Road Trip: BC 101

With two days of nice weather, no tedious family to annoy me, and a new car, it seemed my destiny to do a road trip this weekend. Anything else would have been unthinkable.

I came up with a circular route taking me through a variety of landscapes, sort of a British Columbia 101. Most license plates here bear the legend "Beautiful British Columbia". Some even say, "The Best Place on Earth". I won't argue.

I started heading east on 1, through Burnaby, northern Surrey, Abbotsford, Chiliwack, and Hope. Just past Hope, I turned north on 5. (Insert "beyond Hope" joke here.) Leaving the agricultural valley, I began climbing into the mountains.


Before long I was high enough to get snowed on.


The mountains got smaller and the trees thinned as 5 took me right into Kamloops, where I spent Saturday night. Here's a shot from its waterfront park, at the junction of the North and South Thompson Rivers.


After breakfast Sunday morning, I got this shot of Victoria Street and its wide sidewalks and outdoor cafe areas.


Heading west on 1, I saw a wider stretch of the Thompson River.


At Cache Creek, I went north on 97, then soon turned west again onto 99. The stretch between Lillooet and Penticton is some of the best driving I've experienced. The road fell to a single lane, and its quality varied widely from short stretches of gravel to fresh tarmac. But for nearly the entire stretch, I had my lane to myself, with no traffic ahead or behind. For 100 kilometers there are no petrol stations, no restaurants, and (probably) no houses, and the road is too unfriendly for big rigs, so the only other traffic seemed to be travelers like me.





The mountains grew taller and the trees thickened.



At Penticton, sort of a northern gateway and starting point for lots of outdoor activities, I was once again among rows of condos and expensive cafes. Then it was south through Whistler, Squamish, past Horseshoe Bay, through North Vancouver and back into Burnaby.