CHALLENGING DRIVE WEST FROM KELOWNA TO HOPE SERVES UP

DIVERSE BEAUTY: MESSAS, HOODOOS, DESERT, RIVERS, HELL’S GATE

by Julie V. Watson

As we travel across our great nation the spouse and I like to explore different country, to experience new places and to challenge ourselves just a little.  It was these three things that led to our selecting our route from Kelowna to Vancouver during a recent Rving vacation. We had lots of time and felt up for the challenge of driving some steep ups and downs, and some twisting, turning highways.  So we stocked up with sensational local cherries fresh from the orchard and a cooler full of cold drinks to battle the heat (37 degrees C) and headed out

The doom and gloom forecasters who warned us about the impressive grades on Rte 97C were right about the climb out of the Okanogan Valley, but wrong about the ability of our little RV to conquer those hills.  It taxed our 22 ft. Rialta, but she chugged up and down, round and round those mountains.  The spouse just put her in third and let her go, dropped into second and slowed down a few times, but no problems. We are proud of her performance.

The drive out of Kelowna is as beautiful and stunningly different from the beautiful lakes, orchards, and wineries as one could imagine. Arid land quickly changes to green, treed mountains, then back to the sagebrush covered hills.  Its an ever changing landscape and fascinating.  We headed due west for Merritt, which bills itself as country music capital and has murals of stars/singers all over town.  It’s a neat little town and a great coffee stop. 

We turned north on Rte 5 towards Kamloops then we turned west again on Rte 1 to follow the shores of Kamloops Lake then the mighty Thompson River through more of the fascinating beige/brown landscape to Cache Creek, the entrance point to Fraser Canyon.  This is the type country often pictured in western movies. It a place where ranches abound and you can understand how come each head of cattle needs 5 acres to survive. 

In these modern times many enterprising farmers and ranchers make it by irrigating.  The lush green fields stand out like emeralds in the almost-dessert landscape.  There are loads of hay farmers in these valleys thanks to the presence of the river  which makes the irrigation possible.  The sprinkler or watering systems are huge.  We got a real kick out of horses and cattle happily standing in the cooling spray.

Just past the hoodoos, mesas and rolling hills cut with small canyons, caves and eerie looking washouts, the terrain begins to change into rocky mountains rimming the Fraser Canyon.  The road hugs rock walls making for quite a challenging drive.

We had booked a campsite just north of Hell’s Gate.  Canyon Alpine RV Park turned out to be the nicest place we have stayed this trip.  Large level sites, tiered up a hill, surrounded by big pines, log railings with vines growing along them.  The old fella looking after the place was super friendly, and the place spotless and well cared for.  What a treat.

Next morning we navigates the twisty, mountain side road through tunnels, around switchbacks and over bridges to Hells’s Gate.  This was a place of achievement. Here at Hell’s Gate a gondola goes down into the canyon to a place that has a rich history going back to the gold rush days.  The Fraser River roars through here.  Its been flowing swiftly with rapids and turbulent waters for miles, but at Hell’s Gate the mountains close in and the river narrows.  Its violent, over 100 ft deep and a marvel to see. 

In pioneer days  it was a huge challenge to get past Hell’s Gate because of the sheer rock walls and turbulent waters.  Today there is a highway above, and rail lines have been cut into the cliffs on both sides of the river.  It takes many tunnels cut through the rock for both road and train travel.  So there we are down at the bottom where you can have coffee, go panning for gold, enjoy beautiful, if small gardens, and one of the things to do is to go out on a bridge to walk across the river.  This was my challenge.  I hate heights, and really don’t like walking on grid things that you can see through, especially  when there are whirlpools and rapids and 100 feet of water below my feet.  It took some doing but I did it with strong armed men on each side to hang onto..

We finished our run through the canyon, followed the Fraser River to Chilliwack where we had lunch then made the run into Vancouver down the multi-lane.

This is a wonderful trip which I would encourage anyone who enjoys driving to plan on taking in their future.  We all hear about the standard tourist destinations, and know they are wonderful.  But - we should never overlook the roads lesser traveled.  That said I would not recommend it in the winter - although we have driven through the Fraser Canyon when the Coquihalla Pass was closed due to an avalanche and snow storms.  We didn’t have any problems because we drove carefully and waited for good weather for traveling.

From Kamloops Lake past the mighty Thompson River through to Cache Creek, the entrance point to Fraser Canyon, the highway  offers up a stunning array of ever-changing landscape.  Hoodoos likes those pictured forming in the photograph below remind one of the magical land featured in old time western movies.