2004/06 Yukon trip - Getting there - Yellowhead/Smithers |
|||||
Wednesday 14th July
In the morning it was still very foggy. What lake? Eventually the fog burned off, and we were able to enjoy the scenery. Sandie, dripping with success over the soaker, was eager to mail it off to Karen and Evan, and to get some wool for the next one, so we headed back into Prince Rupert. We found all that stuff, had a great lunch at a restaurant overlooking Cow Bay, and then headed back east on the Yellowhead Highway. The road follows the Skeena, a wide, fast river, surrounded by mountains and waterfalls. 
 |
Skeena Valley (2.25) |  |
|---|
By now it was sunny and hot. We stopped to pick up water at Exchamsiks River provincial park, but found that the campground had been closed because of an altercation between fishermen and grizzlies. The grizzlies had won this battle, eating more fishermen than fishermen ate grizzlies, but the end result was to close down the battleground.
We bypassed the Seven Sisters and the Kitseguecla mountains at Hazleton, as we’d be coming back that way in a day or two, and headed for a forest service campground on Hudson Bay Mountain, near Smithers. This is located at the foot of two magnificent waterfalls that drop from the Hudson Bay Glacier. It’s a popular spot if your car can make the stiff climb through the forest, but once the day visitors were done we had the place to ourselves, and camped with the waterfalls roaring in the background.
|
Hudson Bay Mountain (4.17) |
 |
|---|
Thursday 15th July
We had rain overnight, but walked up to the falls in sunshine in the morning. We drove through Smithers to Driftwood Canyon provincial park. This has a trout stream and masses of flowers but its main claim to fame is its fossil beds. There are fossils of plants, fish, and bugs. We found a very fragile plant fossil underfoot, see picture, a nice souvenir. We also had a great view from here of the glacier and could see how much ice was balanced up there above our campsite!