Saturday, July 18 Logging, Fruit and Revelstoke

 Sat. July 18

There is low mist this morning as we continue south, towards Revelstoke.  

We stop at local Tim Horton's for some breakfast pastries.  Have seen a few of these restaurants in the Northwest as I understand they have been moving into the US.

We follow along the Thompson River for quite a while.  Farms, ranches, irrigation equipment and an occasional farm stand.  Very few places to pull over, so few photos.

Small forestry exhibit

Lumber is big business.  We pass logging trucks and lumber yards.  Some have logs and others have processed the logs to cut lumber.   At one place there are many logs  in the river - being transported, we guess.  I don't think they do this in the US any longer.

Later we pass trainloads of lumber, some logs, some wrapped lumber.

Another interesting sign in this mountainous area.

Next stop is Fruit World.  A huge produce stand with  an amazing amount of fruit, mostly local but also some foreign goodies like dragonfruit.  We still have cherries from last shopping, but buy a couple of peaches.  It all looks good! Wish we had one of these by home. 

First we stop at Revelstoke dam for a brief visit and tour.  There are 14 dams on the Columbia River and this is one of the three in Canada. It is 574' high with several penstocks (the big tubular structures that collect and carry water), completed in 1984.

There are some guys dangling on the cliffs adjacent to the dam, and we later learn that they are beginning work on an expansion that is scheduled for 2030.  They are checking for stability and where things need to be reinforced.

Nolan, our tour guide, is good.  There are about a dozen of us on the tour.  We learn that this plant has flexible generation, depending on demand.  No storage here, though they are working on developing battery storage elsewhere.

One issue which is only touched on when someone asks, is the dam's disruption of the migration of salmon and subsequent effect on First Nations people.  There are no fish ladders here to bypass the dams, like we saw in Alaska.

From the dam,  we go find the "Meadows in the Sky Drive" which will take us up Revelstoke Mountain.  We have to wait a little bit at the entrance,  as they only allow a certain number of cars on the drive.  

The first stop is a trail to a ski jump where famous Canadian Nels Nelson set multiple records.

Next is  about an endangered salamander...  Have never seen this sign before!  No sign of salamanders in the small stream.  We continue upward.

The Columbia River View Point is beautiful.

There is a busy parking lot near several trails which lead to the summit.  So we park here and hike upward.  Lots of pretty wildflowers and a few ponds as we take the Parapets Trail to some wonderful views. And wow, does the air smell wonderful with a hint of pine.

Canada has placed a pair of red chairs at scenic spots in parks around the country.

After the Summit we hike back to the Trek and wind our way slowly back down.  We settle on the Lamplighters Campground which is in an area of town called The Big Eddy.  When we first phoned them, they had two spots.  Beth wasn't sure, looked around and called them back and left a message that we wanted a spot.  When we got there, she had just given away the last spot - hadn't listened to messages yet. 

 But she found us an overflow spot that wasn't bad and had 15amp electric.  They did have decent showers and a train that wasn't too far (not far enough) away.  The silver lining to having poor hearing and hearing aids is that when you take them out to go to bed, you don't hear that much!  

Fri. July 17, 2026 Wells Gray Provincial Park

 Fri. July 17

50 degrees this beautiful morning! We continue south through beautiful scenery.  A few more towns and businesses.

Today we continue south to the town of Clearwater, where we turn into Wells Gray Provincial Park Visitors Center.   On advice from the welcome center folks, we decide to get a campsite at nearby North Thompson River Provincial Park and then head into Wells Gray. $33.50 Canadian ($25 US) sound fine, but there is a boil water advisory and only pit toilets.  We choose an open site, deposit our envelope and head out.

Wells Gray is noted for its waterfalls, so we decide to do the three major ones.  Some of the others require more hiking than we're willing to take on.  Spahats (1st nation word for bear) is first, only a 6 miles or so drive on decent road.  

At the end of an easy 1/2 mile trail is a great viewing platform. The falls is 97' tall and Spahats Creek continues to carve into the canyon wall, so the falls moves further downward.  Lots of other viewers, but not crowded.

About 20 miles farther is beautiful Dawson Falls on the Myrtle River.  It is only 60' high, but is 297' wide and sometimes called mini-niagara.  

 The easy trail is about a mile RT and soon the sound of the Falls is clear.

 

Dawson Falls and the Myrtle River are powerful, carving into old lava flows.

Helmcken Falls is Canada's fourth-highest at 463' .   This falls was the inspiration for the creation of Wells Gray Park in 1939. 

 There is a tent set up near the viewpoint with a few rangers who explain Spray Zones to us.  Apparently the area near the base of waterfalls are called Spray Zones and are home to many unique plants which have just recently been identified and studied. They have some samples of Rough Gooseneck Moss, Tree Lung Wart and Witches Brew... and expect to discover more.

We head back down the mountain to Clearwater and our campsite, stopping at a Subway for a tasty sandwich.  We walk a bit and a little rain moves in.   The Park Rangers are making rounds and we discover there is some fine print, which says non-residents pay extra, plus we don't have Canadian money so they charge extra for that too.   The guy is a bit apologetic, but this is a popular campground and has "special" rules, different from other Provincial Parks.  Oh well.   Live and learn, eh?  

Beth chats with a couple from Florida who have been traveling in Canada since early June and plan to continue till September.... escaping hot weather.  

We snack a bit and play some cribbage.  Hard rain for a bit and we have to close the overhead fan.  But it is cool enough without it tonight.