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Week 4, Day 22
Campbell River - Telegraph Cove <map>
240 kms
A 'transport' day today, and a relatively easy one at that. First stop was at Elk Falls, a lovely park with a suspension bridge and stairs allowing a great view of the otherwise inaccessible falls. It was proposed by the local Rotary Club in 2009 and finally opened only 5 months before we arrived. How lovely of them to think of our trip!
Elk Falls
Suspension Bridge
A great view from the middle, but only one of us wanted to experience it.
Forest Nymph - note thickness of bench timbers!
Just nearby is the Elk Falls Provincial Park that has camp-sites for vans, RVs, etc.
Idyllic camp site
We were assured that the bears stay on the other side of the creek. Note that this is about the smallest caravan we saw while in Canada/USA.
Heading further up the island, we called in at Sayward, a small village off the highway. The main purpose for its existence seems to be the logging harbour where logs are brought in by truck, slid into the water, then assembled into 'rafts' and towed by tug to a sawmill.
Log rafts being assembled - Harbour mouth is made from sunken ships and barges
Very impressive log moving machine
Finally we reached Telegraph Cove. The three photos below show about 85% of Telegraph Cove. It's not huge.
Our room for 2 nights - upstairs in the blue house on right
It was certainly handy to the dock for tomorrow's boat trip! What wasn't so handy was the fact that we had to move our suitcases about 300m along the dock as you can't get a car anywhere near the accommodation. The 'resort' provided human-powered trolleys. No photos of me pulling one as Sue was laughing too much!
The view from the sun room (with very little sun in evidence)
The house was built by one of the founders of Telegraph Cove, Fred Wastell. He and his wife converted it from a linesman's shack in 1929 as a single storey house. They subsequently had two daughters, and so in 1937, they jacked the house up and built the main floor below. The sun room was added a few years later. They lived in the house until 1984. It was converted into a 4 bedroom hotel in 1998. It was comfy in a rustic manner, with creaking floorboards eminently suitable for ghost stories. We had a double bed and an 'ex-suite' (that's an en-suite when it's not in your room but across the hall outside the other upstairs bedroom).
We went for a short stroll after dinner
Week 4, Day 23
Telegraph Cove - Knight Inlet - Telegraph Cove <map>
~140 kms (boat)
Due to the tides, we had a bit of a lie-in in the morning as the boat didn't leave until about 9am. The morning didn't look too promising with low cloud and showers passing through, but at least we were prepared. We spotted humpbacks spouting, as well as a group of sea lions pestering them for food.
VIDEO: Whales and Sea Lions
We pulled into a fishing lodge to top up our fuel, ...
... and found a person cleaning his catch of prawns.
These were in the water half an hour ago
'Mixed' - Canadian for 'chucking it down'
Considering where we were (Middle-of-Nowhere, BC), I thought the fuel prices were very reasonable. The weather forecast seems to be for another time or place. It was certainly lower than 11° and 'Mixed' didn't agree with what was actually happening.
VIDEO: Prawns and scenery
Wearing 5 layers (including the thermals we had in Antarctica!)
Knight Inlet - could be Norway or NZ
More waterfalls
We arrived at a pontoon at Glendale Cove and transferred to our 'Bear Watching Boat'. This trip was different to the last one in that we were going to watch the bears from the 'safety' of an open boat in shallow water. We were in a different catchment area on this trip, and the salmon run hadn't started (some said it wasn't going to this year). Consequently, the grizzlies were trying to feed on roots and berries on the river flats in preparation for their hibernation as the salmon were not (yet?) available.
'Bear-watching boat' - note total lack of shelter from the rain
The other half of our group
Our first Grizzly of the day - a male - with a couple of Canada Geese in the background
The blue grainy finish in the following photos is not a fault of the camera or its operator. It's because the rain was coming down in buckets and has been compressed by the telephoto lens! I am really thankful that I bought a 'weather-proof' camera.
Mother and cub
Male sniffs the air - he's about 1.2m (4') at the shoulder
Yes, we're this close! This is another group, but we were specifically told not to wear any bright colours as it disturbs the bears. Doesn't seem to be worrying them too much...
Now this was impressive! The male had spotted another bear and rose up to get a better look. I estimated him at about 2.5m (8~9') when upright
No aggression, just curiosity - our guide thought the younger one in the foreground was from an earlier litter
Bald Eagle looking miserable
Great Blue Heron
Canada Geese in the rain
We spent about two hours at the bear site. It seemed like it went passed in minutes! Such a fantastic experience to see these animals in their native habitat (did I say that about the last lot, too?)
Week 4, Day 24
Telegraph Cove - Campbell River <map>
210 kms
Not much of interest today. Just retracing our steps back to Campbell River. We visited the Campbell River museum - very interesting but no photos worth showing as the interesting bits (First Nation artwork, totems and carvings) were not able to be photographed.
Week 4, Day 25
Campbell River - Nanaimo - Vancouver <map>
228 kms (car + ferry)
When we were travelling north on Vancouver Island, we took mainly secondary roads to take in the views. Now we're headed back south, we're taking the main highway, so not as much to see.
My pick of the bear photos. He was about 5m (18') away. What a magnificent animal!
Boarding the ferry at Nanaimo, ending up...
... at the very front.
Approaching Horseshoe Bay - colour cast due to ferry's tinted windows
Driving off the ferry seems to activate the Grand Prix gene in all the drivers. It was a real drag race up the steepish hill from the ferry terminal, and then into Vancouver's traffic. Fortunately, we only had to navigate across the Lions Gate Bridge and through Stanley Park to our hotel in Robson.
Week 4, Day 26
Vancouver
~3 kms on foot
Washing, a bit of walking through Stanley Park again and planning the next major stage of the trip - travelling back to Calgary. The only point of excitement was that the Golden Arches next to our hotel had a fire alarm go off in one of their deep fryer exhaust ducts.
Smoke but no fire at Maccas - 'Do you want fries with that' is still available
Stanley Park - Never seen a Raccoon before
Lost Lagoon, Stanley Park - Hard to believe this is 1km from the Vancouver CBD
Week 4, Day 27
Vancouver - Kamloops <map>
420 kms
Stage 3 (I think) of Chris and Sue's Great Canadian Adventure. We planned to use a scenic route east, so ignored the faster route out of Vancouver via Abbotsford for the more scenic north-of-the-Fraser-River highway. We aim to follow the Fraser and Thompson Rivers as far as possible.
We knew we were getting into the mountains (not into the Rockies yet, though) as we started to come across quite a few tunnels.
Ummm, isn't that a bit obvious...
Following the magnificent Fraser River Valley - seems overtaking on double lines is OK
Autumn colours are starting to appear
The upper slopes of the hills on the other side of the valley are black from a bush fire. Doesn't just happen in Australia!
Lytton (no, not the one on the Brisbane River) - where the Thompson (hidden behind the pines) joins the Fraser (straight ahead)
Thompson River
Note that there are 2 railway tracks - one on each side of the river (you can just see this side's line at the bottom right). One is Canadian Pacific; the other is Canadian National. Sorry - no idea which one is which.
More Thompson River - note the change in the scenery from 3 photos back - this is arid semi-desert countryside between the coastal ranges and the Rocky Mountains
Kamloops Lake
Before the railway was completed, this lake was used by paddle steamers ferrying grain and gold miners.
Week 4, Day 28
Kamloops - Revelstoke <map>
216 kms
A quiet evening in a motel, then off into the foothills of the Rockies.
Heading east on Highway 1 - snow on the Rockies!
In keeping with the transportation theme we have going here (trains, planes, ferries, etc), we stopped off at one of the more important sites in Canada's transport history - the Last Spike at Craigellachie. This is where the railway tracks from the east and west were joined, finalising the Canadian Pacific Railway and making it possible to travel across Canada (and more importantly, across the Rockies) by rail.
Last Spike site, with the present railway line alongside
Painting from the original photo
Unlike the US, no gold or silver track spike was used - just an ordinary iron spike.
Snow sheds protect the track from avalanches
One of the things we were doing on this leg of the trip was to follow the route of the Rocky Mountaineer. The train line follows the same passes through the mountains and river valleys so we'd get to see the same scenery. Since the cessation of passenger services west of Calgary in the 1980s, this is the only train trip offering views of the Rockies. However, while the Rocky Mountaineer takes 2 days to cross from Vancouver to Calgary, we chose to drive. This gave us more time to explore (to say nothing of the savings). We'd seen numerous freight trains in the Fraser and Thompson valleys, but the tourist train had remained elusive. So what did we see while unpacking the car at the hotel in Revelstoke?
The Rocky Mountaineer (shot with my phone and heavily cropped, so not really great)
The forecast for tomorrow was a bit ordinary, so after unpacking we immediately drove up Mt Revelstoke to check out the surrounding countryside.
Why? Are they dangerous? Another curious Canadian sign
Overlooking Revelstoke - Mt Bigbie has two smallish glaciers
At a place near here, Canadian authorities built an internment camp during WWI. This was for Ukrainians and other East Europeans who were considered enemy aliens. Some Revelstoke citizens urged the government to use the internees to build a road up Mt Revelstoke, however conditions were so harsh that the men spent most of the time clearing snow and chopping firewood that the camp was closed and the internees sent to another camp in Yoho Nat Pk.
The local council had just finished resurfacing the 20kms of road to the summit (presumably without harming any amphibians), so it was a delightful drive to the carpark near the top - a climb of 5,000' and numerous hairpin bends. Due to space constraints, you have to walk the last kilometre, or there is a Nat Pk shuttle for senior citizens like us (who started to walk, then flagged the shuttle down half way up!). This mountain is the home of Canada's oldest continuously operating ski club, dating back to the 1890s, although most downhill skiing has now been relocated to nearby Mt Mackenzie.
At least we walked the last 100m up the track to the fire lookout tower
The fire tower was was used from 1927 until 1987 when satellite lightning strike data and aerial fire patrols took over. It's now classed as a Federal Heritage Building.
Looking over the Columbia River Valley...
...and in the opposite direction
We were told by the rangers who drove the shuttle, that the road into the park would probably close within the next few weeks and not open again for another 6 months! I guess we got the timing right here.
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