2006 Sept 11 to 17

2006-09-11 Monday

Stewart, B.C.

A last trip to Eat at the Bus. I could get used to that kind of fish and chips. Did remove the cruddiest crud from the Van and was hoping that the drive on rain-soaked asphalt would do the rest of the job on both Van and Trailer.

Watched the rain coming down all day and to set a counterpoint, watched the 1962 movie "Hatari" with John Wayne, Hardy Krüger and Elsa Martinelli. Not one drop of rain in the whole 2+hour movie. Interesting as well, that today, they would never allow to do to the animals, what they did in good faith back then.

2006-09-12 Tuesday

Stewart to Kitimat, B.C.   230 miles; 4:30 h

Back in the mid-fifties in Germany I had read about the construction of the Alcan smelter in Kitimat and what a great industrial feat it was. So I had to go there, after all it was almost around the corner from Stewart.

Stuart highway and Bear Glacier

So down at Kitwanga, where the Yellowhead and the Cassiar meet, again, I took the road less traveled, and went west to Terrace and then south to Kitimat.

To my dismay the Lady at the Chamber of Commerce/Visitor center informed me with regrets, that the last smelter tour was on August 31st. Again I was a victim of the 100 day season.

So I took a drive to the other side of the Minette Bay and visited the Fist Nation's Kitimat Village and harbour. From a rocky promontory I had a good view across to the smelter.

Later I became a temporary mallrat in search of a food place. Yes, the town of Kitimat (pop 9000) has a mall. It also has the charm of a typical company town/planned community. All very orderly and proper, but a bit boring, too.

Overnight I stayed at the rustic municipal Radley Park CG. The previous visitors to my spot had left plenty of dry firewood, so I used it to ward of the mosquitoes.

2006-09-13 Wednesday

Kitimat to Smithers, B.C.  166 miles; 3:15 hours

Backtracked from Kitimat to Kitwanga and then on to Smithers.
Unhitched at the Glacier View CG and then drove downtown to pick up some food at the local Safeway.

Smithers' residential architecture shows many examples of Swiss chalet style houses and there is the statue of "The Alpenhorn Man". Downtown is very nicely landscaped with brick sidewalks. Founded around 1914 it now has a population of 6000 and serves around 25 000 as a trading area.

I met Helga in front of the closed Chamber of Commerce/Visitor Centre in Smithers. After we exchanged two English sentences, we both realized, that we could switch to our respective mother tongues and continued our chat in "schwäbisch" and "bayrisch" respectively.

Helga is from around Biberach an der Riss, has a brother who lives in Alberta, and she has been visiting Canada for many years. This time she intends to drive her rental car up to visit Hyder. As a "Hyder expert", I could give her many tips and I suggested, that she take lodging in one of the rustic cabins on the Glacier View CG.

She did, and as there were no cooking facilities in the cabin, I invited here to my humble abode for lunch and later for dinner. We had a very nice visit and I introduced her to the magic of Google Earth by "virtually flying" to her house in Germany.

2006-09-14 Thursday

Smithers to Prince George, B.C.  230 miles; 4:30 hours

After a leisurely breakfast, Helga and I said goodbye, but not before I elicited a promise from her to visit me in my South Texas hibernation location.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never Is, but always To be blest:

A bit more traffic on this part of the Yellowhead highway than I had elsewhere in the weeks before, but after all I am getting out of the boonies now.

A bit on the windy side, so mpg was not too good. Coming down the hill into Prince George there was a Walmart Super Center, the first since I left Whitehorse. I resisted and drove straight on PH 97 south to the Sintich RV park and plugged in.

My next stop will be Big Creek Lodge in Big Creek, B.C. off PH 20, the road from Williams Lake to Bella Coola. Sepp and Sabine the owners are old acquaintances. Back in the late 60's we lived in the same apartment building in Munich and for two summers we shared many backyard BBQs.

About 25 years ago Sepp and Sabine moved to B.C. and bought a ranch in Big Creek. Over time they developed a wilderness guest lodge and now they also run a hunting guide outfit. I had emailed them before and they had invited me to visit.

It is only 7 Celsius and there may be frost overnight, due to an Arctic Cold Front coming through. Cozy in my shell with the electric heater going.

2006-09-15 Friday

Prince George to Big Creek Lodge    - 200 miles; 6 hours

This turned out to be a quite exciting day.

At last evenings phone call with Sepp, he had told me, that he and Sabine would be in Williams Lake for shopping and to pick up their daughter Nikki, who is going to Williams Lake high, after having been home-schooled till now. Sepp had given me directions and warned me about the logging truck traffic on the Big Creek road.

Prince George to Williams Lake on PH 97 south was an easy drive, in Quesnel I answered the thumbs of two Belgian hitchhikers and gave them a ride to Williams Lake.

Refueled in Williams Lake and then took PH 20 west toward Bella Coola.

Out of Williams Lake the road is a hard 10% climb for about 5 miles. After about 25 miles there is the Frazer river crossing, where the road first steeply winds down on an 8% grade for about 6 miles and then on the other side switchbacks up the other side of the valley in a 10% 4 mile climb. To cover the total 55 mile distance to Hanceville took me 75 minutes.

There was already a sizeable logging traffic coming the other way. These truck-trailer combos have 30 wheels and they are packed to the gills.

The fun really started in Hanceville, when I took a left to go south on the Big Creek road.

First, the road is narrow, there are many parts where one has to stop hard right and let the logging truck crawl by you.

Second, the road surface is gravel mixed with clay and other gooey stuff.

Third, Sepp had forgotten to tell me that it had SNOWED the night before and the road had turned into liquid soap.

Fourth, the extensive logging traffic had rutted and wash-boarded the road quite badly.

Overall, this turned out to be the worst road and in the worst condition, I had driven so far with the trailer in tow. It is only 32 miles to the lodge from PH 20 but it took me almost two hours to drive.

At Km 9 there is the steepest hill of the road, a 12% right hand uphill, about a half kilometer in length. I lost traction about 2/3rds up and had to wait for a friendly soul by the name of Lloyd to pull me all the way up the hill with his 4wd pickup. Thank you Lloyd.

My tracks from Friday where I got stuck (Picture taken on Saturday noon, when road was already dry)

Some of the later parts were almost as bad. 100 feet long washed out sections, where I had to cross fast enough to get to the other side, but not so fast, that I would loose control in the "Schmierseife".

When I arrived at the lodge, the original colour of Van and trailer was not discernable anymore and my adrenalin level was still high.

Saskia and Eva, the two young Ladies, that help Sabine with the chores in the Lodge greeted me and we had a nice chat while we waited for Sepp and Sabine to return from Williams Lake, which they did at around 18:30.

Their truck was filled with groceries and other necessary stuff. When you have a 5 hour roundtrip for shopping, you better not forget anything in your by-weekly list, but after so many years of practice they have their system down pat.

After I helped unloading, Sepp showed me around the lodge a bit, especially the wood fired under-floor heating system, that keeps the lodge cozy, even when it is -40 degrees outside. (smartass remark: at 233.15 degrees Kelvin, both Fahrenheit and Celsius scales will show -40 degrees)

I got invited to dinner and afterwards over a glass of wine, we refreshed our memories of times gone by in Munich and we caught up to what had happened to all of us since.

Sepp and Sabine would have offered me shelter, but the lodge was booked solid with guests from Germany, so I retired to my house on wheels and prepared for a cold night by putting two blankets on top of me. The overnight temps got down to -7 Celsius, but again I was quite cozy in my shell.

http://www.bigcreeklodgebc.com

2006-09-16 Saturday

Big Creek Lodge to chief will-yum CG Williams Lake - 95 miles; 3:00 hours

After a nice breakfast I walked around the grounds and I took a couple of photos of the lodge and its surroundings.

The prospect of more snow and another subfreezing night made me take my leave of Sepp and Sabine around 11:00.

The drive out was less dramatic and faster then coming in and by 14:00 I was standing in line at truck-wash bay in Williams Lake. It took many toonies and loonies, plus 40 minutes, to get Van and trailer into a semblance of clean.

The regular colour of the trailer is off-white, not this brownish stuff

Too tired to go on, I checked into the "chief will-yum CG" (their spelling) eight miles south of town.

Another cold (-2 Celsius) night, but sleeping quite peacefully.

2006-09-17 Sunday

Williams Lake to Merritt, B.C.   - 195 miles; 5:00 hours

Started out at 09:00 and there again was more traffic on PH 97 going south than I had been used to for the last months.

A couple of miles south of Cache Creek I took the "shortcut" PH 97C through Ashcroft towards Merritt, my day's goal. Coming out of the valley Ashcroft is in, there is a 16 kilometer long 11% steep uphill section. Loaded trucks coming down the hill were crawling in first gear. The  6.0 PSD handled this challenge with aplomb.

The first part of the 16 km uphill is visible in the distance

A couple of clicks further on then road goes along the Highland Valley Copper mine, the largest open pit copper mine in Canada.

http://www.teckcominco.com/operations/hvc/index.htm

The leaching pond, as large as a lake

Overnight at Claybanks RV Park in Merritt with an only marginal WiFi installation.

<<PREV                                                                      NEXT>>