4 Weeks (And A Bit!) To Go!

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Since the last blog post I've been busy doing lots of research on where to stop along the way. I've been searching instagram a lot for pictures of great views which has been a great help. We've also made a decision about changing the route very slightly. We've kept the motels the same though. The new route will add about an extra half an hour of back tracking but hopefully will be worth it. We were originally travelling from Clinton north up Route 97 and then across to Blue River along a smallish road. After some research its possible the road might be a bit icy depending on the weather and some posts on some forums say the scenery isn't the best. A better route for scenery is to go through Kamloops. However this means backtracking for 30mins south from Clinton to the junction with Cache Creek to heard east towards Kamloops on the Trans-Canada highway. We could have switched the motel in Clinton to one along the road towards Kamloops but we both like the look of the one we've booked. It's called Cariboo Lodge and Clinton is quite a smallish little town. It might also have something to do with the fact there is a pub right next door on one side and a small town coffee shop on the other! It remains to be seen whether this will prove to be a good decision or not but hey ho.



I've been doing quite a bit of research of timings for the drive between each location. As much as I would love to just "fly by the seat of my pants" I'm worried that if we don't have a list of possible places to visit and driving time estimates, we'll miss something amazing or will get up late on a day when we have a 3.5 hour drive which turns into a five hour plus one and we don't have time to stop. Whilst doing all this research online I've often thought about how difficult trips like these would have been in the past without the use of the internet. But then I guess you can't miss what you never knew about!



The first decision we've had to make it what time to get the ferry across to Bowen Island on 12th May. The ferries are every hour on the hour from Horseshow Bay to Snug Cove on Bowen Island. Whilst we haven't decided on a specific time as it will partly depend on whether we are tired from all the travelling the previous day or not, we've decided to go across no later than 11am or midday. Whilst we can't get into the apartment until the afternoon, Snug Cove is renowned for its laidback restaurant(s) so we think it would be a nice opportunity to have lunch or a late breakfast and people watch before we have a quick drive round to gain our bearings before checking into the apartment.



The next day we are planning to get up earlyish and "attempt" to hike up Mount Gardner. I say attempt as the hike up and down is about 17km (10.5 miles). The most "hiking" I've done recently is a 4mile round hike up and down the Wrekin near home in Shropshire. That nearly killed me, but I'm hoping that as we are putting most of the day aside and the fact that I know the view from the top is amazing hopefully we'll be able to make it. There are no bears on Bowen Island as well so this will be the only chance we'll have to do any hiking without the threat of bears around for the whole trip. I've read about a minibus on the island that can give you lifts to and from your house/flat on the island to Snug Cove to the pub there so hopefully we'll be able to sort that out and have a good celebratory drink of hiking Mount Gardner!



We've decided to get the 10.30 ferry from Bowen Island back to the mainland. The journey to Whistler is 2 hours but we've decided to try and stop for lunch at a craft brewery place we've found in Squamish on the way. I've found a waterfall which looks pretty cool from the pictures called Brandywine Falls which is on the way. Its a short walk to the viewpoint or there is a more dangerous unofficial hike for an hour to the bottom which has better views. I guess we'll just see whats what when we get there. Then depending on how well we do for time we'll probably either have a walk round Whistler in the afternoon or just check into the hotel and go out in the evening.



I've booked a couple of trips for us to do whilst in Whistler. It's Steph's 30th birthday on 29th April just before we go so I've booked a bear viewing tour as a surprise and a two seater atv tour where you go through mud, puddles and tear around the tracks in a group. Not sure how that will go down but sounds like fun! Just hoping she doesn't read this blog before her birthday! There one more tour which I may also book as a surprise which I know she really wants to do but I'm not sure I want to! We shall see...



Once we leave Whistler the next stop is Clinton which according to Google is about 3.5 hours. There is one hike we really want to stop and do on the way to Clinton at Joffree Lakes. There are three lakes, the first is about 500m from the parking lot, with the other two leading on from one another further on. The pictures of these lakes look amazing, assuming that they have melted and apparently each one gets more beautiful the further you go on. Our only concern with this is we will be well and truly in bear country by now, so whilst we are pretty determined to do the first lake hike not sure about the other two. Usually I hate being around lots of other tourists but to be honest if there are a load of people hiking to the lakes I'll be pretty pleased to just tag along in this instance. We are planning on buying some bear spray at some point to just have on us to follow the recommendations, better to be safe than sorry but hopefully we won't have to use it.



Clinton to Blue River via Kamloops is our longest drive and is expected to take around 4 hours so will be an early start that day. We are pretty much just going to wing this day I think as there is lots of scenery on route. We've learned from past experience on our Route 66 trip that estimates on Google can be completely wrong depending on the road conditions. We had a 4 hours estimated drive take about 11 hours during that trip! I've bought a sat nav hire on ebay for Canada for 28 days to cover the time we are away so we shouldn't have any problems navigating!



Blue River to Jasper is 2.5 hours. We want to visit Pyramid Lake at some point so that might be an option to head to and then back to Jasper.



We are in Jasper for a full day so I've checked out the local hot spa's that the area s famous for, they are open til 9pm so that might be something nice to do in the evening. There is also a really pretty lake called Maligne Lake an hour away so we might take a trip there as well.



Jasper to The Glacier Inn should take about 1.5 hours so not long. We've booked a trip up onto the Glacier near Athabasca Falls before we check into the hotel for the night which is right above the tourist information place for the Glacier trips. The whole place is in the middle of nowhere and we were really lucky to get one of the last rooms. Turns out that weekend is a bank holiday for Canada also so it's expected to be very busy. Lake Peyto is another place we are planning to stop at along the way.



Glacier View Inn to Emerald Lake Lodge is about 2hrs 20mins. This area though is one of the highest we will be travelling through so may have snow left over, so it might take longer. Theres a lake around this area called Lake Minnewanka which I really want to have a photo at and check myself into on Facebook!, its my childish side coming out!





Emerald Lake Lodge to Banff is only about 1 hour so lots of time to stop along the way, hopefully at Moraine Lake, Tunnel Mountain Drive and maybe a little relaxation at Banff Upper Hot Springs!



Then the next day from Banff to Calgary to get the flight to Toronto, so an earlyish start to drop the car off and check in to get the flight.



I've not done too much research for the Niagara Falls end yet but thats probably going to take care of itself!



So travel insurance is paid for, sat nav booked, trips booked, the only real things left are to buy some more holiday clothes and the usual toiletries. Oh yeah we've booked the airport lounge for Toronto for the flight home, I think we'll need it!

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