So I hate to disappoint you all but since Valerie's cold refuses to go away, we have called off the trip...
...just kidding! Here's what we've been up to for the past three days.
We started off by dipping our toes in the Pacific Ocean along the sea to sky highway in West Vancouver. We then set off to visit Bridal Falls, the sixth largest waterfall in Canada. Needless to say, it was spectacular. Next, we visited Historic Hat Creek Ranch, a roadhouse built from the gold rush era. Since the roadhouse was built before the road, either the owner had ESP, or we have a few things to learn from him about getting his way. These roadhouses were constructed about every 12 to 14 miles along the Cariboo Gold Rush Trail so that the horses could have a break. After taking a short ride in a stagecoach, we think the people probably needed a break too. The road was so bumpy that dishes needed to be packed in molasses just to get there in one piece.
On the Gold Rush Trail, we also witnessed our first of many wildlife sightings! This one was a doe that crossed right in front of the car ahead of us. Don't worry, moms, we stopped with plenty of time...
After getting a little lost in Quesnel, we finally set up camp at 10 mile lake provincial park.
We woke up day two to find our shoes soaked outside the tent from the rain that had started early in the morning. After quickly packing up in our raingear, we headed to Prince George. After an attempt to buy produce at the 'farmers' market (which turned out to be a little disappointing at a dollar a tomato), we set off toward Houston.
Along the way, we drove through Vanderhoof, the geographical center of BC. And that's about the best thing that town had going for it ( no offense to any Vanderhoovians that might be reading this). In Houston, we had lunch in the shadow of the world's largest fly fishing pole.
On our way out, we passed though Smithers, the hometown of Dan Hamhuis. The locals are very proud (and the abundance of Go Cancuks Go signs made us slightly concerned that news takes a while to get there. More surprisingly, Prince George had no mention of it being the hometown of Zdeno Chara. Hmmmm...
Moricetown was the next stop. There, we walked down to the water in hopes of seeing some salmon fighting their way upstream (we thought it would be cool to see a fish climb a ladder haha). But alas, we got there too soon and it seems that tours only start later in the summer.
We drove to Nisga'a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park through Terrace. It was by far the highlight of the trip so far. Years ago, a volcano erupted over the area covering it completely with lava covering hundreds of square kilometers. We went on two hikes through the park appreciating the rocky terrain which apparently resembles the surface of the moon. Our GPS discovered a short cut to the 37 highway which heads up to the Yukon. Unfortunately, the 60km road took us an hour and a half to drive since it is an unpaved logging route. Although our map warned us of this, we decided to go on an adventure. And it was worth it because we saw two black bears and a grouse!
Earlier that day, we also had our first encounter with a moose that was smart enough to look both ways before crossing the road. We also witnesses a little duck family crossing the road single file.
Since there really isn't anything but spectacular scenery to see between Meziadin Lake, where we had camped for the night, and the Yukon Territory, day 3 didn't have much besides driving. We stopped at Dease Lake to fill up gas and have lunch. As we exited the city, Valerie saw a fox by the side of the road and pulled over to get a better view. Turns out the fox wanted to do the same. As soon as it saw us slow down, it started following our car wondering what species this big red thing belonged to. We saw two more black bears as well along the way.
We then reached the Yukon border! Of course we had to stop and take a picture. Another group was doing the same thing. Coincidentally, they too are trying to reach Dawson City for the 21st.
Being in our first territory is really exciting. We camped at Teslin the first night, our first sight with toilets and showers!! There's lots to see in The Yukon, so expect there to be more activities in our next blog.
More to come!
Tal and Val
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