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Day 39: Mountains, Foothills, Prairies

We awake at 6:00am and find that we were joined last night by two other campers in our secluded ‘wild camping’ spot behind the Independent grocery store in Fernie, BC. A few townies kept Barb awake for a while, but in general terms this was a wonderfully quiet place to spend the night. Also close to Starbucks, McDonald’s, etc. if you need/want breakfast take away in the morning before heading out. We had our usual coffee, banana & yogurt before heading out at 7:00am.

We had decided to stop at the top of Crowsnest Pass for a cooked breakfast and take the time to really start our day. The road up the pass was not as steep or arduous as some of the passes we had driven yesterday, which surprised us and as such we arrived at the top fairly quickly. Time for quiche. Yummy!

Once fed and ready for the day we headed further into the mountains and arrived at Frank, BC the site of Canada’s most deadly rock slide. In 1904 the side of Turtle mountain collapsed and slid into the valley below. 100 lives were lost in the town of Frank and the valley was changed for ever. The debris pile is huge and from the interpretation center you can imagine the noise and dust that would have been produced that day.

We traveled on to Fort Macleod in the Alberta foothills where we visited the “Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump” museum. This is a World Heritage Site and goes into amazing detail of how the Blackfoot people used the cliffs as a killing ground for herds of buffalo (bison) for thousands of years until the 1800’s. Built into the cliff, the museum building is worth the visit by itself; however, the stories of the people are the real captivating reason to visit. Highly Recommended.

Continuing East on Hwy-3 we head to Lethbridge, AB where we stop under the railway viaduct in a park for a picnic lunch in the van. No trains passed over the viaduct while we were there unfortunately.

The day was heating up into the low 20’s as we headed further away from the mountains. Shortly before Medicine Hat we stopped in Seven Persons, AB for ice cream! Yummy, again.

We drove around Medicine Hat and headed toward the Saskatchewan border on Hwy-1, the Trans-Canada Highway. Shortly after crossing into Saskatchewan we stopped at the “Cypress Hills Winery” in Maple Creek, SK. This is another Harvest Host destination and we enjoyed a fruit wine tasting and had a glass of Rhubarb Wine with pizza for dinner. A couple of bottles might also have found their way back to the van as well.

Tonight we are hoping to see the Aurora Borealis that so many saw last evening but we missed due to cloud cover. Fingers crossed!

Day 38: The Crowsnest Highway

Another early start to the day. I blame it on the early rising of the sun. Away from our wonderfully quiet campsite in the vineyard by 7:30am. Today we will spend the day traveling along Hwy-3, also known as “The Crowsnest Highway” towards Fernie, BC.

Leaving Osoyoos you immediately begin to gain elevation and the views across the valley are stunning.

Of course, what goes up must come down and sure enough it not long until we are descending at a rapid pace into another valley in Southern BC. This is repeated several times today with the climbs being just long enough to allow the brakes to cool from the last descent before being called on again. Utilizing the lower gears in the gearbox helps on these descents, as does having an eight-speed gearbox.

We stopped for a quick break in Grand Forks, BC and then again in Cranbrook, BC. Between Cranbrook and Fernie we crossed into the Mountain time zone and as such are now just two hours behind Ontario. Our final destination is the town of Fernie, BC where we are ‘wild camping’ for the night.

Tomorrow we enter Alberta and will leave the Rocky Mountains behind us.

Day 37: & so Eastward we are bound

5:30am rise & shine to get ready to depart Galiano Island. The ferry leaves at 8:30am but we have no reservation and so need to arrive at the dock early to have the best chance of boarding.

After a very nice and relaxing six days visiting my parents we say our goodbyes and head toward the ferry at 7:00am. 7:25am and we’re first in-line. A coffee, yogurt & banana while we wait. Turns out that that there was no issue of space and we could have probably slept in for an extra hour or so. Oh well, better safe than sorry.

As we cross the Strait of Georgia towards Vancouver, we think back on where we have been so far on this adventure and the varied weather that we have seen. This morning it was around 10°C when we woke, it will be 27°C when we stop later this afternoon!

Looking towards the Southern Gulf Islands, BC

Our drive across the Fraser River valley is uneventful and after a couple of hours we pull into Hope, BC for fuel & to dump our tanks at a municipal Sani-dump ($free).

For those that don’t know, Hope, BC was the filming location for “Rambo: First Blood”. The town has embraced this notoriety and there are several landmarks about the town that you can visit from the movie. The bridge, across which Rambo walks at the beginning of the movie is gone (2011) but a new bridge has replaced it and there are still signs, but it’s not quite the same knowing that it’s not the same bridge.

Not the ‘Rambo’ bridge in the same location as the original ‘Rambo’ bridge

Everyone’s favorite stop is downtown near where the Police station was in the movie. In the park there are a number of chainsaw carvings of the characters from the movie. We snapped a picture of Rambo (below).

We head East on Hwy-3 towards the Okanagon valley. The road, although windy and hilly as it passes through the mountains, is really very good and well maintained. There are lots of passing lanes on the hills (including one that is 38km long!).

Eventually we notice the trees thinning and the flora around us changing to be more desert-like as we approach Osoyoos, BC. It reminds us of the Southern California desert in some ways with the slope of the hills and the sagebrush. It’s also now quite warm and the A/C in the van is very welcome.

Pulling into Osoyoos, we stopped at a roadside produce stand which happened to have a Mexican food truck next door. Lunch time!

Lunch was delicious and we both highly recommend “Sofia’s Mexican Food”. I enjoyed a chimichanga and Barb had 3 chicken tacos. Barb also picked up a few treats for another time from the roadside produce stand.

Our stay tonight is at a vineyard just north of Osoyoos called Mythology vineyard. The wine is very good and our camping spot is amongst the grapevines behind the tasting room. Our view is West towards the mountains and we look forward to enjoying a glass of wine as the sun sets.

Days 32 to 36: …

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Day 31: Nothing to declare

Oooof…. 5:30am. We’re up & heading for a shower (which gets 4/10 because of very small size & clingy shower curtain). Why so early you ask? We have an early reservation for the Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, BC ferry. Yep, we are leaving the U.S. after almost a month of travel, it’s time to head back into Canada.

Showered we get the van ready for the day and are driving off site by 6:45am. Traffic is fairly light and this makes our drive back into town to the wharf easy and quick. Black Ball Ferries require us to check-in a minimum of one hour before the ferry “Coho” departs at 8:20am, we make it with a few minutes to spare.

A cup of coffee and a banana are enjoyed while we wait to board which begins shortly before 8:00am. We make our way up to the top deck in order to have the best views back across town to the Olympic mountains.

The ferry is relatively full with most passengers having walked-on. The Salish Sea is mill pond calm and we see a few seabirds fishing for breakfast but no whales or seals today while crossing. Arriving in the Victoria inner harbour, our departure and clearance through Canada Customs takes about 30min. We head towards Langford, BC where we enjoy breakfast at a White Spot restaurant before getting groceries for the week.

The weather for today is predicted to go from sunny this morning to rain later in the afternoon. As such we have changed our plans to try to avoid the heaviest rains and are now heading to my parents home a day ahead of schedule for a few days of rest and relaxation.

We’ll catch-up with you again when we resume our journey next week. All the best and thanks for following our adventures.