Southern BC

Hi All,
On Wednesday, May 31, we crossed the border into Canada. Just like any other group of people you encounter, the Canadian border guards were a wide spectrum. One you couldn't get to smile no matter what and one that was a real riot and lots of fun. But the important part is we made it through with little delay. Before we got to our first campground, we saw our first bear. Unfortunately there is no photographic proof.

Here are two maps showing the route covered by this blog, one gives you a better perspective of the distance. You'll notice we didn't go far in 6 days. That's because we found that we had made reservations at Mama Yeh's RV park for Monday, June 5 and it was only about 600 miles away. 600 miles in 6 days, you do the math. We didn't drive long distances over the last week.

To say this drive has been scenic would be a huge understatement. It has been absolutely gorgeous. I'm glad we weren't in a hurry.

Our stops have been at Emory Creek Provincial Park, Juniper Beach Provincial Park outside Cache Creek, BC (some really nice Scottish hosts), Wells Grey Provincial Park outside 100 Mile House, BC, Williams Lake (Walmart parking lot), Quesnel (pronounced kwe NEL, Walmart parking lot again) and now at Mama Yeh's outside Prince George. We'll be here for two nights before moving on to Dawson Creek and the start of the Alcan. I can't imagine that road will be more beautiful than what we've already experienced but others say it is.

Friday and Saturday were our days for taking wrong turns. In both cases we ended up on dirt forestry roads that a truck pulling a travel trailer shouldn't go down. In both instances we had a bit of excitement. See the picture from Friday below.

A tree, thankfully a small one, was blocking the road. Thank goodness we had a hatchet with us.

On Saturday we ended up on a road with no place to turn around and backing out would have been impossible. We backed the trailer off the road as far as we could, unhooked it from the truck, turned the truck around and then hooked back up to the trailer and got out. Backing the trailer into the trees we ended up losing a couple of items including the tail light lens from the rear of trailer. We didn't realize it was gone until later and there was no way we were going back. The good part of this side trip was we ended up seeing four black bears. Unfortunately I had the wrong lens on the camera considering their distance so I'm not including the picture of four black dots. Hopefully there will be many more opportunities.

A couple of comments on mosquitoes. There are lots of them and they are the size of small birds. You aren't just for breakfast and dinner any more, they are active at all times, day and night. Bug spray does seem to work some.

Now for the pictures...  All the bird pictures were taken at a bird sanctuary in Williams Lake.

Our campsite at Emory Creek PP

Waterfalls coming out of the mountains.

An old church somewhere along the road.

Me in front of the world's largest set of cross country skis (100 Mile House Visitor Center)

Who knew there was a desert in British Columbia? Complete with rattlesnakes.

The view of Lake Mahood from our campsite at Wells Grey PP.

At Wells Grey PP

Duncan's reading skills aren't coming along like we hoped

Cinnamon Teal at Williams Lake 

Yellow Headed Blackbird at Williams Lake

Susan is still trying to figure out what this is

Red Wing Blackbird

American Widgeon (male)

Mother Hooded Merganser with her babies in close pursuit

Venturing out enough that you can count nine babies

Pair of American Widgeons

Williams Lake in Williams Lake, British Columbia

That's it for now. Take care.

Brian