Canada- Yukon and British Colunbia

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Liard Hot Springs

We arrived at the border in the mid-afternoon and were both a little nervous as it was our first border crossing with the van and we were a little unsure of what to expect. After a swipe of our passports, a quick stamp and asking if we had any guns we were on our way and into Canada. We were heading south but we weren’t exactly sure yet. After a couple of days of near solid driving we arrived at our first point of interest, Liard Hot Springs. We arrived in the middle of the night and camped at a lodge come RV park across the road from the hot springs. In the morning we went over to the hot springs national park which was cheaper and nicer to stay so we set up camp there for a couple of days. We had been moving solidly for a few days and needed a break. We did some minor repairs on the van, including fixing the washer reservoir with duct tape and superglue which worked a treat. The springs themselves were extremely hot and there were points we just could not go in. We found a slightly cooler section where we hung out for a while as it had been a couple of days since the last shower. One of the pools was actually closed by the ranger as there was a bear there with her two cubs. After an afternoon in the hot springs we went back to our van and got the fire going for the cold evenings.

Cassiar Highway

After looking at the maps we decided to take the Cassiar Highway south as it was meant to be a little rougher and more off the beaten track and better opportunities for wildlife spotting. Unfortunately, this meant us back-tracking the junction at Watson Lake about 130 miles back. On the drive to Liard we had seen tons of sign posts warning of bison but didn’t get to see any. However, on the way back we got to see a huge herd of bison next to the road. These animals are huge and very intimidating! We carried on our long day’s drive down to Watson Lake where we stayed at a beautiful family-run RV park and we got to camp up right next to the lake with great views and once again got our fire going for the evening.

From Dawson Lake we continued south on the Cassiar Highway and were going to make a little round trip to a town called Stewart. After setting off reasonably early we saw a car stopped ahead by the side of the road and slowed down. When we got close we realised there was a black bear by the side of the road. We weren’t sure what it was doing but it looked like it was searching for some sort of food and was digging into the ground as it made its way along the side of the road. Even after our bear trip in Alaska we were so pleased to be so near a bear in it’s natural habitat and that it didn’t care at all that we were there. Just outside of Stewart, we stopped for a while where there is a huge glacier literally by the side of the road. We finally got to Stewart where we stayed in another RV park with the most miserable guy on Earth serving us. We assumed he was just one of those really grumpy people but when Rich went out later he heard him laughing and joking with his friend in the phone. It must have been us.

A Brief Trip Back to Alaska

The next day we went off in search for bears again. This time we were technically crossing into Alaska again to the town of Hyder. Separated from the rest of Alaska, the town is essentially Canadian. Most of the people living there are Canadian, they take Canadian dollars but there is a US post office. As we were driving there a huge bald eagle swooped in front of the van. It was absolutely huge and great to see such an animal get so close. It then landed on a log by a river and we got the binoculars out and watched it for about ten minutes. Having a great day so far we carried on our drive the stream that was good for salmon and correspondingly bear viewing. We heard it was out of season and when we arrived there was not a fish to be seen and therefore unfortunately no bears. There were viewing platforms around and we walked up and down then for about fifteen minutes before bumping into a group who were arriving to view bears. We told them we hadn’t seen anything and they told us they had taken a wrong turn getting there, ended up in a scrap yard where they had seen… three bears. We got in the van and drove around the tiny town of Hyder looking for their skip until we found it. Driving in all of a sudden we noticed a large black bear at the other end… eating a chair! We weren’t quite sure how we felt about this. Ecstatic to see yet another bear, disappointed to see it eating a chair. We hung around for about ten minutes and we didn’t want to get too close to disturb it before turning round to head off again. On our way out we saw what must have been one of the cubs cross the road just in front of us. Despite having seen several bears by now the novelty wasn’t wearing off!

Vancouver Island

From Stewart we headed over to Prince Rupert where we were going to catch the ferry to Port Hardy from where we planned to drive down the length of Vancouver Island. We had bought our ferry ticket over the phone beforehand and checked that our van fitted within the dimensions for the car class. It did but it was about half an inch too tall with the roof-rack on. As advised we arrived at the ferry port at 5am where the guy at the issuing booth took great pleasure in saying the van was too tall for the car category but if we took the roof-rack off it would be fine. With the roof-rack they wanted to charge an additional $240. We tried to appeal to his better nature saying it was pointless making us take it off but by this time we figured this was one of the perks of his job. So at 5am in the morning Rich starts to take the roof-rack off and thankfully, an Austrian guy starts to help. In the meantime the ferry is ready to be boarded with a load of traffic waiting for us to take this fiddly thing off. When we drove on the ferry there are parts where they put the cars that are pretty narrow and would have been difficult for us to manoeuvre. However, they directed us to the main bay where all the lorries and trucks were and there was about fifty feet of clearance above our head. It was not a great start to the day.

When we arrived on Vancouver Island late at night we worried that all accommodation and RV parks would be shut but they obviously coincide with the ferry crossings and we found somewhere no problem. We were tired the next day and had a lie-in and didn’t do much till about noon when we headed off towards the seaside town of Tofino. We arrived at an RV park, that shall go nameless, late in the day and couldn’t believe the price they were asking just for us to camp. Now, other RVs will use electricity for their fridges, water for their showers, ‘dump stations’ for their dumps. We didn’t want any of this and they wanted to charge $45. This was way more than we had ever paid and could have got a room for that. Well the reason the RV park went nameless is because the next morning we got up and left - without paying their extortionate fees. We went to another campsite down the road which was nearly as extortionate but at least it had a swimming pool and Jacuzzi we could use. The town of Tofino itself was great, a surfing town really laid-back. The only problem for us was the weather. It was raining the whole time. We hung around in the cafes and our pool and Jacuzzi for a couple of days before heading to Victoria.

We researched our route back to Victoria and on the road maps it looked like to get the main roads we would have to do a fair amount of back-tracking. We weren’t keen on this and according to our ‘Rough Guide’ there was a road that avoided the backtracking, going via Cowichan Lake. We took this road and it was a mistake. We’ve not seen this road on any maps since and it was a rough unpaved road. The van was bouncing around all over the place and so were our brains! We arrived at a couple of junctions where there were limited (if any) signposts and we had no idea where to go. We spent about three hours bouncing around on that road without seen any other vehicles than lorries loaded with wood, pick-up trucks with good suspension and an ambulance - all of which were kitted out for roads like this and travelling much faster than us. When we finally hit tarmac we then realised what a headache we had though still had an hour or so before our destination of Victoria. Back on the main roads we found a State Park where we camped up for the evening and even managed to get a hot shower before setting up another campfire and having our dinner before heading to bed. The next day we spent hanging around the picturesque town of Victoria that Rich had actually been to a few years before. We went to the museum and Jess had cheesecake covered in chocolate on a stick which she loved and then we caught another ferry, this time over to the city of Vancouver

Vancouver

Rich had been to Vancouver a few years beforehand and wanted Jess to see it as it was one of the nicest cities he had ever been to. However, arriving at a city with our van we had made the mistake of not arranging anywhere to stay. Our plan was to get a room for a couple of days and obviously we were looking for something cheap. The problem we found is that all the cheap places didn’t have any parking, in fact the only places we could find with parking were just way too expensive. After hours of looking around we were starting to get annoyed and we had heard that there was an RV park just over the north bridge outside of town. Well they were doing road works when we got over there so all our directions meant nothing. We ended up driving way out of town with no means to turn round because of all the road works. When we finally managed to turn round we were hungry and tired and found a strip-mall type place where we just managed to buy dinner but still didn’t have anywhere to stay. We contemplated staying in the car-park but after speaking to one of the waitresses she managed to give us good enough directions to find the RV park where we eventually pulled up in the middle of the night.

The next day, we were determined not to make the same mistake so we decided to head off to a hostel and leave the van in the secure car-park that was next to the Hyatt. With the van parked up and us booked into the hostel the stress levels were back to normal. We found a hostel called the Cambie International that was decent enough but it was a place for rockers and grungy types and we stood out like a sore thumb. The area was also a little ‘dodgy’ and just a few blocks away was somewhere where you really wouldn’t want to find yourself lost. There were lots of strange folks hanging around and Jess overheard a conversation between two girls about how their friend had overdosed in the bath. However, they had a nice outside eating area that served great cheap food. We were having dinner there when a homeless guy appeared in a kilt and roller skates and asked if we would like a portrait. We politely declined but he carried on with his biro and piece of cardboard and it looked like he was just scribbling randomly. It was like he was in one of those trances where someone has some divine inspiration and creates something great. Well, we wouldn’t say it was actually great but when he showed it to us it did look like random scribbles but somehow there was a resemblance somewhere. We said we hadn’t wanted it from the outset so he left it on the table and once he had gone we thought it was too good an opportunity to pass on so took it away.

We both loved Vancouver as it has a lot to offer and while we were there we had a great time and even managed to go to the cinema to see ‘Burn After Reading’ (a great film). After our three nights in the hostel we decided that was enough and went over to pick the van up and make our way over into the US again.

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Photos

Chair for lunch
This bear was eating a chair in the local scrap yard

Rich's boat
His very own rubber dingy

Bush Racoon
In Stanley Park