The Long Trek to the Rockies

Did we mention on our previous post that the mountain biking competition/exhibition known as Crankworx was in its final day while we were in Whistler? This event is one of the largest in North America that was started in Whistler a number of years ago, and it draws a substantial crowd over its 9 days. Suffice it to say that some of our fellow Mountaineers went for a stroll in the South Village (the main drag of Whistler) and could barely move for the crowds.  That's part of the reason we didn't take any pictures this time.

So on to the two full days of our Rainforest to Gold Rush route from Whistler to Jasper, with an overnight stop in Quesnel.

We had been impressed with the amazing crew, service and food on our first half day; the 14 hours from Whistler to Quesnel just solidified our impression. Even with a one-hour stop on a siding in a rather unexciting spot waiting for a southbound freight train.

We found out that, even though the Rocky Mountaineer usually has precedence over freights, it fairly often has to 'pull over' onto a siding to make way for freight trains. This is because the Mountaineer usually travels with only 7 or 8 rail cars in total and will actually fit on all of the sidings, whereas freight trains can now be up to 3 MILES, or almost 400 cars, long and definitely would not.

Rather than try to explain much about the trip, we'll just post some photos and video with appropriate captions.

Going along the Fraser River:

Number 10 Downing Street - of course, there's a story for this one. It seems that in the mid-1800s, one long-time settler of the remote area around McGillvray was chosen by the British to perform a census of the local population. England was not too popular at the time, and to show this poor fellow that they didn't appreciate him working on its behalf, somebody scratched the words 'No. 10 Downing St.' over the door to his shack. Obviously England's Prime Minister wasn't too popular either. The words have been repainted a few times, but it is apparently the original little shack.

Onboard the Rocky Mountaineer. Some people might say that the experience is indescribable...so we'll put up a few more photos instead.

Eggs Benedict

Ahi Tuna for lunch

Chicken Breast

Viewing from the Observation level

The dining room

Larry on the open observation deck.

These next three are all at Anderson Lake:

Back to the Fraser River:

The First Nations in the area have relied on fishing from the Fraser River for as long as they have lived here. It is the only river in BC where all four of the major kinds of salmon run each year - Chinook, Coho, Sockeye and Pink - and it still provides a livelihood to many fishermen. In the photo above, you can see the drying racks that the local First Nations fishermen use as well as the fish ladder, that concrete structure by the canyon wall, that allows the fish to get past the extreme current in the whitewater area to move farther upstream.

With the one-hour delay around 4:00, our arrival into Quesnel was pushed back a bit, but not much as we had made good time when the track was free and clear. When it seemed we were not going to get there early enough to go for dinner, the culinary crew got to work and created a small meal of chicken breast in a delicious sauce over rice, and baked oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert. It is truly amazing what a team of 3 can create in the small galley they have to work with!

This is the 'snack' we were served before
getting into Jasper since that was
also a late arrival. It was all we needed after
all the other great food we'd had during the day.

We didn't see much of Quesnel. It was dark when we got there and the fog came almost down to the ground when we left. It seems like a nice little town where most people are dependent on forestry, logging or wood processing for their livelihoods. And it doesn't take itself too seriously. We didn't have any opportunity to look for them during the day, but the town has painted all of the fire hydrants as little people - the one in front of the train station is an engineer, for example. Our transfer bus driver told us that it is a fun walking tour to follow the brochure and find them all.

It was another long day, with a few short stops, and we started to move into the Rocky Mountains in the last 3 or so hours. Our first big sighting was Mount Robson, highest in the Canadian Rockies at around 13,000 feet.

The Fraser River - again - near Prince George

An Osprey guarding its nest. It was getting dangerous for the birds
to make their nests on top of live hydro poles, so BC Hydro
put up 'fake' ones with platforms on top just for the Osprey.

We even managed to see a nice rainbow over the Fraser River.

Mount Robson

Hope you enjoyed these photos. On the agenda for Wednesday is a half-day tour of Jasper National Park in the area of the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge where we are staying, with some free time in the afternoon (to catch up on blog posting!!!). Actually, anyone who has checked Monica's Instagram today will have already seen some of the pictures. But we'll put more of that in the next post.