This was our first trip to the mainland from Vancouver Island, in over a year. The fire smoke had subsided and we caught a ferry from Departure Bay (Nanaimo) to Horseshoe Bay. We drove through Whistler, refueled in Pemberton and camped at a Rec site on the Duffy Lake Road. I had forgotten to book the free Joffre Lakes trail permit (one day in advance) until we were on the ferry and by then it was sold out, so we pressed on directly to Revelstoke the following day. We had the afternoon to wander the town streets, we hiked to Begbie Falls from Highway 23 (yawn) and then we checked out the historic Nels Nelsen Ski Jump that was last used in the 1970's. Ski jumping is not on our wish lists.

I had booked two nights at a walk-in campsite at the Snowforest Campground, on short notice, and we set up our camp. The showers were terrific.

We got off to an early start and drove the 26 km parkway up to 1800 m and the trail-head for hiking in the meadows. As it was September, the flowers were finished but so were the bugs. The walking was pleasant but not extraordinary. After about 6 km, we took the Jade lakes trail and the scenery improved with beautiful small tarns and streams in rich alpine meadows. The views of the Monashee range also improved. We reached the pass for views to the north and down to Jade lake. We returned and made the detour to popular Eva lake which was surprisingly busy for a mid-week day in September. It was a good way to get our hiking legs going and by the last couple of kilometres back, we were tired enough.

We had a strange evening, back at the camp. We got word that there could be a Covid contact issue with my cousin at our next stop (fortunately, nothing came of it), an old friend of mine in Toronto passed away that morning and our visit with Sheila's cousin was cancelled due to a friend's medical emergency/condition.

Our Revelstoke National Park impressions were that it was pleasant but underwhelming. The Snowforest campground (opened in 2020) was very compact but it is convenient to town and the Meadows Parkway. The washrooms/showers were excellent. We could hear the Trans Canada highway traffic and rail traffic at night. A few other possibilities for Revelstoke area hikes would be Mccrae lake, Mt Begbie and the Frisby Ridge trail (on mountain bikes).

If you do an internet search on Glacier National Park, you'll find that there are two of them; one in Montana and the other in BC. We drove 45 minutes to the BC one at Rogers Pass. The Hermit Trail leaves from a parking lot on the Trans Canada highway. It starts out through beautiful old growth trees with the sound of traffic persisting for quite a while. Then the National Parks quality trail goes up steeply through thinning trees and out into the alpine and stupendous views.

Sheila took in the views and I wandered further up on informal trails for about an hour. The campsite would make a fine base to explore from. There are a number of hikes on the other, south, side of Rogers Pass that are of future interest.

Later in the day, we drove to the Blaeberry Valley near Golden for a couple of days with cousin Wayne & Catherine. We were joined by Brett & Cailie for the first night. We all had a good time and woke up the next day feeling a little rough. Wayne & Catharine have embarked on a project to build a home in the beautiful mountain area.

This was our first visit to the Bugaboos. Although we had lived in Calgary, we hadn't hiked the mountains west of the Rockies. It was a fairly good gravel road (50km) into the park area. It was Labour Day Monday and there were a few cars on the road going in the opposite direction to us. The park mostly cleared out by mid-day so there were only a few of us up there that evening.

Before leaving our vehicle, we strung chicken-wire around the car to prevent porcupines from drinking themselves silly with brake line fluid. The trail is good, but over rugged terrain, so by the time we walked past the Conrad Kain hut and hiked up the last 250m of elevation to the climbers camp of Applebee Campground, we were tired. It was a bit windy and we struggled to find a fully sheltered tent site. I thought that the wind would ease overnight which it did, but at 4:00am. The lightweight summer tent flapped most of the night and neither of us slept well. I felt hung-over the next morning.

However, the surroundings were something else. We were at the base of spires that invite climbers from all over. It was a cool spot. We had time to wander about and we took our time descending and had a good look at the Bugaboo glacier when we were lower down in the alpine hut area.

We then camped at the Bugaboo-Septet recreation site, close to the key trailheads. It would make for a good base for hikes in all directions. It is a small campground (4 official sites) alongside Bugaboo Creek. There was also a good, easy access, informal camp area at the Bugaboo Creek bridge on the way to the Rec site. We both slept well that night.

The Cobalt lake hike had caught my attention when I was researching the Bugaboos. The hike itself is over uniform terrain and the trail was in good condition. The trail arrives at Grizzly Ridge that opens up tremendous views and perspectives of the Bugaboos. It was fabulous. I preferred it to the conventional hike up Bugaboo glacier to Applebee Campground in many ways.

After the Cobalt lake hike, we returned to camp and decided to pack up and drive back to the highway and further south. By the time that we got to Radium, late afternoon, our first fire smoke had rolled in. It was dark and felt like dusk. We stopped at the Radium Tourist information and after reviewing the fire smoke and weather forecasts, we figured that we should head north and not south. We camped that night at the nearby Redstreak Campground in Kootenay NP. The showers were fabulous, however, the sound of machinery from the distant Radium mill drifted through our tent for most of the night.

The following day was spent mostly on the road. We went back through Revelstoke and then we took an enjoyable shortcut along the west side of Adams Lake out to Barrière and north to Clearwater. The helpful and informative staff at the Wells Gray Information set us up with an itinerary and map. She didn't recommend the Silvertip Falls recreation site (too cold and damp) but we made it our base for the hike up Trophy Mountain, largely because it would involve less driving. We had an extended rain shower that evening and we rigged up a tarp off the back of our car for dinner preparation. It went all starry that night.

It is only a 45 minute (or less) hike up to the incredible Trophy Mountain meadows. They would be amazing to see when flowering. A local warned us that the bugs are just as spectacular during the warm summer months. There is a fine back-country campground at Sheila lake. We pressed on and hiked up onto the ridge that lead us up to one of the summits of Trophy Mountain. The ridge had a sub-arctic vibe. The talus sections were sometimes tedious, but that hike was well worth getting to the top for. It opened up nice views of the immediate area and further east to the Rockies. The hike got good reviews from both of us.

Wells Gray is sometimes referred to as Canada's waterfall capital. The geology encouraged waterfalls; volcanic eruptions melted massive quantities of ice during recent ice ages and formed spectacular waterfalls over largely volcanic rock. The water flows are sourced from lakes so that even in September, after a dry summer, there seemed to be enough water to captivate visitors.

Silvertip Falls near our Rec site was a series of cascades. We got another shot of rain showers the following morning but we had the waterproofs. The rain stopped by 8:00 am and was dry for the remainder of the day.

Moul Falls are a modest, easy 3 km (6 km return) walk from the parking lot. We went early and we were the only people there. It was fabulous. It was not the most impressive waterfall in the park but it was my personal favourite.

Dawson Falls are alongside the main paved Park road. Unlike the much larger Niagara Falls, there is no nearby revolving restaurant or casino. I wouldn't want to go over them in a barrel.

Helmcken Falls are the Wells Gray waterfalls headliners. They are quite impressive. The water drops 140 metres or almost 500 feet

Helmcken Falls mark the end of the bitumen, further north is good gravel road. We had heard that the Spring salmon were at Bailey's Chute. We could not figure out how the salmon get past the chute. They don't. They give up and spawn a little ways downstream. We reached the southern end of Clearwater lake and turned around. Perhaps some day, we will canoe in the park; Murtle lake offers plenty of day hikes and is of interest.

The Pyramid Campground featured standard comfortable BC Parks sites. It was about half full on the week-end and our closest neighbours were a ways off. We made our exit the next morning, stopping at the roadside "Mush Bowl" and visited the quite impressive Spahats Falls (we were the only ones there).

We had a few hours of driving south through Kamloops and along the Coquihalla highway. When we dropped down into the upper Fraser Valley, we took the exit for Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park. The parking lot was almost full with urbanites on Sunday outings. It was our first visit there and we found it quite interesting.

And for something completely different, we had booked a night at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort. It is a large complex with more people than we would like but the pools were relaxing. Harrison lake itself is like Horseshoe Bay on fresh water.

We drove through Vancouver on our last day, did some minor shopping and met up with Andre & Cheryl in Horseshoe Bay. It was dark when we got home that night.

We both enjoyed the trip and the good trail systems. We can see us doing something similar again in the West Kootenay area.