Day 23 Miles 94 miles In a way this day is the beginning of the Alaska Adventure. My travel mate (TM) Judy and I left cousin Wilfrid and Judy’s house at 9 a.m. after a photo session of our two Roadtreks. The walkie talkies worked great and we experimented with the connection along the way. The drive was postcard scenic with snow capped mountains as a backdrop to the fir trees. Our first destination was Campbell River , BC and the museum. The parking was good and we enjoyed the exhibits of First Nation history, artifacts and early days in the area with logging industry featured. We also watched a film produced by DuPont in the 50’s detailing the explosion which cleared the Seymour Narrows Channel to give it a depth of 40-70 feet allowing traffic through this area including the many cruise ships that make their way from Vancouver to Alaska. It was an engineering feat, the largest non nuclear explosion of the time. Tonight we are camped at Ripple Rock RV park, not far from where that explosion occurred , and are facing the passage where freighters, fishing trawlers and cruise ships (though haven’t seen any yet) pass.
We had a fair lunch at Lookout Café in Campbell River whose view made up for the poor service. I found a Scotia bank and added to my Canadian funds. As we continued north we pulled off for hiking trails leading to the area of the explosion. The map of the trail indicated a 3 hour hike which was more than we anticipated but we did walk about a mile in and out through majestic conifers, across a suspension bridge, and onto shoreline of a bay.
The road into the campground is one of many logging roads that allow access into remote areas. They are usually gravel and the dust stirred up made me happy I didn’t try to wash Big Mama. They have washing facilities here but it will be back up the dusty road in the morning.
We enjoyed a cheese and cracker and wine dinner overlooking the channel while we continued to catch up on each others lives. Like me, Judy has traveling in her veins and has taken a number of trips in various parts of the world. She’s adventuresome and not afraid to try to new things. I think we will travel well together.
Tomorrow we’ll head for Port Hardy where I’ll board a ferry for Prince Rupert, BC. She’ll stay in campground and her ferry will leave the following morning. Later that night we’ll meet at the ferry terminal in Prince Rupert as we queue up for the Juneau ferry. Yes the goal of Alaska is getting closer and it is exciting.
We had a fair lunch at Lookout Café in Campbell River whose view made up for the poor service. I found a Scotia bank and added to my Canadian funds. As we continued north we pulled off for hiking trails leading to the area of the explosion. The map of the trail indicated a 3 hour hike which was more than we anticipated but we did walk about a mile in and out through majestic conifers, across a suspension bridge, and onto shoreline of a bay.
The road into the campground is one of many logging roads that allow access into remote areas. They are usually gravel and the dust stirred up made me happy I didn’t try to wash Big Mama. They have washing facilities here but it will be back up the dusty road in the morning.
We enjoyed a cheese and cracker and wine dinner overlooking the channel while we continued to catch up on each others lives. Like me, Judy has traveling in her veins and has taken a number of trips in various parts of the world. She’s adventuresome and not afraid to try to new things. I think we will travel well together.
Tomorrow we’ll head for Port Hardy where I’ll board a ferry for Prince Rupert, BC. She’ll stay in campground and her ferry will leave the following morning. Later that night we’ll meet at the ferry terminal in Prince Rupert as we queue up for the Juneau ferry. Yes the goal of Alaska is getting closer and it is exciting.
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