Section VII: Driving Out and Back

Interest in our trips out and back is of course limited, but perhaps someone would like to drive across this wonderful country of ours and experience some

of what it has to offer. The standard of the Rand McNally maps is well below that of the official provincial maps, which I'll use in the future.

Trip out:

15 July: Marilyn picked me up at the subway station and we headed north. The five of us had met at Marilyn's parents' place in Etobicoke on the 13th and

packed the truck; it took several hours to remove the rivets from the bow and stern plates on her boat and replace them with nuts and bolts.

We stopped to see the pictographs at Agawa Rock, had supper in Wawa and camped at Obatanga Provincial Park; this was the buggiest evening of the whole trip.

16 July: We stopped to look at Aguasabon Falls just west of Terrace Bay, stopped at the Terry Fox memorial, bought amethyst stuff at Rocksville store

just east of Thunder Bay, visited Kakabeka Falls and drove on to Rushing River PP east of Kenora. The park was busy with people from Winnipeg (it was Friday)

and we got one of the last sites. We had supper in Kenora.

17 July: We were up and almost ready to go when a bear disturbed people at a nearby site. A few minutes after we passed the Red River, Marilyn's MP3 CD

kicked in with "The Red River Valley"; a few minutes later, it gave us "Four Strong Winds" with a line something like "Think I'll go out to Alberta".

A stop at the Saskatchewan visitor centre got us a useful tip about avoiding construction in Regina. After driving about 1350 km (all of Manitoba and

Saskatchewan) in hot weather, we were in no mood to camp so we stayed at a motel in Lloydminster.

18 July: Stopped in at the park in Vegreville and looked at the egg; had lunch in Edson (looks like a nice place). Took photos along the Jasper road, turned

left and drove the Maligne Canyon road to the top; saw a magnificent elk, a small bear and lots of great scenery. We camped at the Lucerne site in Mount

Robson PP, on the bank of the Fraser River.

19 July: After having breakfast at the Mount Robson visitor centre and buying some stuff, we drove to Prince George where we met Marilyn's sister Joanne and

her husband (who had driven up from Nanaimo); we transferred some stuff to their car, had lunch with them and continued on to Smithers where we stayed at

the Stork Nest Inn (great place run by great, outdoorsy people). Smithers itself is really nice, with glaciers visible on both sides of town.

20 July: We hiked the Twin Falls trail, then drove over to the ski area and hiked the 275 m vertical from the lift base to the top (good view from there). We drove up to Moricetown (30 km west of Smithers) and watched First Nations people net and gaff salmon (30 to 40 pounders); some surfaced in the rapids but we didn't see any trying to jump the falls. One of the native people was extraordinarily friendly and tried to show us salmon sheltering from the current (Marilyn saw shadows, I saw nothing). We returned via the upper Telkwa road, stopping at Driftwood Creek PP to look at the fossil beds. Moricetown – Indians Gaffing Salmon <<<<<<

.

Back in town, Marilyn bought new hiking boots and I bought bear bangers and emergency flares at the Valhalla Pure Outfitters store (run by the same family as the Stork Nest, also highly recommended) on Main Street. The main job that evening was to clean out Robert's food barrel (his potatoes had turned into an inch or so of clear, highly malodorous fluid); luckily there was a pump and a drain near the Smithers visitor centre. We stayed at the Stork Nest again. I forgot to

buy naphtha for the stoves.

21 July: We picked up Robert and Glenn at the Smithers airport; David Suzuki was on the same plane. We stopped at Moricetown again to show the newcomers the sights. On Hwy 37, small bears ran across the road in front of us three times. We were stopped by road construction several times, once for half an hour or so. On the way, I realized that I had not bought the stove fuel. We got to Red Goat Lodge in Iskut at just the wrong time, when all staff were getting supper

ready for the guests. Skipping the chance to look at the llamas, we drove to the general store in Iskut but they had no naphtha; the people there were very friendly though and went well out of their way to be helpful, letting Glenn (ever the scout) use their

phone. Red Goat Lodge had no naphtha, neither did the motel in Iskut, Tatogga Lake Resort had only one litre, but Glenn

tracked down some at the hardware store in Dease Lake. He and I drove there, bought two cans and returned to Tatogga Lake Resort where we all had supper; we camped down by the lake. Since we had a lot of work to do, we asked to have the Happy Lake flight rescheduled to the afternoon; this seemed to cause no difficulty.

22 July: We spent the morning repacking food and gear and taking the Yukon apart so that the Nova Craft would nest in it. After lunch at the Tatogga Lake

Resort restaurant, Doug Beavered us to Happy Lake.

Trip back:

16 August: Marilyn and I drove Robert and Erwin to the hotel where they caught the bus to the airport (get there by ferry), said goodbye and headed east. The

drive up the Skeena valley is nice. We stopped briefly at Moricetown again and camped just east of McBride at the Beaverview grounds.

17 August: We had breakfast again at the Mount Robson visitor centre. The combination of mist plus smoke from a controlled burn obscured Robson then and

many other mountains during the day. The National Parks Service strike had just started and we got in free to Jasper and Banff Parks. We drove down the

Icefield Parkway making many stops (including Athabaska Falls and Sunwapta Falls) and went for a walk on the Columbia Icefield.

Walking on the Athabaska Glacier <<<<< Horseshoe Canyon, Alberta Badlands >>>>>

A herd of goats blocked the road at one time. We bought stuff in Lake Louise village, drove up to Lake Louise itself (the sun was in our faces, robbing us of the famous view), and then hurried on to Calgary where we stayed with Marilyn's sister Lindy and her husband Hugh at their place on the Bow River.

18 August: After a late start and some shopping, we visited the Horseshoe Canyon in the Alberta Badlands and then the Tyrrell museum (excellent, well worth the detour) in Drumheller. We arrived in Swift Current well after dusk and stayed at a motel.

19 August: Stopped to look at a potash site; drove well past dusk and camped at Sandbar PP northeast of Ignace.

Potash Fields <<<<< Lake Superior Waves >>>>>>

20 August: We made many stops on the highway to view Lake Superior; we camped well after dusk at Chutes PP just north of Massey.

21 August: We arrived in Toronto in the early afternoon; Marilyn dropped me off and continued to Picton and a fish fry feast with her family.

Home : Table of Contents Section I: Assorted information. Section II: Upper Stikine: day-by-day report. Section III: Lower Stikine: day-by-day report. Section IV: Distances. Section V: Declinations, etc. Section VI: Alternative logistics (email messages from Hank Hays). Section VII: Driving Out and Back.