Well the tent has officially seen it all now. We awake at 8am to temperatures of -4°C (see how much fun you can have with a cheap thermometer!) and gently falling snow. We pack up the tent and head into Jasper in search of something warm and wet. Whilst making tea on the stove is eminently possible we would have had to melt our water (ice) first and one could have died of thirst and/or hypothermia whilst waiting! Once defrosted and hydrated (and fed, of course) we head off on an 11 mile walk to Saturday Night Lake. This was a low level walk so not much snow but still cold so we made it there and back in record time, including a lunch stop at the lake. On the way back I (Rach) detour off the path to take a look at a beaver dam but see no furry creatures - not sure what you could tempt them out with and anyway, it's illegal to feed creatures in the National Park, it certainly is if all you've got left are Chips Ahoy cookies and bananas!
From Jasper we head west and into British Columbia gaining an hour as we did so. We took a brief look at Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies at 3954m, although sadly its summit was in cloud today. Tonight is being spent in a surprisingly good motel (for the money!), with takeaway Chinese in front of the first TV we have seen in over a month - bliss.
24/7: Walks, lakes, snow, wildlife, mountains. Goodbye Rockies.
Thursday October 4th
After a busy 10 days in the Rockies it seems strange not to have any real plans for the next week or so. We leave the motel and head south. Our mood today seems to reflect the grey skies and for the first time we're not quite sure what to do with ourselves. We pitch our tent near Clearwater which is the entrance to the Wells Gray Provincial Park, supposed to be as spectacular and as wild as the Rockies. After a quick trip to tourist info we head into the park and stop at the first set of waterfalls. As we walk to the viewing area we can hear the water but still can't see it, and for good reason - the enormously deep, and unexpected gorge, that the water has carved out is full of cloud. All very damp and eerie, we were almost expecting Pterodactyls to come swooping through. We continue up the road a little and encounter cloud like pea soup and decide to come back tomorrow. A short trip to the supermarket results in proper spag bol for dinner, amazing what you can do on a camping stove! Fingers crossed for a relatively mild night.
24/7: Feeling warm and cosy is so cliched.
Friday October 5th
The mild night started off fresh and was indeed a positively balmy 2°C at 8am. After pancakes for breakfast (on the campstove) without the Bangra music in the background we set off in the general direction of Whistler. We start off with another trip to the provincial park but are disappointed when the clouds are even lower than yesterday - we have to leave some things for next time. By the time we stop for lunch the scenery is arid brown hills and the temperature is in double figures. We're in a town called Kamloops which is considered to be the northern extent of the Mojave desert. An hour or so further on we're in different landscape again, this time agricultural land, the first we've seen in Western Canada. By the time we reach our overnight stop in Lillooet we've driven along the spectacular canyon created by the Fraser River, not a bad range of scenery for one day. Lillooet seems a strange place, with a surprising amount of facilities for a small town, and the first place we've really seen Native Canadians.
24/7: We feel warmer, can that be right?
1 comment:
What a trip!
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