After the heat and bustle of Vancouver we’re keen to get back to the countryside and mountain air. We’ve always wanted to see whistler so head there. We stop at Squamish on the way which is a funky little town and pick up some propane and then park up and have a wander through whistler. It’s full of mountain bikers and feels like a concrete shopping mall as most of its relatively new having been built for the olympics. We considered doing the cable car here but again at $90 each we decide to skip it and keep the money towards a fishing trip for Alex. Underwhelmed by whistler and figuring it must be nicer in the snow we head to Nairn provincial park as a nice cool place to camp, a bit of hammock time and a water fight and we’re soon revived!
It’s time for us to do a bit of planning as we can either head back down through Vancouver and Seattle to the states or go back through the Rockies and down to Montana. We opt to go back through the Rockies as there are a few areas we didn’t get chance to see like Golden, RevelStoke, Canada’s Glacier national park, Kannanaskis and Waterton park. We’ve missed the mountains and the walking trails - it's our happy place.
It’s a rainy day and we stop at Pemberton to restock - they have a potato dressed as a cowboy as a mascot although we fail to find him!
As we carry on we start to enter the mountains again and the sun breaks though, we drive past beautiful seton lake and pause for a tasting at fort berens winery before we get to kamloops and pickup some lovely rose. There’s only 1 vineyard here nestled in the mountains before you get to the Rockies with a unique terrain and climate.
A bit further towards kamloops we stop to make dinner and indulge in a bit of home with bangers mash gravy and beans and it’s delish!
As it’s getting late we find a little place to boondock on IOverlander at Pritchard under a lovely structured wooden bridge next to the South Thompson river.
We’re greeted in the morning to seeing some llamas in the next field but sadly the river is too shalllow to fish.
We head on to Revelstoke and manage to get the last spot on the snowforest campsite and despite fire bans in bc, the campground allows fires so Alex is happy! After securing our spot we try to visit the dam (Darren and Siobhan have recommended a visit) but it’s about to close when we get there so we head up the skyway parkway to see the wildflowers on mt Revelstoke which are in full bloom. We walk up to the summit and then follow the short first footsteps and fire lookout trails to see the stunning Mountain View’s and the flowers which are glorious - a carpet of red paintbrushes, purple orange and yellow flowers. The little fire lookout is one of the original spots where rangers watched for wildfires and the vista is stunning across the mountains.
It’s still a little cool for abundant insect life but we keep our eyes peeled!
We spot a little pika being adorable on a rock stack and we’re firmly cementing this lovely little animal as a family favourite. They’re about 10cm long and one of the few mammals to survive the harsh alpine environment year round and don’t hibernate. They make little haystacks of seeds and fruit and vegetation to get them through the winter. They’re tough, resourceful and cute and we love them! We alsmot feel like breaking into sound of music singing as the spine meadows feel just like the movie! Homemade pizza hammock time and lovely hot showers top off the day.
Next morning we’re up early as we’ve managed to find an affordable fishing trip with AAA adventures. Alex loves his fishing so much we had to take him out on a boat and give him a chance to actually catch something! It’s a glorious hot day and we meet Zack who is a hunter and fisherman passionate about his sports and very knowledgeable. We spend most of the trip “trolling” up and down the 3 valleys lake just outside Revelstoke with downriggers and seriously beefy fishing gears. We have a wonderful time and catch a little rainbow trout and a good size lake trout - the biggest Alex has caught so far ! Sadly we don’t catch one of the monster fish Zack was hoping for and the lake is famous for but we still conclude our trip with a happy bean keen to cook his little rainbow on the fire. Zack even kept us out a little longer on the lake than our planned trip as he really wanted to help Alex catch a big one!!
After an amazing morning we head up the side of Revelstoke lakei (created by the dam) to a stunning spot called carne creek for a picnic lunch looking out to the emerald waters and a little glacier.
After lunch we head back to the dam to have a look round.
Hydroelectric power is the main source of power in Canada - so much so they don’t call electricity electricity here they call it hydro! The Revelstoke dam is not one of the “big boys” but still produces 2.4 megawatts of power, it powers 800k homes a year! The dam has 5 pen stocks and is 8m deep composed of an earth section and a concrete section - very impressive! There are over 40 dams on the Colombia river and interestingly the guide told us that from the grand coulee dam up the Columbia there are no fish ladders and this was a conscious choice by the government not to build fish ladders in an attempt to limit the food source for local indigenous populations and enable the government to relocate them. Apparently there are talks underway now to put in fish ladders to enable the full Colombia river system to be populated with salmon.
We head back to town and a have a potter and Revelstoke is seriously cool - with it’s historic charm and timber buildings and small independent shops mingled with cool snow and ski shops it has a lovely friendly feel. We walk down to the river to see where the levels change massively when the dam is producing power and the river is a torrent and we can see why sometimes people and cars get swept away if they are in the wrong place when the dam turbines engage and the river levels increase.
As we head back to grizzly square in the centre of town they have 60 days of consecutive live music and we stay and listen to a First Nations artist singing songs about her experiences including one about her mum being taken away, she has a hauntingly beautiful voice. Her mum was taken to a residential school as a child (the removal of children from First Nations families and forcing them to residential schools has since become a scandal and shame for the Canadian government).
Feeling moved by the music but hungry too we head back to the site and cook up Alex’s little rainbow trout on the camp fire and Alex loves it - he’s so proud of his catch and it tastes extra sweet!
The following day we pack up and make a little stop at the Wes Nelson ski jump - this is a famous spot for ski jumping where the First Lady ski jumper jumped and set a record and lots of other records were set including by Wes Nelson who was a local legend! Alex and I walk to the top of the jump and stand in Wes’s knickers (a metal sculpture of his ski trousers that let you feel what it would be like ski jumping).
As we’re leaving and running some errands we have a taste of the Canadian health service - we could only get 3mths of prescriptions in the Uk so Guy needs to get some of his medication. The local pharmacist tells us to go 10 mins down the road to a doctors where we walk in and Guy is seen and has a prescription in hand after 5 minutes!! It costs $120 (£72) but still shows how much more efficient they are than at home.
After a lovely lunch at a Revelstoke cafe but in 35 degrees we move on to Glacier park (the Canadian one not the USA one). The snowforest camp lady told us about a small first come first service camp site in Illecillewaet (pronounced Ill-ah-sill-Oo-et) so we head there and find a spot. It’s gorgeous nestled in the mountains surrounded by glaciers and with a glacial melt water river running right through the campground. It’s our favourite camp site so far. We feel inspired by the cool air and make some marinaded chicken, we trim Alex’s hair and we do a deep clean of Wendy - she’s all shiny on the inside and we head to sleep tired and satisfied.
Emma
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