Monday, August 22

TRAVEL DAY

From: Kleanza Creek Provincial Park, Terrace, BC.

To: Tyhee Lake Provincial Park, Telkwa, BC.

Day 315 – Hitting the road again today and looking forward to it. This drive across British Columbia is really exciting because we have no idea what to expect. For example, these really tall, jagged-peaked mountains – we didn’t expect to see this until closer to the Canadian Rockies, nor did we expect to be in such an unpopulated area. With scenery this beautiful, you’d think it would be settled, but there are so few towns and communities.

When we were leaving the campground, stopped near the entrance to hook the Honda tow car back up to the RV, the campground host was talking to Rob about a Cougar that visits. He said the Cougar was 130 to 150 pounds and when it was up on its hind legs sharpening its claws on a tree, it made scratch marks on the tree 8 feet up. Rob took a picture of the tree, which was right across from our campsite.

We departed Kleanza Creek Provincial Park at 10:10 a.m. and were once again traveling with the Skeena River on one side of us and railroad tracks on the other side. It was 65 degrees and partly cloudy. The scenery was similar to our last travel day, the traffic was light, and the road was a winding two-lane highway in good condition. There were very few towns, so when we did pass a gas station, we stopped for gas. (And it was cheaper than what we had been seeing lately.)

We had been seeing some snow on the top of some of the taller mountains, but as we approached the town of Smithers, not too far from today’s destination, we saw glaciers. Our first glaciers! Today’s surprise scenery. There were also “Watch for Moose” warning signs. We hadn’t seen them for quite awhile.

Smithers was a town that was popular in the winter – everything was about skiing. In the summer, horseback riding on trails was popular. From what we could tell, it was also an older frontier/pioneer town with a charm of its own. After Smithers, we entered First Nations territory and the town of Telkwa and turned off Highway 16/Yellowhead Highway on a narrow road to reach our campground, Tyhee Lake Provincial Park. It was 1:00 p.m., 76 degrees and cloudy.

Our campsite, #24, had no hook-ups, but the campground did have a dump station and drinking water was available there. We stopped first to dump our tanks as the last place had no dump station. Site 24 was a nice campsite. All the sites had trees and bushes around them – always welcome when it’s warm out, and it was supposed to be in the upper 80’s this afternoon. We had lunch and set up camp.

We have no electric hook-ups, so once again we have to carefully manage how to stay cool with balancing when windows are open and when they are closed, when to use fans, and when to use the air conditioner. We do have a generator and they can be operated between 9 to 11 a.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. We’re starting to get good at this. We set a fan up in the screened tent to circulate the air when we’re sitting out and there isn’t a breeze. We have no one camped behind us or on one side of us. A family – three generations – are parked on the other side of us. The campground is not full, but judging from the size of the parking lot, the size of the beach and the playground by the lake, it is very busy on the weekends. We will be here for 3 nights, leaving on Thursday.