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Originally Posted by stump
Thanks for posting this. I've been looking at taking another trip around BC this year and you've given me a couple of ideas. I've lived here my entire life yet have never taken some of your routes, specifically the Port Hardy ferry to Bella Coola but it's always been on the back of my mind to visit.
I've had my eye on the Mount Robson area for a hike.
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There is so much to see in just British Columbia and it's a shame that many people don't venture very far outside of Lower Mainland. I know many locals that have lived their whole lives in here and never been north of Whistler, which is incredible considering that it's there where the scenery starts getting truly spectacular.
The ferry from Port Hardy to Bella Coola (10 hours) offers amazing vistas of the fjords of Inside Passage and I can only assume it gets even better on the way to Prince Rubert (16 hours). They now have a brand new vessel on this route which is nice, but very no frills.
Booking one of these sailings is slightly more tricky than to Vancouver Island, as you need to send an email application and won't know right away if you will be getting on. In our case the ferry ended up being only 85% full, so there is a chance of traveling on a standby, but I wouldn't risk it with one sailing only every two days. Be also prepared to pay quite a bit for the trip, as we paid $640 for a car and two people. Not cheap!
With regards to Mount Robson, like said, one really needs to plan ahead and they open up booking for next year already on the previous October, so much earlier than your normal provincial campsites. Mount Robson can be seen well from Highway 5 and the visitor center, but the famous view from behind and across Berg Lake, will require hiking 23 kilometers one-way, so overnight camping is a must. So plan ahead.
I still want to say that Wells Gray Provincial Park only 2 hours north of Kamloops had some of the most spectacular waterfalls we have seen in all of BC and all easily accessible. It certainly exceeded our expectations on the way back.
We were also curious to visit Tweedsmuir Provincial Park along Highway 20, where Hunlen Falls are the 3rd tallest in Canada. However, the area is super remote with not many people and a lot of bears, so we didn't do the hike. There are a lot of black bears and grizzlies in the Bella Coola valley, so you may want to have more than two on most hiking trails.
Otherwise Bella Coola is absolutely spectacular and the mountains tower over one. The town itself has very little in terms of tourist services and food services (only 1 restaurant was open every day). There is still some good accommodation to be found and I would like to give a shout-out to Rip Rap Camping as being cheap and excellent.
Talking about cheap, gas prices seemed to be very similar where ever we went, remote or not. Gas is definitely more expensive in Vancouver than in Bella Coola which is a bit bonkers.
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Originally Posted by whatnext
Prince George managed to combine the worst of BC cities and worst of BC small towns into one package.  |
We really wanted to like Prince George and the renovated Coast Hotel in downtown is very nice. Unfortunately the downtown area has a lot of shady people and drug users, and so our locked bikes were stolen from in front of hotel door and good security cameras. Luckily, they didn't damage our car in the process, so at least that's something to be happy about.
There is not much to do or see in Prince George, so I can understand most people treating it as a stopover while in the area. Nearby pulp mills can also be smelled when the wind is just right, which is not very appealing.
What I was still mostly impressed by was how authentic and friendly people you find when you go to these smaller municipalities and more remote areas. It's a huge country that we live in and there are some people to be found everywhere, which is pretty incredible.
Definitely want to do another trip further up north and one day the dream is to have enough time to drive all the way to Alaska.
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