2004/06 Yukon trip - Getting there - Crossing BC
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We took the first BC Forest Service campsite we saw signs for.  This was at Loon Lake, a typical clear BC lake with a mountain backdrop.  It even had some real Canadian loons, calling and swimming.  It also had kids all over.  We picked the most scenic site but it was next door to a family group with about a dozen little kids.  The parents came over and apologized for the noise, but we told them we were enjoying the show.

Sunday 27th June

On a sunny Sunday morning, we headed north to pick up Highway 3, which runs just north of the American border.  It has lots of ups to cross mountain ranges and lots of downs to cross rivers like the Kootenay and the Columbia which flow north-south.  It’s a beautiful road, and it was nice to be cruising it in the camper instead of grinding up and down in second gear with the trailer.  I remember the climb out of Grand Forks back in ’96 when we had the trailer loaded with all of Karen’s furniture and we were doing 8 mph in bottom gear with my foot flat on the floor! 

As we crossed the mountain ranges we’d move in and out of rainstorms and sunshine.  We tried to find another cheap forestry campground for the night, but we missed the turn.  Instead we pulled off the highway and camped at Bromley Rock provincial park, just above the Similkameen River, but unfortunately also close to the main road. 

Monday 28th June

The next morning we headed past Princeton, and then up over the mountains into Manning Park.  We drove up the dirt road to the alpine meadows for a lunch stop. We were too late for the spring’s big show of glacier lilies, and too early for summer’s lupin and paintbrush show, but there were still plenty of phlox, cinquefoils, and pasque flowers.  It was a perfectly clear day and we had views of snow-capped mountains in all directions.  A family of ravens joined us for lunch.  The two chicks were almost the size of the parents and they’d scream and fight if they didn’t get their fair share.  And “fair” to a raven chick means “all of everything”!

It was downhill all the way from our mountain top lunch, along the Skagit River and into Hope.  We checked out our lot on the Fraser River.  The river was almost up to the banks but we had a small amount of beach showing.  The grass was knee-high and the cherry trees were full of fruit.  We filled a bag with the cherries that were within reach.  Sandie didn’t want to leave any behind, and wanted me to drive the camper in there so we could stand on top and pick the rest!  I didn’t!  I was expecting the police to show up at any minute to arrest us for scrumping our own cherries.

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