Prince George and Jasper Road Trip, Canada. Day 2

''Why would anyone come to Prince George for a road trip?'' This was our Hotel Receptionist the day before, when we checked into the Hotel. Not the ones to be fazed by such dispiriting welcome we laughed it off. After a refreshing nights sleep we woke up excited to spend the day exploring Prince George. After a quick breakfast we were on our way. The first item on our list was the Central BC Railway and Forestry Museum.


This quaint looking Museum houses a number of Train engines and other related stuff. I am a fan of trains and engines so I made it a point to mention to the group to give it a shot. We arrived at the Museum at around 11 am.

We started off our little tour inside the museum in real earnest. There were not many people around which is something I always pray for when visiting a museum so that I have lots of time to view the exhibits at my own leisure. Since the exhibits are kept in the open, the weather plays a major part in the experience. It was a nice warm sunny day and our stroll through the museum was a pleasant one. I do not remember the sequence in which we covered the whole area but some of the highlights are the following. Deviating from my usual way Ill let the pictures do the talking this time.

A Kitchen inside one of the Carriages

A number of bogies and engines parked in a circle with a rotating track in the middle

A small 18 hp train where people can sit and take a ride. Unfortunately it was closed for maintenance at the time of our visit.

 A complete room inside one of the bogies

The 1520 Steam Locomotive. Built by the Canadian Locomotive Company in 1906 and served with Canadian Northern Railway

A luxury carriage called the Nechako Coach. Built by the legendary Pullman company in 1913, it served with the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.

Divya inspecting one of the sleeper carriages

Thivya checking out the controls

Namendra and Sonali on their thrones

I was having a wonderful time at the Museum but had to leave as the kids were getting bored. I made a mental note to visit this place again someday soon.

From here we planned to visit the science center but before we did so we did a short drive around the surrounding industries. One of the reasons for us to choose Prince George for a road trip was this. We wanted to have a look at the industries and assess the conditions of the town itself in case we ever got a job here.

After this we made our way to a Science center called The Exploration Place. This place had many interesting exhibits on display. For kids too there were a number of interesting games, interactive models and play areas to keep them occupied for hours. Heck, I would have spent hours there if I had the time.

After the end of the tour of the science center, Divya wanted to check out a bowling alley he spotted nearby. But Namendra had different plans. So we split into two groups. Namendra, Sonali and the Kids went to a nearby cafe while Divya, Thivya and myself went to the bowling alley. Here we played a round each. This was the first time I was trying out bowling and I loved it. In our little competition I had the edge initially but Divya soon overtook me and emerged the winner. Thivya meanwhile was trailing us with a long margin. After the game we joined Namendra and Sonali in the Cafe. The Cafe had outdoor seating area which is where we had seated ourselves. The ambiance was brilliant and the weather was pleasant so conversation flowed along nicely. We had some delicious food too. As dusk approached it grew chilly but we were reluctant to leave. Finally we had to leave as the temperature dropped. We made our way back to our hotel and tucked in for the night. The next day was going to be a long one as we planned to go to Jasper and then turn back to Vancouver. This was quite ambitious and a bit risky but we were up for it.

Prince George and Jasper Road Trip, Canada. Day 1

It is often said that sudden trips are the best. I am not a fan of that theory. I believe the planning part is an important step and an equally enjoyable part of the trip. But that doesn't mean we stick to the plan no matter what. I follow a simple rule - Have a plan but be prepared to throw it out of the window when something new presents itself.  Sometimes opportunities knock and you have to succumb to its temptations and embark on it without a plan. Which is what I did when Namendra, my friend and batch-mate in University presented this idea of doing a road trip to the interior of BC that weekend.  One day after class he casually said lets go on a trip. I said cool. Lets do it. I asked when. He said now. We had classes that Thursday but I thought well I can always catch up with the stuff I am going to miss but this trip, who knows when the opportunity is going to come again. So I said yes and we started our planning. Meanwhile we started looking for other people to join us.

The Team
With 2 more people agreeing to come laong, we were a total of 7 persons including 2 kids. Namendra, the man with the plan, Sonali, Namendra's wife and their two cute kids, Arhaan and Bubbles, then Divya and Thivya, our classmates in University.

The Plan
Our plan was vague and we wanted to go with the flow as the trip progressed. The backbone of it was this.Go to Prince George, look around and from there,depending on our progress so far, either go to Kitimat in the west or to Dawson Creek on the east.

The Journey
We hardly slept the night before our trip. Thivya and myself had come over to Namendra's home to spend the night there so that it would be easier for us to start the next day. After watching a movie we all slept at around 1 am in the night. This was totally against my rules before a trip but I was helpless here. We woke up at around 3 30 am and by 5 am we were on the road in his Dodge Caravan. A handy vehicle, it was perfectly suited to our purpose. We picked up Divya from his home and by 6 am we were well and truly on our way for our first road trip in Canada.

As everyone had very little sleep the night before we kept drifting in and out of sleep except Namendra of course who was on the wheels. Slowly Vancouver disappeared behind us, and we found ourselves on the Sea To Sky Highway. Through my sleepy eyes I could see that some places of interest passing by. The first point to mildly elicit our interest was Shannon falls. We passed by it as we stared at it excited but there was not enough time to take a picture and since we had a long journey ahead we did not stop.We planned to take the following route passing through Squamish, Whistler, Clinton, Quesnel and finally to Prince George.

Badly in need of some coffee we stopped at Pemberton for breakfast. I will have to admit, we missed the excellent views of the sea to sky Highway.  But that part was to be covered in a later trip so I was not worried about that. Our plan for the day was to reach Prince George by evening.

At Pemberton we stopped at a McDonalds outlet and had our breakfast there. The sun was shining warmly above and we sat outside on the chairs provided near the parking lot. The location itself was beautiful. Set against the backdrop of the snow covered mountains the McD building looked pretty.

I had never stepped out of Vancouver and had never seen anything of the rest of Canada so this was the first town I was seeing outside of Vancouver. Wide eyed I looked around. With wide roads, pretty little sidewalks and the houses which looked they were transported from the Old west era, it looked idyllic. A little Wikipedia reading told me that Pemberton was an important town during the Gold Rush years of 1850s. That explains the old west vibes. All of this was mighty exciting for me. Growing up watching Hollywood movies I could match a lot of things I used to see in movies right here in front of me.

Our next stop of significance was near Duffey Lake some 45 kms beyond Pemberton. One of the things that I liked immensely was that near every scenic spot they have a small area where you can stop your vehicle and enjoy the views. Duffey lake too had one of those small areas near the highway. Here we stopped, and having got out of the car took in the excellent views on offer. The parking space was just beside the road, the edge of which was lined with pretty yellow flowers. Beyond this patch of flowers the land sloped downwards into the Lake. From where we stood, we could see the lake extending towards the left and the right disappearing into the sides of mountains far away. Directly on the opposite side were the majestic snow capped mountains.  The water was clear and looked like a sheet of mirror as the mountains above made a perfect reflection in the water below. The weather was warm and sunny, making it pleasant for us to just stroll around and take a much needed breather.

After this rejuvenating break we resumed our journey. We passed through other towns like Clinton before we stopped at 100 Mile. We passed all of those things I used to see in movies. Deserted Gas stations (Yeah, Petrol is called Gas here), huge shops like Walmarts in little towns, Vast fields with not a person in sight. Compared to the density of people we find on Indian Roads with a village every other kilometer, this lack of people seemed unnerving. Sometimes the loneliness of the roads bought to my mind all the Horror Movies I watched which were set on roads like Jeepers Creepeers (Both parts). Or maybe the coin toss scene in No Country for Old Men'. Well, pushing aside these thoughts I sent most of my time looking out the window enjoying the views.

At 100 Mile we stopped at a Tim Hortons outlet and had our lunch there. After this we made a couple of stops before we reached Prince George at 7 pm in the night. In all, it took us around 14 hours to reach Prince George from Vancouver. We did not have much time to look around Prince George nor did we have the inclination to do so. We just headed to out motel which, again, reminded me of Hollywood movies. For dinner we went into the the city and by luck found an Indian restaurant from where we got some food packed and had it later in the room. Thus ended our first day and first foray into the huge expanse of Canada.

Mt Gardner Trail Hike, BC, Canada

Bowen Island is a small,well, Island near Vancouver. A sort of a weekend retreat for the people of Vancouver, it has a number of options to either relax or do some hiking and kayaking. Or if you want to do nothing you can just go and relax there.

Keeping in mind my systematic increase of intensity of the hikes I was doing while in Canada, I decided to do the Mt Gardner Trail on Bowen Island. It was a step up from the previous hikes of Quarry Rock and Lighthouse Park. In fact they were more of a stroll than a hike.  The Mt Gardner trail,on the other hand, has an elevation gain of around 650 Mtrs which is a decent climb for a day hike. 

My friend from University, Douglas who is from Guatemala, was joining me. He had done some awesome hikes before, including climbing some volcanoes in addition to doing endurance races. One couldn't ask for a better hike buddy. 

On the day of the hike we started quite early in the morning and reached Horseshoe Bay from where we were to catch a ferry to reach the island. Now, I like ferries, so I was equally excited about this part of our trip as well. Operated by BC Ferries, this journey offered excellent views of the surrounding mountains. The weather was excellent with the sun shining warmly above. Not too hot and not too cold. Just the perfect weather for a hike. The ferry itself was sparsely occupied.There were not many people around. We both stood in front of the windows like two officers on deck. This ferry called 'Queen of Capilano' is, as a google search told me, a 2500 Tonne vessel with a top speed of 12 knots. It can carry around 100 cars and around 400 people.  After a quick 20 mins journey we reached Bowen Island. As the ferry slowly glided towards the the unloading area of the Island it reminded me of the movie Jurassic Park with its tall gate. We made our way out of the ferry and following the crowd, headed to the town.

Here we were a bit confused about which road to take to reach the starting point of the Mr Gardner Trail. Douglas suggested we better ask someone instead of just following the map we had. So we entered a Bar and asked the guy there. He turned out to be very helpful, showing us the directions patiently. We thanked him profusely and left for the trail.

Following his directions we walked for quite a bit before we reached the starting point of the trail. but before we did we came across a beautiful lake. From afar we could see the trees stacked against the shimmering white of the water. As we approached nearer we could see the huge lake beyond the trees. There was some picnic tables at the edge of the water. It was a beautiful place. I remarked to Douglas that one can spend the whole day just chilling here. We roamed around the edge of the lake for a while and continued on towards the trail.

Soon we reached the base of the Mt Gardner trail. It was around 1130 am now. The elevation at this point was 66 MSL. The sun was still shining warmly above and off we started on our hike. It starts off a wide dirt road but soon narrows down to a trail. We trundled on for a while. Initially there is not much on offer just the tall trees and the quietness of the place. Perfect for some nice conversation. Specially when you have interesting people around. Douglas regaled me with his experiences from back home. 

Soon we reached a point with a clearing at the edge of the hill. This point offered spectacular views of the surroundings. We were delighted looking at the view. Douglas remarked aloud what I had in mind. This was better than what we had expected. So we took a short break here.  There were a number of smooth rocks offering a nice place to just sit down for a while and unwind which is exactly what we did. And there weren't many people on the trail and the solitude was wonderful. We met just 4 people the whole time. The sun was still shining warmly above and as we sat there, the blue of the seas in front of us offered a pleasing sight. Directly on the opposite side was the blue sea and beyond it, land. Far away, the snow covered mountains were visible. Now and then a gentle breeze was blowing. The whole scene was pretty relaxing.

It was 1310 now and the elevation at this point was 560 MSL.

Soon, we left this point and continued our way further up. Somewhere around this point we lost our way. We didn't realize it immediately but later found out when the trail disappeared. Some little bit of wandering here and there got us back to the right path.

Now we reached a point where the climb got quite steep. It was 1332 Hrs now and the elevation at this point was 660 MSL. We started climbing this steep section. There were a couple of ropes hanging down from the top. Someone had tied these ropes to the trees at the top. Though we could climb without using the ropes it proved very helpful later during the descent. 

After this steep section, a brief walk finally led us to the top. The view that greeted us at the top was spectacular. To our right, emerging out from the tops of the trees lining the edge was the view of the surrounding seas and the mountains beyond. At the edge was a platform to sit and enjoy the views. To our front was a tower and a small house. To our left was again views of the sea but it was not visible from where we were right now. We first headed to the wooden platform I mentioned before. Here we sat down facing the sea and enjoyed the atmosphere. First we had something to eat. And then took a short nap. The feeling was amazing. I lied down on the warm wooden platform stretching my legs to my fullest. I covered my eyes with one hand to shield them from the sun's rays. There was no sound anywhere except the sound of the wind ruffling the leaves of the trees now and then. With the sun above giving off its warmth, I slowly drifted off into a sleep that can only come in such places and situations. The last time when I fell into such slumber was many years ago back in India, when I fell asleep near a river bank, on the warm sand. I don't know for how much time I slept but when I got up and looked around Douglas was strolling around exploring the place. I called him over and we took some pics before heading to the other side of the top. This place offered some awesome views too. The most interesting thing for us was that we could spot our University from here. There was another viewing platform here and again we sat down and spent some time here. The elevation at this top most point was 724 MSL. We started our descent at around 1500 Hrs.

At around 1600 Hrs we reached the bottom and we made our way back to the Ferry terminal.

 Looking up the schedule we found out that the next ferry was still some 40 mins away so we strolled around the area a bit before finally our ferry arrived. . 

In a couple of hours we were back in our homes. It was a wonderful hike and much better than the previous hikes I did in Canada

In Brief
- Mt Gardner Trail - 650 Metres elevation gain.
- Takes about 2 hours to climb and 1 hour to descend.
- Highest Point - 724 MSL

A hike in Lighthouse Park, North Vancouver, Canada

After the Quarry Rock Hike we decided to check out another short half day hike nearby. I chose Lighthouse Park for this because of 2 reasons. One, I am fascinated by lighthouses and love to visit them.Two, its quite short.

It was a bright clear day when Suyog, Vinamra and myself started for North Vancouver. We took the public transit to reach the Lighthouse Park entrance. Here, on looking at the map we had two options, either we go through the number of trails to the left and right of the central trail or we take the central trail which would lead us directly to the Lighthouse. We choose the mid way, we decided to walk a bit along one of the side trails and then later join the central hike.

We started our walk through the wide path which slowly tapered off to a narrow one. The tree cover was thick and with the sun peeking in now and then from the thick cover. After some time, we came across a small clearing with just green grass everywhere. This was the Salmonberry Meadow.  I chuckled at the usage of the word Meadow for this patch. It wasn't exactly big enough to be called a Meadow.
After seeing the huge Meadows on the Roopkund Trek in the Himalayas this looked tiny.  Anyway this patch offered a nice stop and we sat on a fallen log here and rested for a while.  We resumed our walk and after some walking, we sensed we had reached the end as we could see clear skies ahead in the gaps of the forest cover. As we approached, what we gathered to be the end, we saw the Lighthouse jutting out from the forest. But before approaching it we took a detour to our left and this lead us towards the sea. There was no beach here just big stones directly overhanging the waters. It offered excellent views of the city and we sat here for a while just taking in the sunny atmosphere and having some snacks.

On our right was the beautiful Lighthouse. This place was named ''Point Atkinson'' by George Vancouver way back in 1792 and the first lighthouse was built here in 1874. The current structure was built in 1912 which still makes it more than 100 years old.  There are also a number of defense installations here built during the World War 2. We saw some of these later when we moved towards the lighthouse itself. But we found out that the main structure itself is not open to public which was disappointing. I love climbing up lighthouses and look around the scenery. We strolled around a bit looking at the few log cabins set up there and a few defense related structures but with nothing much to do we started on our way back. The whole hike was finished in a half day. Quite small but a refreshing getaway for university students during exam days.

Quarry Rock Hike, BC, Canada

Quarry Rock Hike is a tiny trail tucked away in the corner of North Vancouver. With a length of around 3km and an elevation gain of just 100 mtrs its good enough for a short half day outing. Having done 3 Himalayan Treks before and many smaller treks back in India I was desperately looking for a short hike to start things off here in Canada as well. One of our friends in University suggested I try Quarry Rock.

So one fine day(which soon turned to be not so fine) four of us started off for Quarry Rock. Sunil, Suyog, Divya and myself made up the group. We took the public transport buses to reach the quaint town of Deep Cove from where the trail starts. As we got down from the bus, the sky had turned dark and rain looked imminent. Before starting off, we had coffee in of the charming shops there which was bustling with the morning crowd.

The trail starts from an unlikely place. Near someones driveway. It has a small signboard saying its the Baden Powell Trail. From here starts a steep step of stairs. The first section was all stairs but later the stairs disappeared and the rough trail started. The whole section was covered by tall trees the kind of which I didnt get to see in India.  There is nothing else to write about. We crossed a few bridges over creeks and finally after an hour of walkin
g we reached the main view point of Quarry Rock. The views were spectacular. The dark and overcast skies gave the whole landscape a moody vibe but we enjoyed it nevertheless. We sat here for a while enjoying the views. But within minutes it began to rain again. Suddenly I remembered that we had packed some chai in a thermos from home. So we quickly took it out and right there, standing atop those rocks, in front of the awesome views we had some hot chai. It was wonderful. Soon, the intensity of the rain picked up and we started on our way back. After maybe 40 minutes we reached the base and we walked back to the center of the village. Here we spotted a nice park with a shelter in the middle offering views of the sea and the many boats parked near the banks. We sat here for sometime chatting with a fellow hiker who came with his dog. After almost an hour here we left. We boarded the bus back to downtown and thus ended my first hike in Canada.