Travels with Shelby

Kamloops, BC to Farmington (Dawson Creek), BC

30 June 2016 - Kamloops to Clearwater, BC

We began our adventure heading north on BC-5, paralleling the North Thompson River and railroad tracks. Ironically, this was the exact route we traveled on our Rocky Mountaineer train trip several years ago. The weather soon became cloudy with some rain, so not the best for picture taking. Our destination was the Dutch Lake Resort and RV Park in the small town of Clearwater, BC, at the junction of the Clearwater and North Thompson Rivers.

The day started sunny - North Thompson River north of Kamloops

We enjoyed a tasty lunch on the deck of the Painted Turtle restaurant overlooking Dutch Lake.

We revived our geocaching hobby, with several finds along three different trails, one near Dutch Lake, one on a bluff above the North Thompson river, and one in North Thompson River Provincial Park. At the provincial park, clouds of mosquitoes sent Barbara scurrying back to the car, while Tom signed the log and replaced the cache!

View from the deck over Dutch Lake, with Trophy Mountain, 8455 ft, in the background

Barbara replacing a cache after signing the log - this one had a hole drilled into a rock, with a bison tube hidden behind a plug, with the plug side of the rock facing down.

01 July 2016 – Clearwater BC to Tete Jaune Cache, BC

Tom drove from Dutch Lake to Tete Jaune Lodge & RV park on the Fraser River just west of the junction of BC-5 and CA-16. Easy drive but unfortunately, it was cloudy and overcast when we prepared to leave, and then sputtered rain the whole trip. We needed long pants for the first time in over a week. The campground was full of people celebrating Canada Day.

The RV park sits right on the banks of the Fraser River; it was too cloudy to see the surrounding mountains or appreciate the true color of the rapidly flowing river:

We had dinner at the park restaurant, but since it was cool and wet, we elected to eat indoors rather than take advantage of the view from the outside deck. Excellent buffet dinner that included desserts – we were stuffed!

The sun finally peeked out, but the mountains were still shrouded. Tom took Shelby for a walk to the nearby Tete Jaune Cache bridge and got this photo looking back at the BC-5 bridge over the river, which we had crossed earlier in the afternoon. Note the little tree establishing a foothold on the rock in river.

02 July 2016 – Tete Jaune Cache, BC to Grande Cache, AB

Barbara drove east from Tete Jaune on Hwy 16 along the Fraser River into the mountains. And mountains they are! Words are insufficient to describe these rugged, almost vertical slopes.

We could see the bottom 2/3 of Mt Robson with a hanging glacier on the upper right (click on picture to enlarge). The base of Mt. Robson (12,972 ft) fills the entire center of this picture.

 Emerald Ridge over Moose Lake was quite spectacular, with fresh green growth covering what look like slide areas.

We saw what looked like a large house perched up on a ridge in Jasper National Park; upon enlarging the photograph, we discovered it was the terminus of the Jasper Skytram to Whistlers Mountain. On a sunny day the views must be phenomenal!

The Athabasca River originates at the toe of the Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Icefields in Jasper National Park. Flows 765 miles to Lake Athabasca. Eventually flows into the Peace River, the Great Slave Lake, and finally into the Mackenzie River system that empties into the Arctic Ocean.

As we descended toward the Athabasca River after passing Jasper, traffic was stopped in both directions, parked on both shoulders, with people crossing the road without regard for vehicles. A small herd of elk, with about 6 cows and a single velveted bull, were grazing between the river and the road, and folks were photographing them without regard for personal safety!

Again the mountains surrounding the Athabasca River valley awed us with their solid impenetrability. Note the dry cirques that used to contain hanging glaciers:

Just west of Talbot Lake traffic was again stopped by two bull elk with magnificent antlers in full velvet who were grazing right at the road’s edge. Here's one of them:

After failing to find the Flying J truck stop in Hinton that was indicated on our map, we pulled into what looked like the truck lanes at a Petro Canada station. Tom went inside to get instructions, and found that those lanes work only with the Petro-Pass cardlock card. Barbara pulled back around, and into a tight set of very busy pumps. Tom made another trip inside when the pump insisted on having a PIN for our credit card, even though it is chipped. The clerk insisted that credit cards require a PIN, something we've not encountered before or since. We were finally able to use our debit card, which did not require a PIN. Go figure! Turns out the Hinton Flying J is no more.

Alberta Highway 40 between Hinton and Grande Cache alternated between fairly good road and truly awful pavement: crumbled asphalt and a couple of rough dirt crossings where culverts were being replaced. We now have first hand knowledge of the need to slow way, way down when there's a little red diamond sign or www sign at the edge of the road! Both the driver and the passenger have to keep a sharp lookout, as failure to slow results in major jostling. Grande Cache Muni Campground was a nice surprise, with long pull-through sites completely separated by shrubbery hedges. Bear warning signs were posted, but we did not see any bears. Our vehicles were in sorry shape after all the rain and mud of the past few days, so Tom took the time to wash them. After dinner, we hunted for the geocache at the park entrance, which Barbara had failed to find while Tom was vehicle washing. He found it in short order!

03 July 2016 – Grand Cache, AB to Farmington (Dawson Creek), BC

Just north of Grande Cache, we encountered a large coal mining operation that was dismantling the hillside above the Smokey River. Their sign claims that they are environmentally conscientious – who knows? 

All along AB-40 were signs of oil drilling; we were passed by many large tanker trucks that apparently service the collection pads that line the road. Lots of mud!

As we descended into the valley around Grand Prairie, beautiful bright yellow fields of rapeseed appeared. This seed is the source of canola oil – we figure that the term canola was created because marketing rapeseed oil might be a challenge! Rapeseed is a brassica, the family of plants including cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, horseradish, and many others.

We stopped for a quick lunch of left over pizza in the parking lot of the Beaverlodge Area Cultural Center, which is marked by a 15-foot tall beaver perched on a 19-foot log. This sculpture was installed in 2004 in hopes of encouraging travelers on AB-43 to stop in town. Unfortunately for them, we didn't spend any money here!

We were surprised to see herds of Elk enclosed in high fences along the way - in one field, about 20 bull elk were resting in the grass, with their magnificent antlers looking like a strange sculpture. A quick web search revealed the Alberta has a number of elk ranches, and that elk is a popular meat in the area. We went by too fast for Barbara to get a picture - Tom is much better at quick snaps!

We arrived at Farmington Golf Course and RV Park in mid-afternoon in sunshine with scattered clouds and no rain! Our stay in Dawson Creek/Farmington will be covered in our next posting.