Revelstoke Revisisted

July 28
odometer 95579

Stopped in Chilliwack this morning to get an oil change and service the car. Good news - the brakes should last until we get home. Got a WIFI connection at the dealership, hence the large update of blogs last week. These blogs are being updated from Hinton, where we are staying with my DH's cousin.

On the road just after lunch - decided to take the T-Can from Hope, instead of the Coquihalla highway. We were glad we did, what a beautiful drive along the Fraser river. We drove along the Lilloet range, sandwiched between the mountains and the trains. So nice to see the trains again! Initially the Fraser was silty and slow, but got clearer and faster


The drive was spectacular, we even drove through mountains!

Stopped mid afternoon at Hell's Gate. The name comes from Simon Fraser's likening the rapids to 'the gates of Hell'. The rapids were already intense when Fraser skirted them using native ropes and ladders, but a rock slide during the building of the highway made them even more treacherous. So treacherous, that spawning salmon couldn't pass them, so they built the 'International Fishways' which slow the water and allow the salmon to pass safely upstream to their spawning grounds.


A gondola takes you over the rapids and on the other side is a collection of shops and interpretive centres. We even took the pooch. It was a lot of fun.


DH wasn't sure if he could handle the suspension bridge, but he did just fine!

The T-Can does a right turn after Lytton, and follows the Camelsfoot range and the Thompson River. The landscape is completely different - we are back in the Shuswap (as we were in Vernon) and it is once again very arid. Again we are sandwiched between the mountains and the tracks. Trains are so frequent along these lines, there is only about 15 minutes between them.

Had supper at a mom and pop restaurant in Chase and would NOT recommend it! Kept driving through Salmon Arm, and are back in the Monashee mountains - smaller and more coniferous. One last pee stop at the national historic site in Craigellaiche - site of the last spike for the Canadian Pacific Railway, connecting BC to the rest of Canada.

Didn't land in Revelstoke until after 9 pm, but were happy to see our trailer waiting for us. We made camp in the parking lot of the garage, so we could make payment when they open in the am. The battery had died during the week or so we were away and the fridge was warm, so we hooked into his outlet. Was scared shitless in the middle of the night when I heard someone walking around the trailer - a trucker also spending the night in the lot!