Advertisement
Published: September 16th 2013
image
Green lakeAs planned we were up early and ready to hit the road by
7.30am. It was brilliant travelling early on the roads - not much traffic to contend with at all. Had only driven a short way when we came across a stunning lake that was hugging the highway. The lake was called Green lake and it certainly lived up to its name. Grabbed a few shots and kept travelling.
Shortly after we arrived at Nairn Falls Provincial Park. We decided to take a brisk 3km return hike to check out the falls. The hike took us through a mixed forest of Douglas-fir, western red cedar, western hemlock and paper birch trees. Nairn Falls is home to the only species of boa constrictor in Canada. This boa feeds on small rodents it finds in the leaf litter on the forest floor and grows to around 45 cm. The rubber boa is often mistaken for a big brown worm or a stick.
The trail was in good conditions, fairly flat with only a couple of steep inclines. We were the only ones in the forest and it was wonderful breathing in the crisp fresh air first thing in the morning.
image
Nairn Falls The air had a distinct smell of the alpine forest - reminded me of the smell of the alpine air fresheners that used to be popular except this was the real thing.
We had to climb up a small rock face to see the thundering waterfall at Coudre Point. This waterfall made such a roaring sound as it made its way down the mountains valley. I must mention the parks in BC are kept in pristine condition. It is truly a credit to Parks Canada and a joy to be able to experience the many hikes provided for the public.
Next stop was Joffre Lakes Provincial Park where we took a 1km return hike to the lower lake. There are two glaciers in the valley above the lake - and the lake colours were a jaw-dropping turquoise. The next 50kms of road were through winding, steep, narrow and one lane bridges heading towards the small town of Lillooet. This was a slow journey due to the road conditions but we did drive through some spectacular forests - miles and miles of forests in fact. We also passed through the Fraser and Thompson rivers - all the rivers in
image
Rock graffiti on the mountain this area are huge with peaceful waters and bright blue to green in colour.
Drove through Roger Creek where there were recreation sites set in the woods and folks were out fishing in the pristine waters. The BC hydro plant is at Seton Lake and it was a nice place to stretch our legs and take a few more photos. The Canada Train line hugs the mountains around the hydro plant which makes the steep mountain face appear even more dramatic.
We filled up with petrol at Lillooet thinking that petrol would only get more expensive the further away we got from Vancouver but that theory was blown out of the water. We paid $1.44 per litre at Lillooet but further into the trip we found that petrol went down as low ad $1.23 per litre...oh well you live and learn.
From Lillooet till we reached Kamloops the scenery changed drastically. The mountains lined both sides of the highway but instead of being alpine forest they were more like deserts. Geoff and I both commented that we felt we were driving in Utah or Arizona - except there were no cactus or tumbleweed! Occasionally we would drive
image
Seton lake past a Lucerne farm which really stood out among all the dry landscape. This part of the drive was rather ho hum and really quite tiring.
Highway 99 finished at Hat Tree Ranch - now we were on Highway 97 driving to Kamloops. Past Kamloops the highway changes again to highway 5. Arrived at Kamloops around
3pm. This was supposed to be our final destination for the day but we decided to drive on as Kamloops did not have much around that was interest to us.
Kamloops is a city with a population of around 86,000. Did a bit of shopping at Walmart in town (prices for groceries significantly cheaper here than at Vancouver). Scenery took a change for the better after Kamloops. Dairy cattle and Lucerne farms were now prominent along the roadside.
There are a number of RV resorts in the area that are built around golf courses. We pulled up at a rest area just past Clear Water - still around 320 km to our next destination of Jasper. The RV we have no is a bit smaller than the last one and doesn't have a generator but we can still manage without the
image
Joffre Lake power connected.
Geoff cooked up some Canadian bacon, beans and eggs for dinner. We sat out at a picnic table and enjoyed the setting sun.
Temperatures today were 30 degrees C and once again fine with not a cloud to be seen.
Got to bed early 9.30am ready for another early start in the morning.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.316s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 17; qc: 79; dbt: 0.1307s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
