Hiking

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Dawson Creek!

This was a short, easy driving day with a definite end goal, the Mile 0 RV Park in Dawson Creek.

I stopped once to stretch my legs, at the entrance to the Peace River Valley:

rest area at entrance to Peace Valley tourism region

rest area at entrance to Peace Valley tourism region

Arriving in Chetwynd, Chainsaw Sculpture Capital of the World (I can’t make this stuff up!), is incredible (I need some new adjectives); the town rises seemingly out of nowhere! I had hoped to dump there, but was cursed by one of my biggest pet peeves–single signage. That is, there’s a sign indicating that there is a dump ‘that way’, but once you go ‘that way’ there are no further signs. So, I gave up and resigned myself to full hookups in Dawson Creek. Chetwynd was a surprisingly full service town with a lot of big name stores. It is considered to be the ‘most livable small town in BC.’

Moreover, my house battery is behaving strangely for the first time since I installed it, so I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of doing two or three more nights without hooks.  The issue is that my voltage was only at 12.2 when I parked last night when, after a full three nights on plugged in at 15A, it should have been fully charged at 13.2v! Very worrisome…

I pulled into Dawson Creek just shy of noon this morning and am comfortably settled in the okay, but nothing spectacular, and quite noisy Mile 0 RV Park. Staff is unfriendly. Hookups and wi-fi are good.

Now that I’m all caught up, I’m off to explore. 🙂

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Prince George to the Other Side of the Pine Pass

I left my friends’ place late Saturday morning:

the best non-advertised campground near Prince George :)

the best non-advertised campground near Prince George 🙂

Getting out Prince George was harrowing. Instead of using my common sense that told me that highways 16 and 97 north would intersect with signage at some point, I used Majel. She led me down a road with a bridge with a 2m clearance. Miranda needs just over 3m. Thankfully, there was a crescent road right before the bridge, so I was able to turn around effortlessly, get back to the 16, and ignore my GPS all the way to the 97 north. 🙂

I stopped for gas at a Mohawk station that sanidumps.com claimed had a dump station, but it was closed. 🙁

My next big stop would be Dawson Creek, about 400km north. I decided to go halfway to arrive in Dawson Creek mid-day Sunday and stay through to Tuesday morning.

The drive was lovely and fairly easy. Lunch was had at a rest stop on the Crooked River:

Crooked River from rest stop

Crooked River from rest stop

There was a couple in a large class A parked here with me. They pulled out before me, but our destinies would be matched for a time…

During the lunch stop, I decided to get over the Pine Pass and then stop for the night at the first suitable rest area.

Pine Pass is the lowest and most northerly highway crossing over the Rockies. Everyone I spoke to in the past few days told me to beware this crossing, that the climate would change quickly and that the going would be treacherous. I’m getting tired of people working me up like that because the Pine Pass was easy peasy to cross!

There was a beautiful rest area just after the summit:

Azouetta Lake, just past the Pine Pass summit

Azouetta Lake, just past the Pine Pass summit

The couple from Crooked River were there and I was asked where I planned on spending the night. We had both had the idea to stay right there as the views were spectacular, but the high winds coming over the pass worried us. We therefore decided to rendez-vous at the next rest area, about 40mi (75ishkm) north.

So, that’s where I spent Saturday night, at the West Pine Rest Area:

West Pine rest area

West Pine rest area

It was just going on four when I pulled in, so I went for a quick walk to stretch my legs, gabbed with the couple for a bit, then just crashed with a cold beer. What a tough life I lead. 🙂

The evening was pleasant, if a tad noisy, and I slept way too well, awaking this morning at 8!!! The couple was long gone and I was equally eager to be on my way. Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway was just 200 km away.

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The Chasm to Lake McLeese

This day was like the one from Thunder Bay, starting off great, with no warning of the disaster to come.

I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in about a month, so imagine my shock on Monday morning when I discovered I’d slept ten hours straight! The chasm turned out to be a great spot for a good night’s sleep, being pitch dark and blessedly quiet.

This was my first time ever waking up somewhere that did not require me to be out by a certain time, not counting Revelstoke that required me to leave because of my non-existent battery issues. I took my time, savouring the crisp, cold morning. I had fretted about how to get out of the site without unhooking, finding the turn to be very sharp for an RV, but the The Milepost, my bible for this journey, kindly informed me that Chasm Road loops back to the 97 highway.

I stopped just 30km from the Chasm to climb up to Begbie Summit, where there is a fire watch station. This was a 10 minute hike that told me that I really need to do more of these if I want to be ready for the Chilkoot. 🙂

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My next stop was for lunch at the 108 Mile Ranch site. I’d topped up the groceries at the Save-On-Foods at 100 Mile House, so I had a very nice picnic.

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My water levels were getting low, my tanks were getting full, my house battery was ready for a bit of juice, and I had a mountain of laundry to do. So, I decided that a night on full hookups was in order.

Using the Milepost, I determined that the McLeese Lake Resort, between Williams Lake and Quesnel, would be a good place to stop as it boasted full hook-up sites, easy RV access, and wi-fi.

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Williams Lake

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Williams Lake

Well…

This was a beautiful resort, but really not made for RVs over the size of a class B. I took a turn too sharply to get into my site and clipped the post holding the water outlet, then drove straight over it with the toad. Miranda has a nice scrape down the side of the battery compartment door and one of its closures is dented.

Damage at the site looked really bad and the owners thought they would need to call in for a backhoe to get to the underground leak. I was told that I was looking at a 500$+ repair bill. They were very nice about the whole thing, but I was beyond mortified and freaking out. My trip was over if the bill came to fruition; I’d have to dash straight to Whitehorse to get work.

Several hours passed as I did laundry, puttered around the house, and otherwise tried to keep myself occupied as I waited for the final verdict.

Finally, the groundskeeper came around to announced that he got to the leak with just a couple of spadefuls. As it turned out, the water hose was just that, a flexible hose, not a pipe, and all I’d done was rip a connection apart. It was a two minute repair. As for the post, it seemed pretty rotten and did not factor into the equation when they came up with a bill for me–50$ for the inconvenience and labour. Fair enough. *relieved*

The people at the resort were just so nice about the whole thing. I paid them in cash last night, but still went into the office this morning to make sure that everything was okay. The manager took me around the outside of the office and showed me where someone had just about taken the roof off the porch with their rig! I could tell that she was trying to make me feel better and it worked somewhat. She told me I’m welcome back anytime, but I’m not going back there!

The resort is absolutely gorgeous. I had a nice spot by the water, something that enchanted the kitties. But the ‘pull through’ site was barely so and their wi-fi is WEP encrypted so I couldn’t get on. So, while my night there wasn’t a complete and utter disaster, it won’t bring back pleasant memories. 🙂

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Tabitha being absolutely enchanted by the waves on the lake. Love her perch!

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The picture of food cooking is a secret message to my former boss. Thanks for the bag, it was delish!

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A Chance For One Last Hike

Well, I will have no excuse for not staying in touch on the road! I just brought home ‘Kevin’, a 1.5Ghz, 12″, aluminum casing Powerbook G4. I did a lot of research and spoke with a lot of people, enough to feel confident that I got a good machine at a fair price. It’ll be nice to be able to watch DVDs on it; the battery has plenty of juice to watch at least one movie.

The seller lives in North Vancouver and I decided to just go meet up with him there instead of trying to find a mutually convenient time to meet ‘halfway.’ The meet up point, a Starbucks, was just a few kilometres from Lynn Canyon (which explains why I didn’t mind driving the 100 or so klicks round trip *g*), so I packed up my hiking boots this morning! We met at six, spent about a half hour going over the machine (which helped inspire confidence in the seller), and I was on the trail by six forty! The gates to the park close at 7PM, so I parked a few blocks away on a city street in order to not be rushed.

I couldn’t believe I was there, under those magnificent towering redwoods on a glorious Tuesday evening! If I could with me only one visual memory of Vancouver, it would be of the view from the Twin Falls bridge, of all that turquoise water smashing down on the rocks below. My boots were very comfortable, albeit stiff, and I savoured every second of my hike. I even stopped mid-span on the suspension bridge and looked down. How far I’ve come since Eagle Canyon!

Four months in the Greater Vancouver Region has been perfect–just long enough to fall in love with the area and savour its treasures, but not so long as to grow jaded. How marvelous it was yesterday and today to use the GPS as I did in Ottawa to only to fine tune my drive to a specific address while knowing exactly what route to take to get to the general area. I’m ready to go, but sad at the same time, feeling much the way I did last September. In fact, after so many months of hardly driving at all, I feel like I’m starting fresh, like a complete novice again!

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Of Hiking Gear and Roof Racks

First stop today was Mountain Equipment Co-Op. I have mixed feelings about my shopping experience there, my first at MEC. On the one hand, they had everything I needed but on the other, service was abominable. I’d suggest to novice gear hunters that they call ahead and ask if it’s possible to request a personal shopper.

I started off with boots. I’d done a bit of research before hand and knew that I needed their backpacking boots. I only buy Italian ‘full grain’ leather hiking boots, so that narrowed the choice down even further. Perhaps I sounded too sure of what I wanted, but the clerk just dumped three pairs of boots in front of me and never spoke to me again. Thankfully, this wasn’t my first time buying hiking boots and I knew what sort of fit I needed, so I’m fairly confident I made the right choice. Hiking boots are probably the only thing for which I never consider price. You can be soaking wet and cold out on the trail, but if your feet are comfy, life is good. Also, good boots will last you a long time. My last pair lasted through eleven years of real use, including a month of backpacking around Scotland in 1998.

Next up were socks. I couldn’t believe that the exact same socks and liners I’d bought for Scotland expedition were still available!!! I loved that combo and have, in fact, only just recently worn through my last pair! I had no qualms dropping sixty dollars total for two sets!

Then, I moved on to clothes. I walked around the ladies department for at least a half hour looking through everything and waiting for a clerk to show up in this section. Just as I was about to just walk out without anything, a clerk walked right by me and I must have given enough of a sigh or a LOOK for her to spin around and notice me. She guided me through my clothing options and was helpful enough, but soon as I was ready to examine my options on my own, she left and didn’t come back to see if I had any further questions.

It’s really hot out today, so much so that I left home in capris, sandals, and a short-sleeved top for the first time this season. So, let me just say that it was very uncomfortable in the changing room wearing the following:

-cotton underpants and bra;

-polyester longjohns and undershirt;

-hiking pants and lightweight top;

-fleece jacket;

-wind/rainproof Gortex-style pants and shell

*laughs* I didn’t need to buy all these layers, of course, but I wanted to try them all on to make sure that the shell layer, which I was buying, would fit.

I left MEC much, much poorer than I’d entered, but I was long overdue to renew my hiking gear, so much so that I’ve actually passed up on some hiking trips due to lack of appropriate equipment. Now, I’m all set to do the West Coast trail whenever I get to Vancouver Island, or to try any number of other trails I’ll pass on my way north. In fact, I have to try a few trails so I can break in those boots!

I’ll pause here to mention that MEC has a (pay) parking lot accessible from an alley behind the store. This lot is the equivalent of two stories above street level. The view from up there was stunning; I was surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Vancouver’s beauty never ceases to astound me.

Next stop was Rack Attack, just a few blocks from MEC. Their site boasts that they carry every Thule product in stock, so it seemed like the place to go to get geared up to carry the bike and kayak. My experience there was great! Service was excellent, with the clerk being very knowledgeable. I just about passed out when I got the total bill for the roof bars (400XT Aero Foot), the kayak rack, and the bike rack, though! The bike rack cost was exorbitant and I decided to pass on it for the time being. I’ll just stuff the bike in the trunk for now. The kayak rack, though was reasonably priced.

Being a DIY kind of gal, I passed on installation.

I wish I hadn’t.

First, the Swedes have got to start hiring proper translators!!!

Second, this rack was supposed to take 15-30 minutes to install. 3 hours later, I’m not even close.

I am not impressed with Thule products. Some parts seem very shoddy and flimsy; I kept thinking I was going to break something! Moreover, I bought a fitting kit made specifically for my car that specifies the bar span between the two mounts. The dimension is incorrect. If they can’t get that right, what can I trust? Lesson learned: just because a brand is the most popular doesn’t mean it’s the best, just that nobody’s invented anything better yet. I feel like I got scammed. 🙁 Hopefully, I can figure the stupid thing out before Saturday morning. I’m almost afraid to think of what the kayak rack is going to be like…

The race to departure is on. Four days left!