Entry 9 - for our Canada adventure 2017

Entry 9 – Sept 20^th – 25^th where we explored the country side north of Vancouver - driving to the township of Lillooet about 250 kilometres north before returning via a loop back to Vancouver. 

Exiting the cruise ship terminal was a very different experience from our entry. We departed the ship entering into the terminal, located our luggage, handed a questionnaire to a Canadian customs officer, answering a few questions, negotiated our way around the terminal till we found an independent exit point, (we initially exited into a large bus, taxi collection area where everyone was being directed into the lower levels of the terminal,) making it to our last picture location out in front of our ship in about 15 minutes, very different to the 2 ½ hours from entry into the terminal and boarding our ship.

We walked about another 100 metres up the road, collected a hire car and were on our way again heading towards Northern America’s largest ski resort, Whistler, location of the 2010 winter Olympic games, about a 120-kilometre drive. 

Evidently it had rained in Vancouver during the last week assisting with clearing the scenery sapping smoke haze, providing far more pleasurable viewing. It wasn’t long before we were stretching our necks up into the sky trying to get a glimpse of the snow-covered mountain peaks towering above us.

After driving about 70 kilometres nearing the township of Squamish, we stopped to stretch out our legs with a walk to Shannon Falls. Mary said she didn’t think she was up to it, laid her seat back and was instantly asleep. Sometime later Mary eventually viewed Steve’s pictures of Shannon Falls.

Squamish is a mountain town with an amazing spectacular geographical setting of mountainous terrain connecting with the Pacific Ocean. It is a very popular destination for rock climbers from around the world with a massive granite monolith towering over the town. We were both exhausted from our last week’s cruise ship activities, deciding Squamish was it for the day where we located accommodation and were in bed by 7 pm.

Squamish with some amazing pedestrian crossings

12 hours of sleep and our bodies were still feeling sluggish. We continued to Whistler admiring the scenery along the route and into Whistler.

Our accommodation for the night (Thursday) was in the Whistler Village precinct. All the tourist information literature for Whistler we had previously seen, highlighted the peak to peak gondola ride and we were looking forward to getting up close to the upper peaks of Whistler. As per normal process we started our exploration at the towns information centre and were very disappointed to find the Gondola ride was now only operating during weekends and we were rather bluntly informed we should have checked the web site for the latest operating times. Unfortunately, we may have struck an unhelpful information centre representative as they weren’t interested in providing other informative information about Whistler or any available walking tracks. Our whole Whistler experience was disappointing and thought it would have been more enjoyable if we had spent a week there to learn more about the town and what it had to offer for us.

there were many motorhomes in the public parking area

With all the hype about Whistler and feeling quite disenchanted with our initial exposure, we weren’t the least bit disappointed needing to move on due to our limited time frame.

Our driving route through scenic rugged mountains kept us alert with magnificent views.

Stopping at Joffre Lake we found the carpark full of vehicles and people. A ten-minute walk into the forest and we were confronted by stunning views overlooking a green blue lake surrounded by a forest of tall trees and a back drop of snow covered mountain peaks.

The hike to a second lake was sign posted at 2 ½ hours one way and we were unsure whether to allocate 5 hours of hard yakka considering the magnificent view before us. We overheard a conversation about the second lake hike where the last section was described as rather hard going but the view of the second lake was way better than the one we were presently mesmerised with.

That description clinched it for our senses and we were on our way to the second lake. The trail was quite good with a steady flow of people in both directions. It got steeper and steeper where we needed many rest breaks to settle our heavy breathing and provide our legs with some time out. The last ten minutes Mary was very quiet and had stopped communicating. It seems she had hit the wall with her body screaming out, “No More.” People returning from the second lake continually encouraged us on as the view was worth it.

Exhausted Mary with view  of bottom lake and we had further to go

See how hot I am and we are walking through ice covered terrain

With our first glimpse of the second lake and its setting all our aches and pains evaporated.

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These birds thought we may have had food in our hands but we didn't

In the middle of the picture was possibly the melting Matier Glacier

Water flowing off the glacier

On the way, up we were increasingly becoming worried about the return hike where travelling down a steep gradient can quite often be more taxing than the climb. It seems we were so delighted (hyped up) with the magnificent scenery that the return hike was a piece of cake. The return hike had some different amusing scenery with people of all ages stopped for breathers in almost the exact same locations we had stopped on our way up.

We continued travelling north through rugged mountains with fascinating scenery keeping us wide awake.

this picture was taken to show another element popular in the mountains, bicycle riding but look to the right of the parked vehicle with the driver relieving himself.

We arrived at the next town of Lillooet at about 6.30 pm and obtained a room in a motel sleeping soundly all night.

Lillooet was the point where we executed a U turn heading back to Vancouver.

We continued to be in awe with the mountainous route scenery, at times finding the road to be somewhat daunting.

We spent time at another publicized location, “Hells Gate,” which was interesting but if we had missed it, we wouldn’t have been disappointed.

Train travelling along the edge

Accommodation for the night was an Airbnb with a hot cooked breakfast provided. It was a lovely setting based on organic farming with plenty of different types of produce growing around the yard. There were dogs, cats, kittens, chickens with lots of chicks running around.

Moving on, our first stop was viewing Alexander Bridge built in 1926.

Steve had to scamper through some rough terrain to get some of these pictures

Our next stop at the township of Harrison Hot Springs located next to the large Harrison Lake. There was some great scenery but there was no access to the hot springs as a resort had been built at the springs. The only access to the springs was as a resort guest at $300 to $1000 a night.

Our last night was spent at another Airbnb where we washed all our clothes as we had nothing left clean. Our afternoon / night was spent in a comfortable setting.

We decided to upload the blog whilst we had good internet provided by our hosts as we were going to be quite busy the following day, returning the hire car to Vancouver and making our way about another 70 kilometres i to collect a motorhome and be on our way to explore the Rocky Mountains.