Category: Our RV Lifestyle

Smoke continues, I can’t imagine what the fire fighters are going through.  Mexico sent us 100 of their fire fighters to assist.  A short drive and our adventure begins.                                                     

The march is in the outskirts of town, the walk is a 6k loop.  I like loops.

We drive along 17th which turns into a “Bob” road, ie gravel.

We park  at the Ash parking area and walk left on the trail.  The boardwalk!

Up ahead, no photos, cause I’m frightened – 4 people walking one scary looking dog.  I’m full of anxiety.  The 4 walk slower than we do, we lag back.  Poor Allan and the stuff he has to put up with, he is so sweet and concerned he pulls out our dog/coyote spray just in case.   The group stops to gaze at the marsh.  The dog notices us and starts approaching.  Allan calls out “Could you please hang on to your dog till we pass?”  They are accomendating and do.  I explain I am terrified, they held on. 

Keep moving on   

More grassy stuff, and lots of mosquitos even though we bug sprayed.  We are into this walk 45m, total should be 60m.  15m too long for my liking.  

Make it to the lookout 

    Not so much!!

Round a corner, again no photo, there are at least 8 Canada Geese waiting to attack,  Would our whistles disperse them or attract them.  I’m not walking back through all the tickling vegatation, don’t want to go forward!  What to do…  the geese feel sorry for me and  “flock” off.  🙂 

We make a wrong turn and end up at Hwy 5, back we go and finally find Bob. 

Not the best adventure but hey, it’s done!

 

We’re off to     

It was Allan’s birthday yesterday, here he’s posing in this birthday bear t-shirt

The falls

Looking down the falls

We arrived in time to see the rafters load up     

    those brave soles                 

Waterfalls were fun, next stop                                       

We were discussing how all this sand got here…

…now we know    Beneath our feet & in our shoes!  Lots of sand.    

The sun is trying so hard, the smoke keeps winning.  This was at 111p

              So ends this trail loop

 

First stop, Visitors Centre to learn today’s must doThe suggestion is hike the Berg Lake Trail to Kinney Lake.  It’s 4.2k each way, will our weary bones make it? 

A quick walk around the Visitor’s Centre, oh our history

3,954 m = 12,972 feet   WOW  It’s not quite as smoky hereBerg Lake Trail, be kind to us 🙂Back to Bob to get our bear spray.  Berries & bears!

Fast moving river!

Tree on tree!  Mount Robson as seen from the trail, with just a little zoom

We’ve passed a few of these, skat?   If so, then the answer is…                             “Yes, a bear does shit in the woods.   

Almost there!     

Made it!!    Simply beautiful!  So calm  Beautiful!  Handsome!! 

Well earned!!  Find our rewards…Walk back, big mountains, big trees  Fence, made of logsSkies at home 🙁   Mountains gone again!   

Today’s funny     

 

 

  Today is George Hicks Park day

We walked from our park so our step goal wasn’t an issue.

View from lookout #1 

Lookout #2

Clear water, no salmon, yet.  We’ll have to research when spawning season begins. 

The park/trail was much shorter than expected.  The trail loops and we are back where we began about 15m later.

Back at Bailey the smoke from the wild firest is getting worse.  We are surrounded by mountains which are barely visible.

This is how dry the ground is.  One spark and …

Evening sky, there is a mountain there.  

July 29th  The days have been rather dreary because of wild fire smoke.  The photos on the left were yesterday, right today.  We can see the mountains!!

There is a famers market in town today, hours 4p – 7p.  Weird hours, nothing in this town opens early.  I’m hoping for tomatoes, corn & garlic scapes. We’ll walk to town, go to the market, then have dinner at the The Loose Moose that opens at 430p (even on the weekend).  We selected this restaurant because it has Rickards Red on tap.  Allan hasn’t had that since Kelowna!  And Chicken Parm.

Can’t remember if I spoke about trains here.  There are trains, super long trains, feels like they run 22/7, and blow their whistles (long, long, short, long).  We have the misfortune of hearing 2 separate crossings.  

We have been lucky on our walks to not encounter a train.  But not today                       The conductor waves 🙂 5m later we cross, yes, I timed it. 

We walk past the Valemount Fire Department.  They have an engine for sale This mural is on the side of the building. Who thought a mural of a fireman watching a fire burn was a good idea??? 

The market was larger than we expected

No tomatoes or corn, we did score garlic scapes. Yum

The Loose Moose has no Rickards on tap, in fact no beer on tap.  Then why not update your online menu?  They have all the listed bottle beers, Allan selects a bottle of Kokanee.    Sorry, we don’t have that one either.  Allan settles for a bottle of Rickards.   My wings were good.                       Allan’s Chicken Parm, bottom of photo was the weidest Chicken Parm. 

Featured in the men’s room of this classy restaurant

 

They can’t all be gems!!

It’s a beautful day for a road trip to JasperJasper Provincial Park, welcomes us with a $20 day pass & construction.

This however is not construction rather a rock slide they are clearing

We duck in Jasper; #47

 We the “tourists”

 

 

 

 

 

Allan’s new friends       

Had a delicious lunch at Something Else Steak HouseWe had a fun day.  We’ll be back!

I’ll leave you with a reminder

 

 

The plan is to go to a trail in Tête Jaune Cache, 15 minutes down the highway.  We have a map!  Allan is a great map reader.   First right, over the railroad tracks, and there the trail is.  Hum, the street on the map does not exist.   We, take the first right – no railway tracks.  Take a drive back the other way and end up on this bridge over the Fraser. Bridge is not a Bailey bridge.  Maximum weight 25,000k

Back at the park we take a stroll under mean looking skies. 

July 26th

Errand day!  Post office to return the flag post, Visitor Info Centre as it is the #1 thing to do in Valemount, IGA for Boursin cheese (Allan has decided  TicTok Pasta for his birthday dinner on Saturday), Deep Woods Off (works great for mosquitos), non allergic sunscreen.  BC Liquor to put a smile on our day. What a fun day!

Visitor Centre, we park beside 2 Jeeps.  Jeeps tend to do that, park together.  Neither have ducks….   yet!                  We get to duck them #45 & 46   

Next the Post Office, parts missing flag post returned.

“Let’s do the Valemount city walk” the Visitor Centre suggested.   Stopping at Swift Creek Train Station.  Allan is interested in the caboose.   

Bye bye Allan, wave bye bye 🙂

Inside the caboose 

Equipment of the day! 

A Busy Bee!!

Mission failures…  No Boursin cheese, meat shelves mostly bare, no non allergic sunscreen,  no Deep Woods Off,  BC Liquor closed between 1 & 2 for lunch.  What time did we get there?  115.  How do people survive?

 

We took the 5m drive to Valemount yesterday.  We ordered a replacement flag post from Amazon and had it shipped to the Valemount Post Office.  We’ll be flying our flag again. Not so fast, the box is missing a part.  Back it has to go.    We’re back in the flag post market.

This is the first town we’ve been to that doesn’t open until 3.  Our destination is Three Ranges Brewing, they put the ALE in vALEmount.  They have 4 different ambers beers,  Allan can’t wait to give them a try.

We leave at 225.   We walk & walk, through a forest.  Granted the road is paved but there is nothing else around.  We’re good, we have our bear whistles.

At the side of the road, an out of commission, tractorWe’ve encountered some strange stuff.  This work of art is right up there.The word “Stu’s” is made from vehicle grills, under it is a Studebaker truck mounted on a pole. It must be there for a long time as the bottom part of the truck was overgrown. Perhaps this was the delivery truck…

Here we are, we walked by the brewery at 304 (they open at 3),  the line up was up the sidewalk. We’ll go to Home Hardward to see what they carry in flag posts.  None 🙁   Back at the brewery the line up is shorter. Takes a while to get to the front of the line but, we order, no outside seats, inside we go.  Wonder.. why as they are so packed they don’t open earlier especially on the weekend? They fill growlers, Allan is anxious to put his to use again.  The top of the walls are lined with growlers from other breweries. Allan’s flight and my beer!

Allan likes each beer, LESS, than the previous!

No growler fills here!  We did meet a young couple who were here from Toronto wilderness backpacking.  Their backpacking was cut short when his mis-step resulted in a sprained ligament.  They still had 10k to walk downhill = brutal!  Memories being made = priceless!  They didn’t see a bear, only a wolf.  I can’t imagine sleeping in a tent in the wilderness!

It was a fun day, back home we walk. 

I tell the bears this… 

Who BBQed last night in the hail/rainstorm??  This guy, AKA my guy! It wasn’t raining when he started.  Flashstorm, good for the wildfires. BC declared a”State of Emergency” starting  July 21st. The fires are disconcerting, we are monitoring our routes.

Good bye PG!   It’s been fun, not quite a blast but fun.   

RCMP  Building 

Clock Tower, clock doesn’t work 

On the road again! 

Allan’s fire research prior to us heading to Valemount revealed we are going to detour.  Here we are!Too funny.  The flagman, unlike most, will not make eye  contact

We are first in line, Bailey the Leader!  Here we go, finally … This is single lane!

More hay  First photo I’vetake of bikers.  Blows my mind how many travel the highway.  Even in the Rockies.

Back on the road     

Arrived!  IrVing RV Park

Settled! 

Love our new kitchen mat

We arrived back at MamaYeh on Thursday, 07/15 to this welcome signOur week here is flying by, Saturday we went to PG’s Summer Fest.  We then met up with our Kelowna neighbours, Mags & Steve for a delightly time at CrossRoads Brewery.  We are having fun keeping track of each other’s travel adventures.

Today, Barkerville.  It’s 2 hour drive and we soon find the construction.  This was caused by a rock/mud slide.                                                                                                 

Very curvy road with many “Watch for Wildlife” warnings

Made it, arriving at 1025 

Main Street, Barkersville

First stop the brewery!  Unfortunately, this is not one of the functioning buildings

Next stop, super early lunch as we didn’t have breakfast.  Love having a private restaurant, feel for the restaurant though.   Allan is busy planning our walking tour.  First stop:  Doctor’s office, oh the tools…  Dentist’s office

You’d think gold would be cheaper during the gold rush

Along the way, we meet this gent who tells us a facinating story about how gold was found in this area.  Sad story but it did make me chuckleNo chuckles for this sign,  it was a difficult life.

Stagecoach rides, $10/person.  Allan’s allergies, my cheapness = no rides for us.

Flashback to candies, wow those prices. $18.00 for an ultimate Gobstopper!

Saloon, also not operational.  Would be fun to be in a throwback saloon.Love this barber!  Wonder how he stopped the baldness??  Mr. Moses should have passed on this expertise.

Blacksmith     

Hightlight of the visit?  Allan will be panning for gold!!

Dude is teaching Allan how to pan.  We learn gold is more dense than stones.  The idea is to fill the pan with water, shake & shake to bring the stone to the surface, dump the stones & repeat, ends in nuggets-you hope.

     Pay dirt!!!   4 nuggets!  Think we can retire now!!!

Quesnel is close by (pronounced: S is silent) Head there to take a peek

Walked Main St and got to duck, #44

We stop at Co-Op.    This is the bulletin board 🙂

Back home we see this beauty on our grill 

No, I’m not high but do you see it??

 

 

Sadly, Houston BC not TX.

The drive to Houston.  Appears to be hay harvest time.

Blink and you miss the one street downtown.  Most shops are gone.

An outdoor museum     

 

 

 

 

Fire truck, the water holder bin isn’t very big.  Google let me down, I could not find a photo of a similiar fire truck.

1957 “Bozac, Super M” Snow Toboggan, click here for a restored version.

Canada’s Largest Fishing Rod.  Story  here

Our walk takes us by a salmon hatchery where we meet Mabel

We’re done in Houston, back in Smithers.   Look up!   We parachuted about 20 years ago. Time to again??

End the day finally getting our reward for having our second jab. We’re at Alpenhorn Bistro & Bar. Snack was BBQ pork potato skins.  Never tried these before.  Delicious!

Not much planned for tomorrow, we’ll see what shakes out.