July 5

We began the long goodbyes before we left Vancouver Island on the 5th, saying goodbye to the grandkids and family there, before making our way to Richmond for some more goodbyes.  The plan was to boondock down by the river (oh yes, can you just hear Chris Farley?), which ended up being a perfect place to stay!  There was a small pullout along River Road with just enough room for a few cars.  When we arrived on the first day, we found several people fishing, so knew that later on the place would be empty.  As it was a rain and chilly afternoon, we opted to head over to the public library nearby to work on some of our video projects for a while.  Dinner was a simple salad with some chicken added, eaten in the van – not much to write home about except for the fantastic view we had as we ate.  Pretty nice, I gotta say!   

As the evening wore on, the people fishing packed up and headed out and we moved the van into a good, level spot to sleep in.  With it backed up into some bushes, we were quite comfortable that no one would bother the bikes.  Shades up, we watch a movie, read for bit and went to sleep, listening to the calming sounds of the river as it flowed by next to us.   

Saturday was a busy day, with visits with more family and my good friend, Sue, who had just retired from teaching.  It was lovely to see everyone once more before we left for such a long time.  We decided to treat ourselves to a movie and dinner out, before once again settling down in our little spot by the river.  All in all, it worked out perfectly and we were pretty happy that our costs for accommodation so far on this trip have been $0!   

Sunday morning we stopped in at Mountain Equipment Co-op to spend some of that money we were saving with our boondocking.  Jim needed some new sandals and we both wanted to get a pair of hiking boots, since with the van we will have both room to carry such a luxury item and ability to do some day hikes.  When we have been on a bike tour, unless we are in a hotel room, one of us has to always be with the bikes as everything we are travelling with is on them, so not very many opportunities to hike.  However, with this set-up, we can store the bikes in the van, put up the blinds and lock  everything up tight before setting out on a hike – something we are really looking forward to.  At MEC, we found a very helpful salesperson who helped us both choose boots that will hopefully work well for us.  Due to some surgery I had on my ankle a few years ago, I can’t wear boots that go up over my ankle, but the pair she found for me provide great stability.  They are also waterproof, but I didn’t really think that would be important as we didn’t plan on tracking through any major downpours.   

 With our purchases stored in the van, we were off for one more visit.  We had hoped to get out for a nice walk, but the continued rain meant lunch at the mall.  However, it was all worth it as we got to spend time with Ronan and his mom and dad.   

 Once lunch was finished, it was time to really get this show on the road. We left a very rainy Vancouver and headed out to Hope, which is just at the beginning of the Coquihalla Highway, thinking that this would be a good spot so that tomorrow’s drive up to Peachland would not be too long.  We arrived with lots of time to check out our proposed camping spot for the night, which turned out to be a trail head for the Kettle Valley Rail Trail.  The parking lot there looked perfect – lots of trees, very quiet and no signs saying we couldn’t park overnight!  With that decision made, we headed back into the town of Hope to the local park where we found picnic tables so that we could prepare our dinner.  Although it was still a bit on the cool side, thank goodness the rain had ceased and we were able to cook dinner and eat it outside, chatting with some other travellers afterwards. It is one of the great things about travelling, either by bike or now in the van, we tend to meet and talk to a lot more people than if we were sitting in a restaurant and staying in a hotel.  As the evening drew to a close, we drove back out to our boondocking spot, went for a short walk up the trail and then settled in for another quiet night (although we did hear some traffic from the highway, it was in the distance, so was not very noticeable). 

In the morning, with the sun shining, we sat outside the van having our cereal and coffee.  A few dog walkers, bikers and runners went by, but it was really very quiet and peaceful.  We decided to take some time to hike up the trail and were just getting ready to do this when one of the dog walkers stopped to say hi on her way back out.  She mentioned that the Othello Tunnels were only 4.9 km up the trail and well worth checking out.  Hearing this, we decided to change plans.  Away went the hiking boots and out came the bike shoes.  Although the trail is a bit rocky in places, our wider tires handled it well and we were soon at the tunnels.  And wow!  They are truly amazing!  Blasted out of rock, you really get a sense of how difficult it must have been for workers to create these tunnels using only the dynamite to break it up and then pick axes and wheelbarrows to haul the material away – what a feat!!  The views of the river were spectacular and we really enjoyed ourselves.  We managed to get the drone up once, but other than that it was much too busy to use it.  Unfortunately for us, you cannot fly a drone within 100 feet of others, which is a difficult thing to accomplish in a place like this, as we quickly found out.  However, there were many pics to be taken and we really enjoyed this little side trip.  This is exactly the kind of thing we hope to do all along the way – stopping in and taking the time to see and enjoy the areas that we come to.   

Our visit over, we packed the bikes back on the van and drove up to Peachland, going through some gorgeous county as we drove on.  Eventually we made it to the home of Jim and Laura, who we had met in Vinales, Cuba last year.  They most graciously hosted us (along with their grandchildren, Ben and Sadie) for the evening.  We enjoyed hearing their many tales of the travelling they have done while sharing some of our stories and comparing notes about places we have each been.  It was a special evening!   

In the morning we enjoyed breakfast of the deck overlooking Lake Okanagan  before once again packing up and heading out.  Now we were headed to uncharted territory for us.  While I had lived in Kamloops earlier in my life, I had never gone much north of there and it had been many many years since Jim had.  We were excited to see what this new area would bring.  Our destination for the day was Wells Gray Provincial Park, just north of the town of Clearwater. 

When we finally reached Clearwater, we stopped at the information booth for the park, which is located just off of Highway 5 about 35km before the main park entrance.  We asked about possible camping in the park, knowing that boondocking might be more difficult in a provincial park.  We were given a couple of possibilities, and so armed, headed up to the park.  It is in a beautiful area, surrounded by mountains.  As we drove on, we both commented on how this would not be a choice for either of us to cycle on – too many narrow winding hilly roads.  These are always problematic on a bike when you are dealing with many tourists in motorhomes who tend to drive too fast and not pay close attention.  Good thing we are in our trusty Vincent Van-Go for this part!!   

We arrived at Pyramid Campsite after about 42 km, only to find a couple of troubling things.  First, it was a cash only campground – would have been nice to know about 42 km ago!  We usually use our credit cards for all purchases (to get travel points) and so most often do not have a lot of cash on us.  Argh!!!  We pulled into a spot and thought that perhaps we would have dinner and wait for the attendant to come by and explain our situation, thinking we could go get cash the next day to pay for two nights.  And that’s when the second thing happened.  We go out of the van and were immediately set upon by a flock of mosquitoes.  Not just one or two.  Oh no!!  This was an assault on a large scale.  That did it for us.  What would be the point of paying to sleep somewhere when you can’t even sit outside and enjoy anything?  We jumped back in the van and left the scene – leaving a horde of hungry mosquitos to lurk around for the next unsuspecting campers.   

Down the road, we had noticed a great little spot by the river with cascading water and a bridge going over it.  It had looked like a great place to get some drone footage, so we consoled ourselves by stopping here to do a little flying.  We patiently waited for a few people there to leave before placing the drone on the ground and taking off.  It was a great spot and it looked like we would get some really good stuff until the absolute worst thing happened.  Jim was flying,  and I was spotting.  I told him he was too close to a tree and he tried to correct.  Only the drone didn’t seem to be listening.  It kind of hovered up in the air, and then, horribly, it began to drift down and down – towards the raging river!!!!  We were both yelling and I jumped down to the rocks below, Jim quickly following me.  We thought our drone was going to fall into the river and get washed away!!!  It was just the worst feeling ever!!!  And then, about 4 feet above the rocks, the drone stopped and just hovered.  It was still not responding to any commands, but it wasn’t going down either.  Jim handed the now useless controls to me and carefully climbed down to where the drone was.  He then performed an operation that we had seen but never tried ourselves – he put his hand out under the drone and then, very cautiously grabbed it.  Oh my gosh!!!  Once in his hands, the propellers immediately stopped turning.  The drone was safe and so were we.  We whooped and hollered, cheering our escape from disaster, but we were both pretty shaken by this almost horrific end to our little drone.  We climbed back up to the road, laughing and talking all the way and decided that perhaps, flying drones over waterfalls is not a good idea!!!  Good grief!!!!!   

Having averted this disaster, we climbed back in the van and headed up the road to check out one of the many many waterfalls in Wells Gray, Dawson Falls.  It is a short walk to the falls from the parking lot, but we made the wise decision to bring the camera and not the drone to check it out.  We found it exciting to watch the water tumble over the falls and enjoyed taking our time here.  From there, we headed back down the road to check out the views from Green Mountain Tower, a very steep climb that I am not sure Vincent really appreciated us doing.  It was lovely at the top, though, and we had our dinner here, enjoying the view as we ate.   

While eating dinner, we discussed our choices for the night.  We really had wanted to camp in a regular campground for a couple of days, but the only nearby choice was a golf course/rv campground just down the road.  It was a bit more than Pyramid but did have showers and a laundromat.  We decided to treat ourselves and headed down.  It turns out that the camping spots for Wells Gray Golf and RV park are actually pretty nice and much nicer than the RV spots!  And, the showers are hot and free!!!  Bonus!  We put the tent on the van for the night, as it was pretty hot out and after having a great shower, settled in for a movie and sleep.  The spot we chose was right next to the river, so we could hear the water running which was most pleasant to fall asleep to. 

Sometime during the night, though it started to rain.  We each wondered how our van/tent would do in the downpour, but we had nothing to worry about.  We stayed nice and dry, snug in our bed until morning.  When we got up, though, it was still raining, so we moved the van over to another spot with a covered eating area.  We hung up the tent to dry before making our breakfast.  Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were pretty thick here, so we had to beat a hasty retreat to the van to eat.  While the morning was rainy, we decided to use the time to do a load of laundry.  By the time it was done, the sun had come out and we headed out into the park to check out some more of the waterfalls.  Before doing so, we made good use of the very wide, open area we were camped in to try out a couple of shots with the drone.  It made us feel much better to know that it was in good working order and hadn’t suffered any lasting trauma from its adventure the day before!   

The first waterfall we went to was the largest and most well known in Wells Gray, Helmcken Falls.  Down a long and winding road we drove to eventually arrive at the parking lot where we had a very short walk to view this spectacular display of the 4th highest waterfall in Canada.  It was pretty amazing and we enjoyed taking pics and looking at it even as the rain began to fall again.   

From here, we were going to try to do the Helmcken Falls hike, which would have taken us to the other side of the falls and perhaps some better views.  However, we missed the turnoff.  We found ourselves at the Moul Falls parking area instead and decided to to this hike instead.  It was only 2.9 km, so shouldn’t be too difficult and looked like a perfect length of a hike to break in our new boots.  It was a pretty popular spot as the very full parking lot could attest, and we passed many families with young children both coming and going, so we were sure it would not be too difficult at all.  As we hiked along, the rain came once again, at times just pelting down on us until we were both thoroughly soaked.  However, it wasn’t cold, so we just smiled and kept going.  Eventually, the trail began heading downhill.  As it was also pretty narrow here, the going became very slow as we were behind other groups.  Eventually we got to the top of the falls, which you could barely see from the fenced area.  But then we saw that people were continuing along the trail and we spotted the stairs that went down.  Ah!!!  You mean we get to climb down down down to see the falls from the bottom?  Cool!!!  Wet though we were, we slowly and carefully made our way down the wet stairs, trail and rocks to get to the bottom, where we could see that it was possible to go right under the waterfall to the other side!  Amazing!!!  We scrabbled down along the rocks and carefully made our way under the pounding water.  It was incredible and like nothing I had ever done before!  One slip and we would have plunged into the base of the waterfall, so it was scary.  The wind from the rushing water blew at us, drenching us further until we were soaked – even our waterproof boots!  But it was so worth it!!  What a rush!!!  We came out on the other side laughing like little children and so happy that we had found this magical place.  

After spending some time climbing around on this side, it was time to take a big breath and head back under the falls again.  This time I took my glasses off and found it much easier to navigate – poor Jim can’t see without his, so had to keep them on, wet as they were. After we reached the other side and had climbed back up a bit, I stopped to wring the water out of my wool socks – I probably had a cup of water in each boot!!!   

The long hike back to the van was spent talking about what an amazing adventure we had just had and laughing at how very wet we both were.  When we reached the van we changed our shoes before heading back for our last night of camping in Wells Gray.  It had been a wonderful couple of days here and we look forward to coming again some day to explore more of it.