Day 9 & 10: Jasper, NP to Prince Rupert, BC

Day 9,  May 19, 2003:  Broke down camp and were on the road by 10:00.  Drove past Prince George about ½ way to Prince Rupert to a tiny town called Telkwa, BC.  This drive also was phenomenal through BC, especially the part when a black bear and her cub crossed the road.  The day began with a clear view of Mt. Robeson, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies.  This is an area worth coming back and exploring.  This area was much further ahead than the Banff-Jasper area with green leaves on the trees.  There were even tulips and daffodils blooming here, so Carissa got her spring flowers, afterall.  Toward the end of our drive, after seeing moose signs the whole way, and long after passing Moose Lake, Bryan finally spotted his moose standing in a swamp eating.  He had a small rack and was probably 25 feet from the road.  Of note, the big talk on the radio today is that there has been a case of mad cow disease found in Alberta, Canada over the weekend.  Remember those burgers and steaks we ate?  Oh boy.  Anyway, that night we stayed in the old schoolhouse B&B in Telkwa, BC, just outside of Smithers.  The couple that owns it has turned a tiny old schoolhouse into a great resting place with 2 bedrooms, complete kitchen, and large living room with a gas fireplace.  They drop off eggs, bacon, milk, and bagels, and have the kitchen well stocked so you can cook your own breakfast.  That way, you have the place to yourself.  It sits right on the river and so we heard running water all night long.    We took our time exploring and cooking in the morning and didn’t get off until noon the next day.  Mileage today = 464.

Day 10 May 20, 2003:  Today we left Telkwa for Prince Rupert.  Stopped in Smithers at the library to check email, etc.  Cool Norwegian mountain community.  We saw two more bears today, one in a field, one on the side of the road.  Both were about 5 miles apart, and only 2 miles from a place we stopped to hike to look at an old growth forest and a waterfall.  The forest definitely had a rain forest feel and had giant hemlock, spruce, and red cedar trees.  The drive from Terrace to Prince Rupert was stunning, and again we took our time.  We arrived in Prince Rupert after 8:00 pm.  Prince Rupert surprised us in its dumpiness.  We were expecting a quaint oceanside community, but instead we found a dirty, poor town that does not capitalize on travelers.  It was difficult for us to find a place that was open past 7:30 pm for dinner, let alone the seafood dinner we were imagining.  We ended up settling for questionable Chinese.   By 10:30, we headed down to the ferry docks to wait out the night.  They started lining us up at 2:30 AM for our 5:00AM departure.  Of course that meant going through customs again, but this time no incidents.  Once on the ferry, we picked out a spot on the upper deck, and camped out in our sleeping bags on lounge chairs and got some much needed shuteye.