END OF THE ROAD

We decided to return to Whistler and visit the Olympic village site. All the grandstands and other temporary things have been dismanteled but the Big ski jump hill is permanent so up we went.

This is the view from the bottom standing in the area the jumpers would have landed, the starting point is way up at the top of the tree line.

The slope of the jump is 35 degree angle

Looking down, when the jump is in operation ice is made by flowing brine through the pipes same as a ice surface in an arena. The landing area is the brown spot way below.

A perfect 10 score on this jump. Real nice form.

The view from the top , just can stop taking pictures of mountains.

Another view.



Back in Vancouver we went to Capilano suspension bridge.

The bridge is 6 feet wide, 230 feet above the river and 450 feet across. As you walk across it sways back and forth ,but no worry it is strong enough to support 10 fighter jets, however there were no jets there that day.

It looks a long way across

A view from the side. The park also has a series of swinging walkways from tree to tree that are about 100 feet over the forest floor. There are hundreds of old growth trees here.

One big ol tree

The park also has a walkway called a cliffwalk, It is a walkway fastened to the side of the cliff 175-200 feet above the valley floor. In places there is a glass floor for the brave folks to stand on. It was really neat.

The Cliffwalk. and below a view from above.

Today we put the Roadtrek in storage just south of Vancouver and tomorrow we fly home Sept 17. We have been on the road 93 days, have been in 11 US states, 2 Canadian provinces and 2 territories. We drove 14,400 miles.(23,000km). Have seen and experienced more than we had ever thought we would.

A friend asked today what was the best drive, and the answer has to be "all of it" how can one chose between mountains, valleys, plains, glaciers, tundra ,wildlife,stars, oceans, 24 hour of sunshine, etc. And of course people, old friends we met along the way, new friends and of course you who have travelled with us by my feeble attempt at writing, many thanks for sticking with me.

In the next few days we will take time to add up the bills and will give you some idea of what the cost of this adventure has been. Stay tuned.
And next summer we pick up the RV and continue on. Hope you can join us.

TOWARDS VANCOUVER

We wanted to stay off the road over Labour Day weekend so stayed in Prince George for three days, Went to church on Sunday and again met some people we had contact with in the past.
Tuesday found us back on BC Hwy 97 towards Vancouver. Prince George to Vancouver is about 500miles (800km) about 1/2 of that is on Hwy 97 and the other half on Hwy 99.
Diane had been having some ploblems with her computer so we stopped at Staples in Quensnel for repairs and spend the rest of the day and over night there. We were told to go to The Wee Chippee for all you can eat fish and chips. Cod, Halibut or Salmon all you can eat, we left there stuffed at a cost of $30 for both of us. Almost make a person want to live there. Next morning computer working fine we are back on the road to Williams Lake, its a real nice modern busy town with a Dairy Queen convienently located by the highway.
The early settlers here measured the distanced they travelled and marked stopping spots by miles travelled so now towns are named 70 mile house, 86 mile house, 100 mile house and so on. I guess that was easlier than thinking up an original name.


Past the town of Clinton we find Hwy 99 and turn SW towards the coast and Vancouver. We soon enter the dry interior. Protected from the Pacific Ocean by the Coast Mountains this area gets very little rain, in the low area near Lillooet the annual rainfall is about 2inches making it a desert.

The Cayoosh river flows through this area on its way to join the Frazer R.

The river provides irrigation to the area and with the abundant sunshine and warm winters it is a big ranch and fruit growing area. You can clearly see the irrigated areas.

Across the river you can see the road ahead, lots of twists and turns and ups and down.

This lake is formed because of a log jam on the river, the jam has been there for many years and makes for a beautiful view. The road finally takes us to Whislter, the home of the downhill events for the 2010 Olympics. We took the lift to the top of the mountain.

In open chairs like this one, the base is at 2130 ft and the top of Whistler is 7160 feet and the top of Blackcomb is 7347. The area was first conceived as a bid for the 1968 Olympics then when the bid was withdrawn the plan went ahead and it is a beautiful town with a well layed out plan. A pedestrian mall meaders through the village with a abundance of shops and eateries.

The view from our ski lift.

That's Diane's hand holding on, almost bent the metal bar. Its only about 600 feet to the ground.

Our ticket included a ride on the PEAK2PEAK. Its a 2.73 mile/4.4km ride from the peak of Whistler to the peak of Blackcomb. It has a unsupported span of 1.88miles/3.024km and rides 1427 feet/463 m about the valley floor.

This is the valley below, you can see a part of a gondola in top right of picture

The support cables

The payoff, totally awesome views.

The black dot in the middle of the picture is our shadow.

The info. Pretty inpressive enginnering

From the top of Whistler. There are over 200 ski runs on these hills making it the largest ski resort in North America, nearly 50% bigger that its closesr competitor, it covers over 8000 acres and can move 66,000 skiers per hours on the lifts.

The dam from 1400 feet above

The village of Whistler from the 7000 feet up.

We leave Whistler late in the day and stop in Squamish. On Sat is the annual bike race from Vancouver to Whistler, called the sea to sky race. It is about 125 mile and mostly uphill. there are 7000 cyclist on the road and the highway is mostly blocked off but to was amazing to see that many people on bicycles on the road.

#56 Towards Prince George

After a weekend of R & R in Whitehorse we left there on a wet, cool overcast Monday afternoon and got back on the Alaska Hwy going east. We stopped early at a roadside pullout beside a rain swollen river and slept to the sound of the rapids. Continuing east in the morning we soon came to BC Hwy 37 and turning south we left the Yukon behind us.

Last summer this road was closed for nearly two months as a forest fire swept through the area. Above you can see that the vegetation has begun to return. Fires are actually good for the forest, it removes deadfall and all the old weak trees and allows the sun and air to get through to the ground where the seeds that have lay dormant can now germinate and grow. The new vegetation now brings the smaller animals who spread more seeds and eventually new trees sprout and the forest is renewed. ( Not a very complete explantion but a start, you can look up the rest yourself).

During the day the sky cleared up and the sun came out ,we stop again beside a small river rapids and enjoyed a nice BBQ dinner. We usually read or play games for a few hours before bed about 11 oçlock we looked out and the sky was like a billion sparkling diamonds on a deep blue black velvet. We couldn't help but think of the song;

The mountains are His, The valleys are His, The sky is His handiwork too.

We couldn't help but just marvel at such beauty. Those of us that live in or near cities where the lights pollute the night sky are certainly deprived of sight like this. Unforuately pictures don't turn out.

We make our way to Stewart/Hyder. Stewart is in BC. Canada, Hyder is in AK, USA. The only way to get to Hyder is through Stewart. There is no stores, no banks, nothing in Hyder except some small gift shops for tourist. The 3 or 4 dozen residents of Hyder, do all their shopping in Stewart, they use C$ and Canadian banks. There is one road in Hyder that goes north back into BC to some mining operations. There is no US customs but there is a Canadian customs but no one seems to know why.

One of the highlights of Hyder is the bears. The bears feast on salmon at the river and there is a board walk built to walk out and watch. We watched for 1 1/2 hours and no bears. We decide to leave and drove about 200 feet and there he is going for his dinner.

And there he is with his catch walking across the road in front of us.

Another Glacier, you can see the melt water running out at the bottom, and fresh snow falling at the top.

This is a hanging glacier, called that because it hangs over the rock
and melts before it gets to the bottom of the valley.

The river valley on the Suskwa River at Hazelton BC,

The bridge over the river, called the Hagwilget bridge, first built by the native people as a walking bridge made out of vines. This one built in 1931 is one of the highest suspension bridges in North America. It is only one lane at 16 feet wide, it spans 460 feet and is 262 feet above the river. There is over 1 million pounds of steel and 16 miles of 1/2 wire rope in the bridge.
We arrive at Prince George for the Labour Day weekend and stay put until Tuesday when we continue on south.

# 55 Back to Whitehorse

We leave Skagway behind and begin the drive back to Whitehorse in Yukon to spend the weekend.

This is Emerald Lake, that is the natural color of the water. Like many lakes up here the water picks up minerals that give them distintive colour. I climbed way up on the hill side to get this shot of two beauties.

Just back through Canadian customs and once again a couple of questions and away we go. This picture and the next are along the Tagish Highway on the Canadian side.

We spot this waterfall and stop to explore the area. The water is from melting snow and falls about 3000 ft down the mountain. As the snow is melting in the daytime it is also falling up higher on the slopes. We see lots of new snow now.

The fireweed is a wild flower that begins to bloom on the stem from the bottom up in spring and tradition says that when the top blooms it is fall. Then the flower shows its seeds and they are white meaning it is time for snow. Looks to us that tradition is right

Got this brave lady to climb way up on the rocks for this photo. The rocks were wet and slippy but she made it OK.

#54 WHITE PASS AND YUKON ROUTE

Many of us have heard the stories of the Yukon gold rush of 1898. After the first few prospectors return south with tales of riches to be made it is estimated that 50,000 people arrived in Skagway seeking to get rich. The only way to the Yukon at that time was to climb the Chilnoot trail through the mountain pass to take the rivers north. It was a long arduous climb and many died or gave up and went home. In 1901 the rail line was built through the pass. Today it is a International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. The rail line climbs nearly 3000feet in just 20 miles.
This is the train just beginning the run up the mountain.

There are some places that mountain side is really steep.

The wooden trestle over a canyon.

The train crosses the international border. This is the only place where you can cross the CAN/USA border without reporting to customs.

However you cannot get off the train. Flags, US, AK BC YT CAN

Believe it or not. That is the trail the the Yukoners traveled up the pass. People traveled in both directions, we were told that it was so crowded that if a person stepped out of line it could take a day or so to get back in. Because many people showed up with nothing but a few supplies and died on the trail the RCMP set up a post on the trail and required every person to have one year of supplies before they were allowed to go on. Those supplies weighed nearly 2000 pounds so a person had to make 20 or more trips up and down the pass and often had their supplies stolen.

A tunnel through the mountain The rail line over the pass of 20.8 miles was built in 18 months. Tens of thousands of men and 450 tons of explosives were used.

Some of the many wildflowers on the route.

The original bridge. Lucky for us we didn't use that one.