I didn’t know before today that Moxie’s does breakfast. At least, the one attached to the hotel. And it was pretty decent, even if it was $85 for three people.
Hitting our usual gas station on Columbia St (formerly a Husky, now a Co-op), we returned to the Trans Canada and headed west. Climbing out of the Thompson River valley, we passed the turn off for the Coquihalla (Highway 5) and plunged back down towards the Thomspon again, as the Trans Canada sort of follows the Canadian Pacific line to the west.
It’s been over 20 years since I’ve been on this part of the Trans Canada, and I was going the other direction, and it was summertime. But there was no snow, and while rain had been threatened, we soon found an area where it looked like it hasn’t precipitated since August.
We went along the rises and falls around Kamloops Lake (I hope I remember to go this way the next time, so I can stop and take some pictures), then across the Thompson on a drive out to Cache Creek. (We would learn, upon arriving at Ruskin, that Allen has a particular distaste for Cache Creek. I can’t really figure why.)
There, we turned south, passing some surely epic terrain, each kilometre giving us something new and amazing. We nearly hit a coyote – our only wildlife spot on the trip – rounding towards Spences Bridge, when we crossed again to the south side of the Thompson.
Since crossing to the north side of the Thompson about an hour earlier, I’d been spotting trains quite easily. From Mission in the Lower Mainland up to Ashcroft, not far from Cache Creek, the two railways – CPKC and CN – have an agreement to run trains “west” on the CN line, and “east” on the CPKC. This avoids either of them having to build expensive passing tracks (sidings) in the extremely limited space in the Fraser Canyon. So every few turns, we saw another train coming up the line.
We eventually arrived in the (remains of the) town of Lytton, which burnt to the ground a few years ago during a brutal heatwave that sent temperatures into the high 40s, basically unheard of in Canada. The most-believed story is that a CN train sparked a brush fire, but I’m just as keen to believe it was a motorist who flicked a burning cigarette out the window. No matter the cause, the town was wiped out. Today, it’s rebuilding, but I wonder if it could ever be returned to the way it was.
I missed the turnoff for the Cisco bridges, which I’d hoped to see on the trip. Unfortunately, I was also preoccupied with a road I barely knew and the absolutely fantastic clouds that seemed to weave themselves into the treed canyon. We pulled off at Kanaka Bar, further south, which is when I realized I’d missed the bridges.
There’s not many stops along the Trans Canada in the Fraser Canyon, far fewer than on the east-west portion that runs between the end of Eagle Pass and the east side of Rogers Pass, which is almost 150 km. So when Choo Choo announced it would be really nice to stop at a gas station, it became urgent to find even a rest stop … of which there are also nearly none.
We got to Boston Bar before any accidents, but we all had to go. Choo Choo noticed something, too – the smell of Boston Bar. It’s absolutely wonderful. I don’t know what causes it, or if it was the right conditions, but it was a sharp, fragrant “pine” that blew us away … well, almost all of us, Monkey couldn’t smell it.
We took a slight detour to cross the river, mostly out of curiosity to see the North Bend, which is CPKC’s divisional point in the canyon (Boston Bar is CN’s; both are VIA stops, as the VIA Canadian runs on both tracks).
We then crossed through the various tunnels: China Bar, Ferrabee, Hells Gate, and Alexandra, which come in fairly quick succession. (I wanted to stop to get a picture with us at Alexandra, but there really was no viable place for us to pull over. We also skipped the Alexandra Bridge, which I also wanted to see.)
Soon we were passing into Yale, which we also passed through briefly. Yale was, once upon a time, the end of the line for the river ferries – above Yale, the river was considered unnavigable from all the rapids and rocks. From here, the cart road was the only way to the gold fields. With the arrival (and passing through of) the railway, Yale started to slump as a stopping point; once the highway went through, it was all but over for the small town. It’s still there today, but mostly retirees. The railway literally runs through the middle of the small town.
I had hoped to hook onto Highway 7 and just continue on to Ruskin, but Choo Choo wanted to sidestep into Hope for Christmas present shopping. She needed to get Alex something and hadn’t had a chance before we left. But Hope is not exactly a tourist mecca, nor does it brimming with great gift options. Our stop was short, before continuing to Chilliwack.
There, we discovered just how large Chilliwack really is, driving several kilometres to the south to find exactly the sort of store that Alex loves … but without anything that seemed to fit the need. We popped into the Cottonwood Centre instead.
It was raining when we got back on the Trans Canada for the final push. When I saw Castle Fun, it dawned on me how many years we’ve been coming here and never once have we taken the kids there. I am determined that, this trip, they’re going.
The rest of the trip is routine: Abbotsford, Matsqui, Mission, Silverdale, Ruskin. We tried to record us saying “Weeeeeeeee’re iiiiiiiinnnnn Ruskin!” (a tradition), but Monkey very curiously developed an inability to use her phone.
Not long after arriving, we made a quick stop to Randy and Annie next door to say “hello” and drop off a heater that Granny and Grandpa had borrowed when their in-floor heating had failed. They were subsequently invited to Christmas dinner after we learned that they wouldn’t be having theirs due to illness in the family.
It’s wet. It’s quiet (except for the passing trains). And while it might be chilly, there is no snow. I can hack a green Christmas, for a change.
