Thursday 18th May
Today was a travel day from Whistler to Kamloops as an overnight whistle stop on the way to Jasper. The sky was hazy again this morning and we had learned at dinner last night that it wasn’t mist or fog but smoke from the Alberta fires. It was rather strange though as we couldn’t smell smoke yesterday but we sure could today!
Mark had one last ride and I went for a final Villlage walk before we met up for a coffee at PureBread. This is a chain apparently but Mark insisted I go inside the shop to check out why there was a long queue, not for the coffee but for the cakes. They were indeed spectacular and I think I would have enjoyed every single one of them.
The drive from Whistler to Kamloops takes about 4 hrs and we were leaving black bear territory and heading into grizzly territory. The road was narrow and single lane for much of the first half of the trip and the winding nature of the road meant it rarely got above 60 km/ hr, and, with no overtaking lanes. It was, however, a spectacular journey, even under a veil of smoke, as we wound through narrow valleys with the amazingly steep mountains of the Pacific Coast Range soaring up around us on either side. There was the odd lake, water-rapids and occasional waterfall along the way as well. This part of the drive was a photographers dream and I have not been able to do the scenery justice. It’s so breathtakingly grand it needs to be seen to be appreciated so add it to your bucket list!
We stopped for lunch at Abundance Bakery, a quirky artisan bakery in Lillooet, which roughly marked the halfway point of the journey. The Valley opened up after Lillooet and, whilst the road remained single lane for most of the way, the speed limit increased to 100 km/ hr. The scenery was less dramatic for this half of trip but still interesting as we passed farmland, a hydro-plant and limestone quarry, all under an increasing veil of smoke haze.
We arrived in Kamloops at around 4 pm and found our hotel for the night, the Hampton Inn. It had been a long day, especially for Mark who did all the driving, so we just settled in for a while before heading to the pub next door for dinner, On The Rocks. It was going to be another long day of driving tomorrow with a 5hr journey to Jasper.
