We left Savona, and had a short drive to Cache Creek where we would then head south towards Hope, British Columbia... about a 232 km (144 mile) drive.
Here is yesterday's drive...
Savona to Hope, 232 kms (144 miles).
Decent scenery to Lytton, but the road was a little busier than I would have liked. And, with a 100 km/h (62 mph) speed limit which I thought was about 10 km/h too high, but what do I know. I'm just that guy who drives to slow! But, I pulled over whenever possible to allow faster drivers (just about everybody else) to get by.
A marshmallow field!
An overcast day with a few rain showers. Never saw the sun at all.
Really low clouds.
Scenery along the way.
The highway follows the Thompson River.
Lots of train traffic with railroads on both sides of the river.
The river is popular with rafting trips.
This section would be fun on a raft!
Looking back at where we came from.
We stopped at the town of Lytton to have lunch and go for a walk. Not much to see in Lytton! This is the town where the Thompson and the Fraser River meet, and from Lytton south to Hope, the highway follows the Fraser River.
There's a distinct difference in the waters from the Thompson and Fraser Rivers.
Then we stopped at the touristy Hells Gate Canyon.
I was here with our daughter Lindsey back in the year 2000 when she and I flew out to visit some relatives. I don't remember what it cost at the time, but to take the Airtram down into the canyon, it was a fun experience.
Hells Gate Canyon.
Now, it costs $24 plus 12% tax, so $26.88 CAD ($21 USD) per adult for the round trip.
But, in true "Kevin and Ruth" style, we found a cheaper way down.
There is a hiking trail down into the canyon. It's fairly steep, but it's free. It's a 1.5 km (just under a mile) each way, but like I said it's fairly steep.
It used to be that you could hike down, and take the cable car back to the top for free, but they've recently stopped that. Now, if you hike down, you have to pay $14 plus 12% tax, so $15.68 ($12.50 USD) for the one way trip back up. I think it takes about 45 seconds for the ride!
Heading down hill.
Worth the hike... it's quite spectacular, even with the water at a low level like it is now.
Ruth, going across the suspension bridge.
Here comes the air tram.
Ruth liked this air tram!
The suspension bridge.
Can you see the white mark on the bridge support on the left side in the photo above? That's the record high water mark in 1948! At the time, there were 200 million gallons of water flowing through here per minute... more than Niagara Falls!
Who knew?
Then, it came time for the hike back up. Like I said, it was fairly steep and I was thinking it might take a while, with a few breaks. But I guess we're in better shape than I thought. After all, we have been doing quite a bit of hiking. Anyhow, we did it non stop, and I don't think it took much longer to get back to the top than it took to get down in the first place.
We carried on to the town of Hope.
We were last in Hope in November of 2007. At the time, we had parked in the driveway of a couple we had contacted through Couchsurfing. Cory and Elaine were about our age, and they were avid travelers even though they were both working full time. We got along really well and we just knew that we would see each other again some day.
We just didn't expect it to take 11 years!
So here we are, parked in their driveway again. We've stayed in touch through facebook over the years, and when we got together again yesterday it was as if the time had never passed!
We're staying here with them for only two nights, but I bet it won't be 11 years before we see them again. Cory is already retired, and I bet Elaine isn't far behind.
Great to see each other again.
Today, it's pouring rain. So we're just sitting around this morning talking about travel and motorhomes!
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I think the drive you did is one of the nicest in BC, along with the Sea to Sky drive. I have gone down the Thompson River a few times in a raft like that, the rapids have names like Widowmaker and Washing Machine. Too bad the tourist traps are so over the top expensive…
ReplyDeleteWe just might have to agree with you on that Peter, even with the low cloud cover it was a beautiful drive. We would love to do it again under sunny skies though. :-)
DeleteKevin and Lindsey did a rafting trip when they went through the area back in 2000 but he can't remember if it was on the Fraser River or the Thompson River and they just did it in a motorized raft at the time. If we had more time on this trip we may have looked into doing a rafting ride as well but one that you are actually paddling in.
We were in Lytton when the river started to go over its banks due to heavy rains. That town is great. We stayed three days if I remember correctly. We parked up at Botanie Lake up the mountain. Fabulous area. We had to detour from our plan of going to Kamloops to visit other rvers we had met in Mexico.
ReplyDeleteWow, it would be hard to imagine the river so high. Kevin was saying how neat it would be to see the two rivers flowing through the area at their peak. That would be a heck of a lot of water!
DeleteNice that you got to stay in the area for a few days on your trip, it looks like Botanie Lake would be a perfect place to stay. :-)
Great hike good for you both. Lovely scenery as well. Enjoy your stay.
ReplyDeleteThank you, we really enjoyed the hike. :-)
DeleteWe’ve driven this route before but didnt stop by Hell’s Gate....you just made me think we should if we ever go that way again. Thanks for the great pics as usual.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to stop the next time you go by but unless you are willing to fork out the money for the airtram, then you will need to hike down to see the canyon itself. Or you could hike down and just take the airtram back up for for a little less money. We certainly found it worthwhile to see if you hike down, we don't think it is worth it though for the full price of the airtram.
DeleteMy son and I rafted in that whitewater -- where the Thompson meets the Fraser, watching as the rivers finally mingled, a half mile, and we had a blast. This would've been maybe 25 years ago? We stayed at Skihist Prov Pk in my wonderful ol' red Toyota truck with a camper shell. Fond memories!
ReplyDeleteMuch like the rafting trip that Kevin and our daughter did there back in 2000 when they were there. We would love to have done a rafting ride as well but just didn't have the extra time for it.
DeleteSounds like you had a blast on your visit. :-)