Vancouver to Prince Rupert

It’s a long way! About 1100 km or the equivalent of driving NP to Auckland three times. This drive was going to take us to Prince Rupert on the coast of northern British Columbia from where we are going to ferry hop up the inside passage of Alaska. It was obvious on our first day out of Whistler that our usual leisurely pace would get us to the Alaska ferry about 3 days after it sailed!  But that first day was through such beautiful mountain scenery it required lots of stops and photos. We camped beside a semi-frozen lake with towering cliffs behind. Our finely honed survival skills noted deer and maybe moose prints by the lake edge, but they were not showing themselves to us. Earlier in the day we hiked to a waterfall and dutifully carried our bear spray. It is obviously good stuff because we didn’t see any of them either!

Once off our scenic mountain road and on to the Cariboo Hwy 97 we were able to put our V8 on to cruise control and make some real distance. The prairie-like scenery was fairly monotonous with small settlements spread out along the highway. Although most of the snow had gone the temperatures were still very cool even in the sun.

At Prince George we headed west on Hwy 16 towards Prince Rupert on the coast. We still had over 700 km to go and only two days to get there.

Apart from really important things like stop signs and traffic lights, other posted signs are pretty much ignored here. Cars speed past us on the open road even though we are at the travelling at the limit. Double yellow lines are often ignored when passing – admittedly they are on long straight stretches that seem safe anyway. We have only seen one or two police cars the whole time … but more on that in the next blog! It feels safe driving here though, and drivers are very polite despite our own occasional blunders. The signs we have taken to ignoring though are the ‘closed for the season’ signs on the beautiful Provincial Park campgrounds. We have discovered that we can park overnight in the prime spots and there is no-one around to say otherwise! 

While out walking one evening we were commenting on the size of the trees that had obviously been chewed through by beaver. They fell large trees then take off the branches to build their dams. Right then, over the other side of the river, we spotted a family of 4 beavers. We think their home had been destroyed by the large chunks of ice floating down the river as they would not normally be seen out at that time of day. Needless to say we were without our binoculars! These wonderful creatures are programmed to block off running water, and apparently make a nuisance of themselves when they try to dam up culverts in the towns! Eager little beavers!

The last day’s drive from Smithers to Prince Rupert through the Skeena River valley was truly magic – a picture postcard drive with towering snow-covered mountains, frozen lakes and miles of fir, cedar and spruce forests. It was a cloudless, stunning, memorable drive! Prince Rupert was the end of our land journey for about 10 days and we were scheduled to check in for the ferry at 3.45 am for a 7 am sailing. Our first leg was from PR to the island of Wrangell, a journey of nearly 14 hours – the same as the flight from Auckland to Vancouver - but with more leg room and much better views! Neverthess it was going to be a long day!

Our lakeside camp

Idiots with bear spray!

A beaver-felled tree - huge big chips

Ice chunks that wiped out the beaver home

One of us has a bear bum

Historic village in Hazelton

Seven sisters peaks on the road to Prince Rupert