After a beautiful but long (22 hours) BC Ferry trip from Port Hardy, Vancouver Island, we arrived late afternoon in Prince Rupert. Cautious of the late arrival, we had booked the closest RV park for 2 nights. It was the lousiest RV park yet! The sites were tiny and littered with a view of a junkyard; the wifi never worked; and, fast traffic in the campground and the adjacent highway. All this and more, for the most we’d spent on a campground yet: $50! Well, we’re learning as we go!
We were disappointed the Prince Rupert museum was not open. We walked around the very interesting building and hope to see the collections next time. Also closed was a nearby cannery that is a National Historic site. Oh well, next time, we keep saying… So we took advantage of the time available and did some errands, stocked up on groceries and got an oil change for our vehicle. The Dodge dealership had great wifi and a comfy waiting room – great for catching up on our admin work.
A few people had mentioned the beautiful drive east from Prince Rupert and it did not disappoint. The drive follows the massive Skeena River (second largest in BC after the Fraser) and is a stunning drive. The beautiful scenery took my mind off the thoughts that we were now driving east and feeling the end in sight to this amazing adventure. I knew we still had lots of great stops and experiences before we would finish and we’ll keep doing this for years, but it just felt like a bittersweet turning point.
There are lots of places to stop and enjoy the beauty and history of the Skeena. Back in the day before trains and then cars, stern wheeler boats went up and down the river. We stopped in the pretty town of Old Hazelton which has an old stern wheeler permanently on shore. Today the town council chambers are in the boat. Hazleton was relocated when the railway went through and the river was no longer the main transportation route.
We drove as far as Smithers (the residents like to be called Smithereens so you have to love them) and stayed at a great boondock location, the town Ford dealership. The owner is an RV’er and likes to share his property – so kind. We parked at the far end of the lot and had a beautiful view of Hudson Bay Mountain.
Our plan for the next two nights was to stay at a Welcome Boondocker location on Cluculz Lake, just outside of Vanderhoof. The owners of the property have a large lake-side property. They live there, in their RV for the summer and drive the RV to Mexico for the winter. They have the property set up like a small private RV park with space for at least 3 RVs, complete with water and power hook ups. They were so welcoming and it always touches me how people generously share their property for no monetary gain, just because they like to meet fellow RVers.
It was hot so first thing we did was go right to the lake for a swim – the water was very refreshing but a bit weedy and made me miss Lake Joseph. Bob was still on the dock, as I turned to swim back toward shore, I pointed out to him a big eagle that landed in a tree just above us. There was a pair of loons in the lake protecting their young one and calling out warnings to each other. Bob got an amazing shot of the eagle just lifting off in preparation to take the chick but thankfully was deterred. I know it’s bound to happen but I didn’t want to witness the take! Also I was having flashbacks to the bird of prey that eyed me near Fort Walsh.
While in the Vanderhoof area we stopped for a picnic lunch at Heritage Park, a collection of historic buildings relocated to this park, including the information centre. The buildings are normally open to the public and due to COVID they were closed but the staff person on-site kindly got her big ring of old keys and walked us through several buildings. She showed us the 1920s Bank of Montreal, the Vanderhoof Hotel, a lovely small 1920s home built by a local carpenter,and a Mennonite home. She had some great and tragic stories to tell us about each building.
Vanderhoof was quite the character, a wealthy Chicago business man came to the area in the summertime while the railway was being built, He thought he would start a writer’s colony and got people to come up from the US and invest in the scheme. He was woefully unaware of the winters (minus 40 guaranteed) and the investors defaulted on loans putting the 2-year-old branch of Bank of Montreal into bankruptcy, The other industries of the town: mining, agriculture & forestry, were what sustained the area then and now. Every small town finds a claim to fame to promote and Vanderhoof’s is that it is the geographic centre of BC.
We also took a day trip to Fort St James, just an hour north of Vanderhoof. It’s a former Hudson Bay Trading post and National Historic Site. Although they were open under limited staff and COVID-induced restrictions we felt very welcome and enjoyed the museum and walking through the buildings. It’s beautifully situated on the shore of Stuart Lake. The few staff were tending the gardens and we enjoyed a delicious lunch topped off with the best raspberry pie with berries from the garden. I still dream of that pie!
Unfortunately, we had a bit of a mishap back to our boondock location. A truck caused a stone to hit our windshield and put a hole right through, followed by cracks coming down. Glass came flying in the van but fortunately the hole was dead centre, just above the rear view mirror, so the glass flew past us both. It was so startling! The closest major centre was Prince George so I got on the phone and called around. On the third try I found a company that could replace the glass first thing the next morning. Yay! Prince George was about an hour away, we got ourselves in there good & early. The three-hour time difference helped in terms of calling our insurance company and getting it all sorted. After a leisurely breakfast at Denny’s we were back on track by noon.
We hadn’t planned a parking spot yet but expected to boondock somewhere near Jasper because we had already booked the three following nights at Jasper National Park. We went online to Parks Canada and got another night in the park and headed straight there. This was yet another silver lining of traveling in the time of Covid – in any other year we would avoid the Rockies in July and August because of the crowds and tour buses but this year it was quiet in the parks and possible to get campsites at short notice.
The drive from Prince George to Jasper continues following along a river as we had done since Prince Rupert but there was less development. There is one little railway mountain town of McBride that still operates as a VIA Rail stop, just before Jasper. This where we would have boondocked if not for the luck of getting an extra night in Jasper Park.
After a long day, we were so happy to pull into our campsite at Wapiti campground in Jasper National Park and especially pleased when we realized we could hear the sound of the Athabasca River from our van. There was a trail right from our site just a few metres down to the river. National Parks are the best! I loved falling asleep to the sound of rushing river every night. I was rather nervous after park staff had warned us about bear sightings in the campground so we popped into the town of Jasper to arm ourselves with bear spray.
There are a wealth of activities to experience in the park. The Valley of the Five Lakes hike was beautiful but a bit too busy for our taste. It was Sunday and is a pretty easy hike so I guess that’s why it attracted a lot of people.
One of the side effects of the pandemic is a huge increase in the number of people out hiking, which is wonderful and it motivated us to find less busy and more challenging routes. The steep and long climb to Bald Hills fit that bill. There are no dogs allowed on the Bald Hills hike, as well as several other hikes in Jasper, because they cause damage to wildlife habitat so those hikes are great for avoiding busy trails. The Bald Hills hike is about 15km, depending on the route options taken and it is pretty much straight up to 2300 meters elevation, a ‘lung-buster’ for sure, then straight down.
I found it really challenging and think I was affected by the elevation which I had not experienced before. The fact that Bob seemed perfectly fine and that I knew the view at the summit would be very rewarding, kept me motivated and we were indeed rewarded with an outstanding glacier-view lunch spot and stunning views of Maligne Lake and river. The walk down was easier but still a slog and I was so happy to be finished and to have that satisfied feeling of knowing I would sleep well.
Our final day in Jasper was rainy so we went to town to learn about local history at the Jasper Museum and hoping to get a ‘bear claw’ from PawPaw bakery – there was always a line up but the rain deterred the customers and we lucked out. I had been told this pastry treat was a must have. To be honest we found it dry and boring but the spicy sausage rolls and creamy chicken coconut soup made for a delicious lunch in the van while we people-watched on the main street of Jasper.
At the museum there is a very interesting outdoor geology garden which gives a great overview of the half a billion years of geological history along with large boulder samples.
Jasper was the first place we had been that had strict rules about masks wearing. They had ‘masks mandatory’ stencils sprayed on every sidewalk corner. There was no one, inside or out, not wearing a mask.
The drive east, out of Jasper towards Edmonton is very beautiful, there were a few elk on the road who seemed to be seeing us off. Actually the entire drive from Prince Rupert to about Hinton, Alberta is very scenic and follows the Skeena and other major rivers for the most part. After Hinton the landscape becomes rather average in comparison and as you get closer to Edmonton it shows signs of all the things we did not miss: suburban sprawl, big box stores and on the horizon something we had not seen for a long time: highrise buildings! I was starting to realize it’s going to be a culture shock to go back to the city.
We had been avoiding cities due to COVID precautions as well as concern over travelling with an Ontario license plate and therefore bypassed Edmonton and stopped about 35km east of the city at Elk Island National Park. It’s small for a national park and landscape-wise not too interesting but it’s reason for existence is due to its role in bringing the native plains bison and wood bison herds back from near extinction in the early 1900s. The millions of bison that had once roamed North America had been over hunted and dwindled to almost none when the Canadian government bought some of the last herds and provided this protected area. Now there are thousands of bison in the park separated by species: plains bison on the north side, wood bison on the south.
The walks in the parks are pretty tame and lacking drama compared to the Rockies but the cycling is nice. The lake looked inviting but there was a ‘no swimming advisory’ due to an algae bloom issue. The ‘must do’ activity in this park is to take a dawn or dusk drive through the park main road to see the herds of bison roaming and grazing.
While at Elk Island we took a day trip to the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Centre, just a few minutes east of the park. It is a large property housing a great collection of historic buildings that have been relocated to create an authentic small pioneer town. Town layouts in the 1800s were dictated by the government to ensure the town would prosper and help the new immigrants in settlement. For example, the lumber yard is near the train station so as not to have to transport it too far; the school is on the edge of town so the children did not have the distraction of the town activities. There were engaging costumed interpreters who provided background stories about the Ukrainian people who survived the tough journey to the area and then the tougher job of building a new life for themselves.
We had a traditional Ukrainian platter of food for lunch including sausage, potatoes, cabbage rolls and pedaheh (Ukrainian pierogies) One staff suggested we go to Stawnichy’s in the nearby town of Mundare to get the best Ukrainian sausage and to see the world’s largest sausage which she assured us we would find amusing and she was right!
Our Elk Island campsite was not scenic at all but was a short walk to the lake and the brand new shower facilities were certainly appreciated by us. Thanks to Bob, dinner is always good. Here he is making one of our ‘clean out the fridge’ dinners – stir-fried rice, which he tops off with a thin omelette. I found this great Dansk cast-iron enamel cookware at a garage sale for $2 in Peachland, BC. It really came in handy and is induction-burner friendly.
On our last morning in Elk Island we got an early call from our Toronto neighbour Louise asking if we were still in the park. She was tipped off to our location by my Instagram post. She and Ivor happened to also be there, on a day trip from Edmonton and came over to our campsite for coffee. It was so fun to have a social visit and catch up.
Continuing east, it wasn’t long until we were back in Saskatchewan with the beautiful vistas of fields in various stages of harvest, rows of silos and the occasional grain elevator. We stopped at Fort Battleford , a North West Mounted Police post, on the shore of the North Saskatchewan river, for a walk around the buildings original to the property. The history of the battles fought and treaties signed are a good opportunity to help understand the complicated and challenging indigenous and government relationships today.
We headed north to Prince Albert, a small town on the North Saskatchewan river to stock up on food and drinks, then drove a few miles north to a Welcome Boondocker location that was again, not just a free place to park but a beautiful park-like acreage with the warmest of hosts. June & Dave greeted us with cocktails and a big pit fire to eat dinner around and talk until late in the evening, bright light provided by the full moon and clear sky.
They couldn’t do enough for us – I had commented on our bug-covered van so Dave was out in the morning with a bucket of hot soapy water; we mentioned the stone through the windshield, he quickly found us a windshield repair kit in case that happens again; he offered to drive Bob to town if he needed something. The thing about the boondocker hosts and the many campers we have met is they want you to love this lifestyle as much as they do and are so happy to share experiences and advice. This generosity and openness never fails to warm our hearts and make us love vanlife all the more.
We headed another hour north to Prince Albert National Park on the shores of the beautiful Waskesiu Lake. I had not expected there to be a lovely small summer resort town right in the park, also called Waskesiu. The town is kind of a like a tiny, low-key Jasper, with heritage buildings, shops and restaurants, lots of small lakefront cabins. It is very much a family place with a waterfront playground, cute 2-person ‘quadracycles’ around town, and the Red Deer campground is close enough to feel part of the town action.
Unfortunately we could not experience one of the highlights of the park, a visit to Grey Owl’s cabin, because the excursion boat was not running this summer but I’m sure we’ll be back and we’ll add that to our growing ‘next time’ list. We spent our time in PA (as the locals call it) walking around town, cycling the trails and enjoying some cocoon time in the van when it was cold and rainy, listening to the wind and catching up on ‘admin’ – writing for me, images for Bob.
We drove south east through Saskatchewan and were treated to more beautiful ‘living skies’ and pulled into our Foam Lake campground just before a small storm moved through. The large campground was empty except for us, a tent and one large RV.
The next day we continued to Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. It is very similar to Prince Albert NP, based around a lake-side town with 1930s historic park buildings, great for easy cycling, also has a Grey Owl cabin that is not open this year.
One of the serendipitous discoveries of this trip has been Parks Canada. Any other summer we probably would have stayed at a broader variety of provincial and municipal campgrounds but most are not bookable this pandemic year for non-residents, so we planned a lot around National Parks that had space. Also, because there are few travelers this year we were able to book in campgrounds in July and August. In any other year the campgrounds would be packed and fully booked all summer.
Riding Mountain National Park is similar to Prince Albert and other national parks that were established in the 1930s. The buildings were part of a depression-era make work program. Such a good use of skills and projects that benefited the people at that time and are enjoyed 90 years later.