Two Provinces - Three States - Quick Round Trip

[Crazy Schooner]

Randomly took five days off work with the girlfriend and we went on an unplanned road trip out west from Edmonton. I picked up a used canopy that afternoon before we took off, just in case we needed to stealth camp. I also brought out a Gazelle T4 for the nights we found a camping spot.

We started with a drive through Jasper with a slight plan to eat/drink at Howe Sound brewery before heading down to Vancouver Island. We stopped at the Thunder River rest stop for the night as it was right off the highway. We then drove to Clearwater, grabbed some breakfast and booked over to Spahats creek falls to check out the various waterfalls on that stretch of road. We used the iOverlander app quite a bit to find shower locations, and campsites. Once of which was the showers at the Dutch Lake Resort & RB Park. After that we got back on the road. At Little Fort we decided to drive on highway 24 instead of going south. Stopped in Phinetta Lake to look at a random campsite, and saw a big ol loop road on the map and a sign that showed more campsites further down. We found a couple campsites but the road kept going, so we continued on following it. It ended up being a forest road that got quite narrow! I had to stop a few times and clear the trees and move on hoping I didn't hit a locked gate at the end and loop back as the road gradually degraded into a dirt path. After 90 minutes of driving, we hit highway 24 again (and no gate!). Back on the highway we drove towards 93 mile house and went south. Four hours later we stopped at Fraser Grove Campground for the night as iOverlander showed it had showers and was cheap. The drive there was quite nice as it had more valley views, and the sun was going down. We camped next to the river and took off the next day.

Next day we stopped at a bakery in Lillooet, and buggered off towards Squamish. Whistler was nice but we kept going on the sea to sky highway and stopped in Howe Sound Brewery for food/drinks. I let the girlfriend drive as I had a couple flights and some pints of beer. After grid lock traffic in Vancouver we stopped at the Westshore Terminals, and just missed the ferry, So we got front in line for the second last run that day. We had to wait a couple hours but it was nice to relax. We got lucky as we caught the sunset ferry that trip. I managed to get some nice sunset pictures and we saw some porpoises along the way. We departed the ferry at Swartz Bay. It was pretty dark out, so no crazy views (minus the hundreds of spiders at the Petro Canada fuel stop).

iOverlander showed a spot at Clover Point Park we drove over, only to see an entire vanlife squad parked onsite. There was parking but it was residential area, so we drove away. By this time it was 10:30 and were still in Victoria, so we took off towards Goldstream campsite (it was a late arrival, so the gates were closed). We took off again further down the highway, tried a few more spots before seeing Bamberton Campsite on the map. Arrived at 1130pm and we found a spot (thankfully it was Thursday before the long weekend). This whole trip wasn't planned, so at this point we realized we might be doing more canopy camping (but) at more rest stops then planned.

Next day we took off to Mill Bay to grab coffee at the Serious Coffee place (which we saw later was a chain). Chilled there for a bit figuring out where we wanted to go. Ended up deciding on Cowichan Bay to go whale watching. So we pulled in, managed to snag a half day booking and waited for a bit as our tour was four hours away.

We walked around the bay, saw a sea lion, named it Fred and had some breakfast. Jumped on the boat (got a story about the local sea lion that likes to hang out from the whale tour lead), we told the boat captain we named it Fred, and then everyone started calling him Fred on the tour haha. After watching some Orcas for a bit and running into engine trouble, we headed back to Cowichan Bay. At this point we realized all the campsites were booked solid (and even most of the hotels). While we were debating what to do, the hotel across the street had a cancellation for the night! So we booked that night and chilled in the bay. Had some great seafood, and relaxed at the dock. Then another night opened up in the same room (corner suite with an ocean view), so we booked another day and used the hotel as a base stop so we can drive around wherever on the island and not worry about figuring out where to stay on a long weekend.

 

[Crazy Schooner]

Next day we took off to go sight seeing. We were going to hit up Tolfino but saw it was raining on that side of the island, and decided against it. Plus it was more a tourist stop because of a beach, meh. We drove off towards Ladysmith and checked out the Antique stores for a bit, and then buggered off to the Alberni Old Country Market. Saw the goats on roof, grabbed some salmon jerky and took off further along highway 4. We stopped at Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park. Saw some giant trees, and took off to Port Alberni. Twin City brewery had some fantastic beer and really delicious hummus. We debated going to Campbell river instead but Alberni won. Quick detour to Nanaimo only to realize it was full of drunks, crackheads and everything else under the sun, we took off towards Duncan for some late fish and chips before heading back to the hotel in Cowichan Bay. Paid a visit to Fred, saw the local gang of Otters that hang out at the docks (we called them all Bob).

Original plan was to go back through the southern portion of BC towards Banff, but we both had our passports; I never been to the states. So we decided to take a ferry from Sidney to Anacortes instead. This time we booked a spot, and made it across the border no problem. This was my first time dealing with customs etc. The border agents were friendly on both sides, and seemed more interested in my license plate haha.

Many hours later, we were in Seattle. After dealing with some terrible highway drivers, we stopped to eat at Oshima Sushi. While there we came up with a gameplan on where to go. I wanted to hit up REI, Cabelas and everywhere else camping related haha. Only to run into debit card problems, after some phone calls that finally got sorted but I already left Seattle. It was already pretty late and Washington had a nice little state tax we weren't keen on paying, so we booked it from Seattle to Moses Lake, grabbed some fast food and then decided to take off towards Davenport. The iO app mentioned we could stay there overnight next to the park, which had toilets. So we pulled in sunday night around 11pm and the town was pretty chill. We were worried they would have some sort of Labour Day thing at the park in the morning but they didn't thankfully. Grabbed some quick breakfast at the local coffee joint, and took off again.

We drove through Washington (I saw a GFC finally), and made it to Idaho. Ended up stopping in Wallace as it looked cool and it was pretty neat to check out. We should have stayed longer then an hour, especially after checking out the Wikipedia later on. After that we kept on driving towards Missoula where we had some fantastic food at Taco Sano that hit the spot (quesadilla called The Cure was amazing). This helped as the girlfriend and I were pretty hangry at this point. I checked out Cabelas and we decided to do our shopping at Kalispell instead.

So we drove north up through Flathead Lake. Which was gorgeous (i'm definitely going back). Through the iOapp, I found Rocky Mountain Hi Campground which had showers(!) just outside Kalipsell. So we setup camp, grabbed food in town and chilled at camp. The next morning was mostly relaxing and more shopping.

Once that was all done, we took off, and hit the sun road at Glacier National Park which was awesome but late in the season. So lots of the glacier fed waterfalls were dry. Made to Carway, crossed the border and we stopped in Lethbridge for food. Due to Alberta being boring on the east side, we were stumped on where to go camping overnight. Ended up deciding on Kinbrook Island, the spot was nice but had spider infested pit toilets, and tons of mosquito's but they had showers at least.

I was on my final day of vacation, so we had to head back to Edmonton. However we had to stop at Lacombe and eat at Cilantro and Chive. The food was amazing, and the beer selection was as well. The girlfriend drove the rest of the way back to Edmonton.

4065 kms and $500 in gas later (the truck was great on fuel). I made it back to Edmonton in one piece. It was a fun impromptu trip! The tent worked out great, and even canopy camping was awesome.

 

[Todd n Natalie]

Great trip and great pics! Love the ones of the glacier highway! Also love the water ones from Wells Gray. What a beautiful area.