July 19 - Canada Highway 99 - Beat the car to Death!

July 19, 2010 Squamish BC, just south of Whistler BC

Wow, what a day. Of course, wanted to go the scenic route to Vancouver. Well, what an adventure. First of all, started early from the crampground and went through Sicamous the self proclaimed houseboat capital of Canada. I can see why. Located on Seymour Lake – which appears to be endless and beautiful, you could cruise a houseboat for days.

At Salmon Arm – a part of Lake Seymour, there was a float-in logging operation – see pic. The whole area reminded me a little bit of Chautauqua Lake , cottages – nice ones , boats and all the niceities of home. Did not seem like what you might think of as rural Canada.

Then through Kamloops – updated the blog and the area turned to desert. See pics. And some stunning canyons. Surprising given the amount of water around. On pic shows some white stuff that you might think is snow – not. It is crusted mineral salts. Another pic shows the natural landscape contrasted with irrigated land. Sagebrush all around – get along little doagie.

Then down scenic route 99. Wow. Every bit as challenging as the Top ot the World Taylor Highway to Chicken AK. This was paved but much narrower and some of the switchbacks and blind curves were as much as a 15 degree slope and 15 Degree turns. Definitely had to pay attention on that road. Thank goodness it was mostly paved and not much traffic. Road followed the Fraser River and it flat wore me out. It looked a lot like California in parts. Even had a winery – see pic of grape vines.

Finally on toward Vancouver. Passed through Whistler where they held part of the last winter Olympics. Did not stop because I was looking for a campground – surprise – it was after 5:00 pm and it was full. So I drive 10 miles up a steep one lane pot-holed road to Garibaldi Park only to find that domestic animals were prohibited. Fortunately, I was roaming on the cell and I called my lifeline, Dorene and she directed me to a great little cluster of cabins where Leo could run. He needed that.

381.5 miles today, 49.48 N, 123.09 W