Day 4 - Vernon, BC to Clearwater, BC

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It was 55 degrees and sunny this morning and it stayed sunny all day, eventually reaching 88 degrees (even at 2500 feet of elevation where I spent most of the day). Had a great homemade breakfast at the B&B in Vernon, BC (“are you SURE you don’t want any more?”). She even gave me some great scones to take with me on the road today. And my night at the B&B only cost $65 (Canadian dollars) which converts to about $55 U.S.! This is NOT typical and most B&B’s charge about $80-$120 (Canadian) per night.

Heading towards Kamloops I could plainly see smoke from the forest fire and eventually passed fairly close (see photo). Fortunately the highways were still open. At one point I stopped at a rest area and it was “raining” ash from the fire.

I only had about three hours of driving today to reach my destination at the Wells Gray Provincial Park near Clearwater, BC. Their Provincial Parks are like our National Parks and this one is HUGE; 540,000 hectares (you’ll have to convert that to “acres”).

Speaking of “hectares”, a Canadian told me something yesterday about the metric system in Canada. Maybe I’m the last person to learn this, but back in the 70’s (or whenever it was that the United States announced that we were converting to the metric system) Canada was still using the same system that we were (NOT on the metric system). Because the U.S. intended to convert, the Canadians decided that they better convert also, and they did. Then, according to my Canadian friend yesterday, “You guys tricked us and decided NOT to convert to metric!”. Anyway, most older Canadians (like MY age and older!) didn’t like the conversion and to this day they still use “miles” and “miles per hour” and “yards/feet/inches” instead of the proper metric units.

At Wells Gray Park I checked in at my rustic “lodge” near the park and spent most of the afternoon exploring about 1/1000 of a percent of this entire park. They have a couple of spectacular waterfalls that are an easy hike to get to, so I checked them out. Dawson Falls (see photos) was great and I had the place all to myself! I packed a lunch, sat on a rock and had the most sublime lunch experience I can recall. I ate three perfectly ripe peaches that I bought at a fruit stand yesterday and a scone (from the B&B this morning) and a Rice Krispies Treat for dessert (Kirk and Jenny: Are you enjoying your Rice Krispies Treats?). I didn’t want to leave this place and wished that I had three more peaches.

Then I visited a place downriver called Bailey’s Chute where migrating salmon attempt to jump the rapids during August and September (like RIGHT NOW!). Unfortunately the rapids are too high and too strong for the fish and, despite their valiant efforts, none of them can make it and they eventually give up, float downstream to spawn and then they die (that’s the cycle of their lives!). There were LOTS of fish jumping (see photo) and you rarely had to wait more than 15 seconds to see another fish jump (or maybe it was the same fish jumping over and over again).

Finally, I visited the gem of the park, Helmcken Falls (pronounced like “helm-uk-ken”). It’s impossible to capture the size and majesty of this waterfall with a single photo, so all I could do was snap the photo and try to tell you that the falls is (are?) twice as high as Niagara Falls and drops into a giant rock cauldron at the bottom. I tried to time how long it took the water to drop and it was about six seconds. Just count to six and imagine how far you would fall in that period of time (but I don’t recommend going over this falls!). Anyway, it was SPECTACULAR and REAL (for you Seinfeld fans!).

Back at the lodge I had an excellent salmon dinner and a yummy dessert.

Here’s what I’ve seen a LOT of in Canada: motorhomes, motorcycles, Smart Cars, A&W Drive-Ins (they may be dying out in the U.S. but every small town up here has one) and, of course, lots of trees and Canadians.

That’s it. More later!

Jack

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Comments

[Carole]

Lovin' this
What a marvelous trip you're taking me on.! Pics Great. Narrative Great. Especially like your observations. Love Carole

[Scott]

AWESOME!
Jack, what an awesome adventure!! I love this sort of thing...getting out on the road and staying off the "main" highways. I love that picture of the Miata all packed up and ready to roll....it looks like you took the passenger seat out to put in a spare tire?? Nice!! Be safe!!