight was moving on and it was time to think about a spot to spend overnight at. Highway 37a narrowed even more with the glacier fed Bear River running alongside the highway. Once in Steward, it was decided to settle down at Bear River RV Park, it was time for a shower and to do laundry, this was the only place during our journey we had to exchange U.S currency for Canadian currency, which the owner of the Bear River RV Park was glad to do.

Longer daylight was becoming more appearance to us and we had already begun to use the window sunlight blockers, with them in place our TC became a little mobile cave. Hyder, Alaska and main part of Steward was our agenda for the next day.

Thanks for following along

Alex Blasingame

aka, c.travelingman21000

Alex and Julie's Travels

 Click here for Part 4