Talk about an early start… We thought the ferry’s arrival time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, was to be 4:30 a.m. PST (local time); however, the ferry arrived at 4:30 a.m. AST. We, and numerous others onboard, got up an hour earlier than we needed to, so (to try to put a positive spin on our mistakes) we got to see an extra hour of nighttime travel along the Inside Passage. It was not until we were very close to the dock that it was light enough to see well. Getting to the ferry terminal took us past a shipyard, but not much was going on there. We also passed several other docks, and on two of them, eagles were out getting some breakfast. The pictures of the two eagles weren’t very good, but in one, you can see a small fish in the eagle’s beak.
Once the ferry docked, we unsecured our bikes and exited the ferry. After going through Canadian Customs, we headed to McDonald’s for breakfast. We then headed east along Highway 16. After about 20 miles, the highway started following the course of the Skeena River and did so for the next 100 miles or so. The scenery along the river was superb, and the opposite bank was lined by snow-covered mountains for a lot of the way. We saw several large (and many small) waterfalls along this route, and at one point there was a very high bluff that seemed to go straight up.
After about 230 miles, we came to Smithers, British Columbia. Prior to getting there, we had seen several eagles, and one brown bear had run across the highway a good distance in front of our first riders (Tom and Mark). In Smithers, we gassed up, asked around for a good place to eat, and were pointed toward a Mexican restaurant for lunch. From Smithers on, the landscape really started changing. The mountains receded into the distance and the land got flatter. We passed numerous ranches and farms and got to see a lot of cows and horses. There were also a lot of hay fields, either recently baled or in the process of being cut/baled.
In Burns Lake, we stopped for a little break, then got gas, then went for root beer floats at the local A&W restaurant. We were all more tired than we wanted to be. We pushed on and made it to Prince George, British Columbia, about 6:45 p.m. PST. We found a room at the first hotel we checked and quickly moved all our stuff from the bikes to our rooms. There is an East Indian restaurant in the hotel, so we thought we’d try that. The food was good, and a little spicy. It didn’t take long after dinner for “most” of us to get sacked out. Hopefully, with a good night’s sleep, our travels will go a lot easier tomorrow.
We traveled 447 miles today (between the two Princes) and the temperatures in the afternoon were quite warm. Tomorrow is supposed to be another very warm day in this area, and we plan to overnight in Whistler.