Up the Fraser River, British Columbia

June 1, we crossed the U.S. border into Sumas, B.C. and drove east on Canada Highway #1 to Hope, B.C. We breezed through the border crossing in just a few minutes. Luckily, we had read the regulations, and that helped speed us through the crossing. We had no fruit, only 1 liter of alcohol, no dairy products, no meat and no firearms. They only asked us if we had these items, they did not inspect the motor home. (Course, we had to drink up most of the wine from the Oregon wine tasting before we crossed the border.)

Highway #1 from the border to Hope is a well paved, 4 lane highway following the Fraser River valley with steep mountains on each side of the valley. Many of the peaks still have evidence of snow on them.

We got Canadian money at an ATM (we’ll have to learn those loonies and toonies again), and stocked up on food.

We left Hope and turned north on Highway #1 and #97 and followed the Fraser and Thompson River valleys. We are using our Milepost booklet that lists everything on our route. There is very little traffic, the roads are well paved, and many sections have 4 lanes. We had some ups and downs through mountainous areas, some curvy sections, but generally easy driving.

This area is very popular with river rafters and we saw some coming down the river. We passed through a section that is called “the Arizona of Canada”. It was warm, dry, and dusty. This was a surprise to us. They have an infestation of pine beetle and huge sections of the forests are dying. Looks like our bark beetle infestation in southern California.

Our stop on Sat night was Lac La Hache, B.C., a 215 mile drive north from Hope. Our campsite was right on the lake. No mosquitoes, yet (but I hear they are waiting for us in Alaska). We had bald eagles flying over our campsite and loons singing on the lake at night. The weather was surprisingly warm-in the 80’s, but cool at night. They tell us that it’s very unusual for this time of the year. We haven’t adjusted to the amount of daylight hours (doesn’t fit into John’s 9:00 PM bedtime). Its light until after 10:00 PM and then light again at 4:00 AM.

The owners of this campground raise and mush Siberian Huskies. They mushed in the Yukon Challenge in the Yukon Territory this last February. The dogs are kept in outside pens right now, and the owner walks the young ones around the campground at night. (John, we thought about Stoli and Hobie.)

We are seeing lots of campgrounds, probably every 25 miles or so. We are still using Trailer Life to pick our spots, and finding the facilities very nice with hookups just like in the states. School is not out yet, so we are seeing only about 10% occupancy in the campgrounds.