Telkwa and Smithers, British Columbia

On June 3d, we headed to Telkwa, north on the Alaska Highway (BC Highway 97) and then west on Yellowhead Highway 16. As we mentioned, the logging industry is huge in British Columbia. A couple trucks at the junction of the two highways and part of a complex turning sawdust into heating pellets:




A cemetery just before the Stellat'en First Nation's store and fuel station on the Yellowhead Highway:




Welcome and air quality signs, trembling aspens, a map board, Barkley, Bill, and wildflowers at a rest area:












Meadow Chickweed:




We couldn't identify this Phacellia-looking flower with ferny leaves until we got to Tok, Alaska and bought the fantastic book Wildflowers Along the Alaska Highway, by Verna E. Pratt. It's perfectly named - Beautiful Jacob's Ladder.




Unidentified:








It rained most of the day:


We stayed at Ft. Telkwa RV Park along the Bulkley River, where we couldn't quite capture a picture of a beaver working near the bank of a little island. These pretty trees with the curling trunks were growing along the bank below the road (the Yellowhead Highway is directly behind the fence).


Our site, the river (down a steep bank from our site), and the distant view from our side window:






We visited the village of Telkwa on rainy June 4th. Telkwa has a lovely little park with several benches at its municipal building on the Bulkley River.


The Telkwa River flows into the Bulkley at the park.


Norma's Ark Playday Centre is housed in an old church building.






The current Mount Zion Lutheran Church building was built in 1911 as St. Stephen's Anglican Church.


Also on June 4th, we took a rainy drive to Smithers, which looks very much like an Alpine town and even has a statue of an alpenhorn player in the center of one of its short shopping avenues.








The town's ice hockey rink, formerly rarely used tennis courts:


Twin Falls is just a short drive from the Smithers downtown area. The rain relented long enough that we could hike to the falls and take some photographs before returning to the truck in a downpour (with the camera safely tucked inside a rainjacket).


Bill on an observation deck between the two falls:










The water plows beneath several feet of snow (covered with rocks) before re-emerging.


Our expert use of the camera's timing mechanism:

Quesnel and 10 Mile Lake, British Columbia

We left Spences Bridge on June 2nd, and were soon stopped because of roadwork. It was the nicest time we ever had at a roadstop! Ashley, approaching us with Honey (the dog):


Yvonne, who found Honey along the road several months before, greets Barkley:




While it was nice talking with Ashley and Yvonne, and Barkley loved playing with Honey, it was also sad. The road we were on is cut through tall mountains of rock, leaving long, high stretches of rock walls lining the road. They told us that a man driving a tanker truck just south of Spences Bridge had crashed into the rock - and died. As we continued on to Quesnel, other folks mentioned the accident which had closed the road most of the day, but we were never able to find a news article about it.

Back on the road to the Quesnel area:


A gorgeous Lazuli Bunting we saw at a rest area:






Yarrow:


Wild roses:


Odd name for an RV business:


Husky is a common fuel station in British Columbia. Note that the price for diesel is 96.9. That's per liter. We had to get used to thinking in liters, rather than gallons.


We also had to get used to thinking in kilometers, rather than miles (and Celsius rather than Fahrenheit).



Quesnel is a nice little town with a gold-mining past.


Timber companies provide most of the jobs now.


The town has some nice little shops and a great farmers market that's open every day of the week. We bought some delicious home-made samosas and blueberry pie at the market. Our travel literature stated that Quesnel has a beautiful 50-year-old rose garden in LeBourdais Park. Something must have happened to it; here it is (on a rainy day).


We stayed at 10 Mile Lake Provincial Park, with no hook-ups (no electricity, no water, no sewer). It was our first time "dry camping," so we were very careful with our use of battery power. Not being sure how long the battery would be able to power the blowers for our propane heat, we used it sparingly. We bundled up and added an extra blanket before heading to bed. Barkley always sleeps in the middle, so he keeps very warm, but even he needed extra protection: two thick towels!

Our site:


Canada Violet:


False Solomon's Seal:




At 10 Mile Lake:




Beautiful wildflower known as Giant Red, Scarlet, or Indian Paintbrush:




Types of peas(?):








The beginning of British Columbia's vast dandelion breeding grounds: