Travels with haRVy

Seems like it took forever, but we finally reached the junction for Highway 99, the Sea to Sky Highway. In our case we traveled from sky to sea towards Vancouver, BC. A long and winding downhill road to be sure.

“This highway offers spectacular scenery, but it is not always a relaxing drive.” – The Milepost

Lots of twists and turns, steep descents, and abrupt drop-offs tested Al’s driving skills. After a few hours on the highway we set up camp in Marble Canyon where the landscape felt surprisingly Southwestern.

Our site is just across Turquoise Lake in this photo.

Our view early the next morning.

We proceeded past Fraser Canyon.

Ate lunch overlooking Seton Lake.

Enjoyed viewing more fall foliage colors.

Saw the biggest log jam ever at the head of Duffy Lake.

Viewed Duffy Lake in opposite direction.

The stretched our legs a bit on a hike to Lower Joffre Lake.

Al definitely had his hands full driving this road.

It was a bit tough on haRVy’s brakes too.

Once camped at our Harvest Host’s farm in Pemberton where we picked luscious raspberries.

The next day we took a hike along the Green River to Nairn Falls.

Mighty Nairn Falls.

Having a little snack on the rocks before heading back down.

Later the same day we hiked to Brandywine Falls.

Moon set near Alice Lake Campground.

Beautiful trail around the lake.

Alice Lake.

Where is everybody? One of the pleasures of traveling a bit off-season is that campgrounds are still open but often nearly empty. Not sure I’d want to camp here in July or August.

Shannon Falls – our last stop on the Sea to Sky Highway.

Beautiful…

On Wednesday, September 23rd haRVy turned over 100,000 miles. As his second owners, we have put on about half of those miles, including approximately 35,000 on this trip alone! We look forward to 100,000 more!

While driving down the highway just two days later we heard a very loud BANG! It took us both a few seconds to realize that a truck heading in the opposite direction had kicked up a stone that then bounced off our windshield…ugh.

Up to this point we’d been feeling fortunate since most everyone who drives to Alaska expects this to occur due to the poor roads up there. We thought we’d made it through, since we were hundreds of miles south and traveling on a very nicely surfaced highway. Darn it! Everything seems to be holding OK, so we haven’t looked into getting it fixed yet.

Back to our travels. After spending a pleasant day touring around Smithers, which included a delicious healthy lunch from Two Sisters and some goodies from Schimmels Bakery, we were off to Burns Lake. Other than free camping at the municipal park next to the lake and a nice little health food store, I don’t have much to report about our stay.

We camped free for two more nights at another Municipal Park in Vanderhoof. This one was right next to a fairly scenic river and bird sanctuary.

Where are all the birds?

In Quesnel (pronounced Kwe-NEL), we walked across the “World’s Longest” wooden truss pedestrian bridge.

Pretty decent view, eh? From the camping site shown in photo below.

Bet you’d never guess this was a Walmart parking lot! Nice view and quiet too. Williams Lake has been voted our best Walmart stop ever.

Not only our favorite Walmart, but an incredible Visitor Center built by two local log cabin builders.

Fun display showing everything you need to enjoy the area!

And, at the Visitor Center in the town of 100 Mile House…

Why is it called 100 Mile House? See below.

One afternoon we noticed an old abandoned mill off the highway, so we took our lunch break there.

Some of the most colorful graffiti I’ve seen.

Our journey continues with a night and day in the Village of Hazelton. 

Entrance to a recreated Gitxsan First Nations village in Hazelton.

Our next stop was at a First Nations fishing area at Moricetown Canyon. Only native Alaskans are allowed to dip net fish here.

Just before reaching Smithers, we turned onto the road leading to Twin Falls. We wanted to stretch our leg a bit before settling in for the evening. We were surprised to find four beautiful campsites nestled in the woods at the trailhead. These sites are not mentioned in any of the printed materials and they are FREE! We were the only ones camped there that night. It was cold though and overnight a dusting of fresh snow fell on the peaks above us.

Our kind of camping…no one else in sight.

Beginning of hike up to the twin falls.

Sign near the bottom of the larger of the two waterfalls.

That looks like dangerous footing to me!

The view Al got from that perch.

The twins.

Fresh snow the next morning.

We’re making our way slowly south through “Beautiful British Columbia” as their license plates state. It truly is beautiful, especially with the accent of brilliant fall foliage.

We took a bit of a detour to visit Jane and Richard onboard their yacht High Hopes in Prince Rupert. We met Jane and Richard four years ago in Newfoundland. At that time we said we’d come see them someday and that day finally arrived. We just barely caught them for an brief visit before they went out fishing for a week, but it was fun to see them and trade travel adventure stories.

While in Prince Rupert we toured historic Cow Bay where we enjoyed the absolutely best halibut burger and sweet potato fries EVER at Dollie’s Fish Market.

The cow theme is prevalent here, as you can see.

After a couple of nights boondocking at the marina, we headed over to Port Edward to tour the historic North Pacific Cannery. NPC is unique among the few surviving cannery sites. It was established in 1889 and is the oldest remaining salmon cannery on the West Coast. It ran continuously for almost 100 years. It presented lots of photo ops.

Behind Al are recreated one-room houses as were inhabited by First Nations employees and their families. 

Inside the net loft.

The main dock as viewed from the net loft. Currently under restoration.

The net loft building.

The fuel dock that has long since broken off from the main dock.