Prince Rupert to Banff (Planes, Trains and Automobiles - ok not planes)

Josh post:

Kelly and Fiona needed to be back in Banff to start work as they had already been rostered on for Tuesday night. So beween that and all having run to the end of our holiday allowances we had no time for sidetracking or any more extended stays in Prince George or Jasper.

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PRINCE RUPERT - PRINCE GEORGE - JASPER

Sunday morning we jumped on the train (VIA RAIL Skeena service) and commenced the train trip to Prince George, stayed there overnight, and then up early again for the second section to Jasper. The train trip was not nearly as scenic as expected. We found plenty of time for sleeping. We did get to witness the effects of the mountain pine beatle (Killing commercial and non commercial forest in BC and AB and causing a fire risk for summer) and the swollen Skeena River, the cause of our delay in Prince Rupert.

This is a photograph of one of the many rivers which flows into the Skeena. Earlier in our Prince Rupert stay we had enquired at the information centre about Skeena Kyaks - a sea kyaking tour - as we had yet to experience sea kyaking and kelly was keen to live the dream of kyaking with the Orca (Killer whale). The woman in the information centre, assuming we were ignorant tourists unaware of the dangers of a flooding river, quickly warned us

"IF YOU GO UP THE RIVER, YOU WILL DIE!" (which has quickly become the inside joke of the trip)

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JASPER to BANFF

On arrival at Jasper we discovered that the buses would take 12 hrs to get to Banff as they went via Edmonton and Calgary! We shortly discovered that it was cheaper for us to hire a car than pay for three bus tickets, and we could drive direct going as quickly ar slowly as we liked. "Hey, we could even drive to Banff tonight" said one of us. So we changed our plan of staying the night in Jasper and drove to Banff that very evening. As it is still light around here till 10.30 with a protracted twilight this seemed like the best plan ever.

The trip was spectacular as soon as we had turned off the main street at Jasper turning onto highway #93 and crossed the river out of town. All the way to Banff we were continually amazed at the spectacular features of the landscape . It is all glacier country, and on the way our cameras were being held out the window and the car frequently pulled to the side for us to drop our jaws and say "WOW...." more than a few times. I HIGHLY RECOMEND DRIVING THIS STRETCH OF ROAD. (the spectacular Icefields Parkway -Highway #93 North).

We stopped in at the Columbia Ice fields for our fisrt glacier experience. Walked on the glacier - only the edge of it in a marked safety area due to previous deaths from people venturing beyond the saftey rope and getting themselves stuck in crevases leading to lengthy rescue attempts. On the way up to the Glacier we passed numerous warning signs with stories of the perils of crevase, and of the last 3 rescue attempts being unsuccessful resulting in deaths. Still, there were people walking up it without being adequately equiped.

We also made a longer stop at Lake Louise around sunset. As you can see in our photgraphs it was quite eerie as cloud had come over and it had rained a little.

Living with the Grizzlies!

A Kelly Post: One minute you're stuck in Prince Rupert due to the flood and the next you're out in the middle of pristine wilderness living on a floating house, staring at snowcapped mountains and going on grizzly tours every day!! We seriously couldn't believe it. I think Fiona's famous quote was - "I'm jealous of myself!".

The Khutzeymateen is a designated Grizzly Bear Sanctuary in a beautiful inlet near Prince Rupert. Apparently about 50 to 60 bears live in the area and no humans are allowed to set foot on shore. Most of the bear viewing goes on from boats as the bears hang out on the shore in Summer feeding on mussells, sedge grass, salmon etc. Where we were was just outside the Sanctuary border and the only dwelling anywhere around.

We stayed for free, eating like Kings and having a ball in exchange for helping this great guy Greg (owns the house, business, runs the tours) out with some of his chores. We helped chop wood, Josh made a little shed for his gas containers, we painted a boat's trim, cleaned up bits and pieces and generally didn't work too hard, but hard enough to feel satisfied at the end of the day to have some cocktails and beers, maybe a sauna and some more fresh seafood (which included fresh spring salmon, fresh prawns, fresh trout etc all caught out in the inlet we were staying in.

You'd think it would be solitary out here in the middle of nowhere but it was really quite bustling. For a man who lives out in the middle of nowhere he certainly likes his social life. We were visited and had dinner with some guys working on a prawn trawler, a fishing trip, the local rangers and because tours come out here most days to look at the bears there was always new people to have a chat with and lots of sea otters, seals and bald eagles to keep us entertained.

We came about this through a number of ways.. our couple of days stranded in Prince Rupert were hilarious. We made heaps of new random friends and in those 4 days met Greg's sister, and his two nephews all in separate incidents who suggested he might have some work for us. Next minute we'd organised to meet up with him when he next came into town and after a massive night at the Sea Fest we were off on his boat to his little palace on the water.

He's built it himself. It's all made of wood but instead of a roof it's plastic sheeting so you can see outside everywhere that you are. Josh and I were sleeping in this little attic part, so we woke up looking straight at the mountains. The water comes from a mountain stream and we are lacking no creature comforts. and the BEARS!!

I think we saw 7 different ones - Whenever a tour came out he let us jump in the boat and come grizzly watching. At the moment they've come out of hibernation and like to hang out on the beach munching on grass. We've got so close to them and the little ones are so cute!!! and to think we were excited at a little black bear on the side of the road a week or so ago...

We just kept looking at each other and grinning... and I don't think Salmon will ever taste as good again!!!

Josh continues:
So we found out the flooding had subsided and the road and rail out of prince rupert had been re-opened on Wednesday, but we were enjoying ourselves so much that we decided to stay on till saturday. This proved a great decision..

On the Friday there were no tours booked so Greg had us packed and up at 5am sunrise for a day of adventure. here is what we took (It all made sense later): - Day packs with personal gear for waterproof, warmth and a dry change of socks and pants, plus 1 chainsaw, 1 petrol can, 1 oil can (for chainsaw), 1 hatchet, 1 pepper spray, 1 rifle (bears), 1 set of paddles, a fishing rod and a big plastic jar (3L+) of fruit infused with Vodka, Gin and White Rum!

We jumped in his zodiac and travelled out the inlet along the coast a little and then up another inlet. When we reached the end of this inlet we unloaded all the gear and anchored the boat. The trail head consisted of and old logging road covered in fairly dense Alder regrowth. (there was no trail visible) we loaded each other up with 1-2 additional items above and greg fired up the chainsaw and cut us a trail to follow!

After a while we reached a point where the old road became clearer and the Alder less dense. A little further and both dissapeared and we were left with a wide cutting through the forrest which had been cleared as part of the logging road construction, but was all boggy, covered with moss and fern and littered with sections of roots and old tree stumps. At this point we topped the chainsaw up with fuel and oil and left the oil and petrol cans for our return trip. After following this cleared zone for a way we crossed the ridgeline.

Greg checked that the rifle worked before we headed off into the forest following an occasionally marked trail. Occasionally with bear footprints and occasionally by human means. After trekking through some boggy areas, a few clearings, and 1 slippery rockface we arrived at a lake were we found the tinnie greg had left here a number of years ago (he flew it in by helicopter during his logging days). This explained the paddles.

So we all jumped in the boat, and paddled across a small lake, through a narrow section with lots of partially submerged tree trunks which led to the larger body of water (Union Lake). Here Greg assembled the fishing line and cast in with his hook and sinker config which spun as it was reeled in. this proved to be rather successful with an enourmous rainbow trout shooting out from the shaddows to take the lure! Only to spit it out. We tried a gain a few more times without getting him to stick then slowly continued to paddle through the narrow section of lake with greg standing in the dingy casting out carefully so that his lure landed just short of the shaddowy bank or near the huge log which lay diagonally across part of the narrows. Just before we had reached the other end another even larger trout zoomed out and grabbed the lure. Greg shouting excitedly as he had in the first instance talking the fish into staying on the hook. Well after a little fight it did. And that became our lunch. A Rainbow Trout about 50cm in length?

We padddled along the big lake a short way to a sandy beach where a creek feeds into the lake. Even on this fresh water beach it was full of logs. We chopped up one of the logs and made a fire in the beach to cook the trout. Greg, Kelly and I had a swim/wade in the cold shallow lake and then spent the rest of the arvo drying off in the sun and at the fire. Once again we had fabulous weather. No clouds and in the twenties.

The Trout was fabulous, and we cooked it in three different ways to campare which we preferred. 1. fillets wrapped in foil 2. small chunks on on skewers over the fire (slowly smoked) and 3. fillets layed skin down on some foil layed on the sand bank of the fire hole facing the hot coals. (It was all good, but each had a different texture / flavour) after a day roasting our food (corn and sweet potato too), drinking and sunbathing we set off back across the lake catching another trout at the narrows, stowing the boat at the lake edge, proceedng up over the saddle in the ridge, and followed the old logging road back to the boat where we found two seals and a bear nearby (a fair way further alog the shoreline)

We came back into town on Saturday after a final lunch of fresh crab, avo and mayo sandwiches and took the bear guy (greg palmer) out to dinner as he had provided for us all week. But before dinner we heard from the hostel that there was a rugby game on between prince rupert and terrace (next town inland) and they wanted me and Scottish Andy (also a traveller staying/working with greg) to play with them as they were severely short of numbers and experience. It went well. It was 10 on 10 as that was the only players available. I scored first try. But we then had the hostel manager injure himself so we lost 1 sub. Shortly another player walked off without telling us. (we went from playing 10 on 10 to 9 10 and did not realise until after the other team had screamed in 2 tries exploiting our weaknesses) .

Kelly note: You should've seen how proud the boys were of themselves!! They loved it. Although, Josh doesn't seem to be as quick as he used to on the chase!! Too many good meals perhaps??

Latest update from the Khutz: As they were heading back to the float house after dropping us off they saw 8 killer whales! Kelly and I were spewing as we really wanted to see some while we were on the west coast. It's pretty hard to see them as a visitor as they often only return to an area to feed every 10 - 14 days. Then on top of that they went out on a bear tour in the afternoon and saw a male and female beginning the courtship (takes 1 week of getting familiar before 1 - 2 weeks of mating).

Vancouver Island, a ferry & stuck in Prince Rupert (not necessarily a bad thing..yet)

What better time to update your blog than when you're stuck in Prince Rupert because the floods have washed away the road and covered the railway tracks.

A bigger than normal snow fall this year, than a pretty hot spring meant huge amounts of snow melting. Add to that some heavy rain last week and you have a flood near Terrace. This is a town inland from Prince Rupert but the only road in and out of this town. The train won't be running all week and it's unknown whether it will go next week either!!! That wouldn't be a problem if we weren't running out of money... ah well - if worse comes to worse we can always try and get some work on the salmon canneries for a week or so :)

It was pretty funny at the shops yesterday. We went in to buy some groceries forgetting that everyone else who's been listening to the news is about 3 days ahead of us. There were a lot of empty shelves. No bread, no eggs, no bananas, no milk (except for soy which was fine for us) etc etc. Apparently we're not actually going to run out of food here. but everyone switches onto hoard mode and goes a little overboard on their shopping in times like these apparently.

You can't get on a plane, the ferry has a waiting list and who knows if we'll even make it on the train when the tracks open!! I love this stuff!!

So, we're just hanging out in Prince Rupert seeing what happens. Luckily for us, they have a big festival happening here this weekend called the SeaFest and if the locals we met last night are anything to go by, it's going to be a crazy weekend. Highlights will include arm wrestling competitions and knit offs!! As well as lots and lots of beer drinking (if they don't run out!!).

Our Ferry Trip up here via the Inside passage (a 15 hr trip) was really fun. We set up at a table and chairs in the cafe at a window and basically based ourselves there for the day while we whizzed past looming mountains, misty skies, another couple of whales, waterfalls cascading down and the passage narrowing and widening. We made some friends, drank some red wine, played lots of cards and actually passed 15hrs quite easily.

Anyway - the reason for this update is to try and capture our trip up Vancouver Island with Fiona. The island was pretty amazing and we have had an absolute ball. This is a snapshot of what we did!

Vancouver Island - What an amazing place!

We had the best time and the best weather the whole time we were there - which was so lucky when it rains over 200 days of the year there. However, we're catching up on that now in Prince Rupert...

We saw our first bear - which was so exciting. It was a little black bear about 3 years old according to a local. Just munching grass and not caring that we were there at all (we were in the car).

The sea life around the island is amazing. This is an example of some of the things we were seeing in rock pools and around rocks at the beach on low tide. These are photos we took at Botanical Beach just near Port Renfrew and the star fish were at Rosie Bay on low tide just near Tofino.

This was one of those moments when I wished I had Weesie or Kezza with us as we spent a lot of time going "OOOoohhhh... what is it??"

There is a lot of old growth forest on the island with 800 yr old trees towering above you on walks. The big difference here to Australia is the undergrowth. Because it's so wet and cold trees don't decompose as fast so you end up with metres of undergrowth piled up on the ground. You see a lot of trees growing off old fallen down trees (we learnt that that's called a 'nurse' tree) and piles and piles of fallen down logs. There was also a lot of storms through this area in Winter so more trees were down than usual. As much as we got caught up in the romance of the island - it's tempered by the sobering sights of very active logging still continueing.. and they're not just logging plantation forest either!

We've done a couple of cool walks around the island. We did a part of the Juan de Fuca Trail down to Mystic Beach, and a steep walk in Strathcona National Park called Crest Peak trail. We walked straight up this steep valley and as we neared the top we hit snow and consequently lost the path. We managed to make it to an opening close to the peak and were met with the most spectacular view!! Ah.. the rewards of a tough walk are definitely worth it sometimes. and the descent was just as memorable as we slipped and slid down the path before we hit solid ground. Each one of us took a spill and as you can see Fiona got a big creative with her descent...

That big tree I'm sitting was the path!! It was this massive tree that they'd decided to cut steps into.

Beaches around here are so different to ours. Usually they're pebbly or rocky and ALL of them are covered with logs. However, the Canadians love the logs as they're perfect for wind protection and sitting on. Give us soft sand and a towel any day!!

Most people would be happy to receive a new 4WD as their rental car for the week. But when you're sneakily going to drive it up a logging road to cut off some time and save us from backtracking it's not so good - that meant we had to really look after it!. However, check out our sun roof!! and that's Josh inspecting the results after making it to the end of the logging road. We only had a one close shave with a logging truck but other than that it was just dusty..

Josh's 31st, Tofino, Vancouver Island 2007: Bacon and Eggs for breakfast, a boat trip past mist covered islands, bald eagles, seals and otters to hot springs. A soak in the hot springs (much more enjoyable when we outlasted most of the other tourists), boat trip back via the open ocean and 4 sightings of humpbacks, wild salmon and martinis by the water for dinner, a few more martinis, a trip down to the beach at midnight for a full moon party (it wasn't as exciting as it sounds but still fun) and then back to sleep in our bunk beds!! I think Fiona and I enjoyed it as much as he did (we just didn't wear a funny party hat all day)..