Canada 2025

Thursday18September

We are leaving Jasper to reach the west of the country in 3 days. We are thus moving from Alberta to the province of British Columbia. We start with a quick stop in front of Mount Robson, which is being shy behind the clouds.

Mount Robson is the highest peak in the Rockies at 3,954 meters.

A small museum can be visited for free in the Visitor Center.

In front of the house, construction is underway to modernize the site.

The small museum.

Lunch break by Lake Eleanor in the tiny town of Blue River.

And we continue on the beautiful roads of British Columbia.

First stop in Kamloops at an Airbnb where we can enjoy real beds! That will rest our backs, which don't really like overusing air mattresses!

It's also an opportunity to do laundry and enjoy a real shower!

Friday19September

The house where we were hosted. Only part of the basement was reserved for us.

We leave Kamloops and join the town of Lake Country located on the shores of Wood Lake in the Okanagan valley.

Canada geese (Branta canadensis) enjoy Wood Lake.

Here we are between the town of Hope and the Myra Canyon for an activity that will be a change from hiking... cycling! We are on the historic route of the Kettle Valley Railway, a railway network that allowed the development of southern British Columbia at the beginning of the 20th century. Now converted into a bike path, this route allows you to discover the vestiges of this industrial period while crossing the landscapes of the Okanagan Valley. With bikes rented and mounted, we are off to traverse the trail which, fortunately, has no elevation gain despite the mountains!

The trail follows the steep slopes of the Okanagan Valley. The old railway line offers a superb panorama of the mountainous terrain and the surrounding forests.

Wooden trestle bridges allow for the continuity of the route all along the slopes of the ravine.

The cyclist can almost fly during the crossing of the aerial bridge.

The bridges were restored after the 2003 fires.

Crosses erected in memory of the cyclists who lost their lives here. Before the installation of railings and a continuous floor, crossing these old railway bridges, exposed to violent winds, cost the lives of several hikers in the 1980s and 1990s.

From restoration to devastation, these panels retrace the cruel history of Myra Canyon. After years of volunteer labor to develop the old railway bridges, the structures were suddenly reduced to ashes by the gigantic forest fire of 2003.

This commemorative plaque pays tribute to the artisans and volunteers who enabled the reconstruction of the famous Kettle Valley Railway trestles after the devastating 2003 fire.

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Nothing stopped the progress of the railway line; the mountain was pierced to facilitate the train's path.

Built in 1930-1931 to replace the original wooden trestle, this immense metal viaduct was assembled all around the old wooden structure. Thus, train traffic was never interrupted during the work.

Forming a colossal wall of crisscrossed beams, this gigantic trestle illustrates the scale of the Kettle Valley Railway infrastructure. Also largely destroyed by the 2003 fire (whose charred sections are still visible on the surrounding slopes), this wooden bridge was meticulously reconstructed identically.

Some of the walkways, here number 5, exceed 50 meters in height.

Old steam engines, nicknamed donkey engines, were found and reassembled after the 2003 fires.

After the trestle bridges, the trail continues a little further into the forest.

The markers that line the route.

End of the track! Marker 1 km, but I want to go to marker zero! So I pass the barrier.

And hop, here is marker zero. On its side are indicated 12 kilometers, the total distance from the start.

Midway, located on the border between Canada and the United States, marked the zero point of this railway line. The distances indicated on the Myra Canyon signs, measured in miles from this locality, served as a reference for managing railway traffic through the mountains of British Columbia.

86.4 miles (139 km) from this bridge to the Midway station.

No bears in the area, just a snake and a partridge!   A Western terrestrial garter snake, Thamnophis elegans, and a ruffed grouse, Bonasa umbellus, to be precise.

The West Fork Canyon Creek trestle, now known as Pooley Creek, is the most impressive structure in Myra Canyon, measuring 220 meters long and 55 meters high.

One last lap that we did twice anyway!   The first time slowly to enjoy the ride, and the second time, full speed ahead!  

For the night, we "pitch" our tent at the Bear Creek campground next to the city of Kelowna.

Our site is watched over by a feathered guardian! A Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)!

A quick trip into town to grab a bite. We set our sights on the Smoke's Poutinerie chain to try a poutine less classic than the one we had in Jasper!

My choice falls on the usual fries, cheese curds, and... peas, adding a touch of guilt-free feeling to the fat consumed.  

The name Kelowna comes from an indigenous word meaning "grizzly bear." Little chance of crossing paths with the mammal in the large urban city that the small town on the shores of Okanagan Lake has become.

Saturday20September

We are leaving Kelowna and its Okanagan Lake.

After 250 kilometers of driving, we arrive in the town of Hope, specifically at the WildRose Campground.

For this afternoon, we are going for a walk in the Othello Tunnels, former railway passages carved directly into the rock at the beginning of the 20th century.

Workers drilled through this granite rock to shape the route of the Kettle Valley Railway. Now transformed into a trail, this network of bridges and galleries allows walkers to cross the gorges carved by the Coquihalla River.

Consolidation work was carried out in 1934, several decades after its inauguration.

Back in the center of Hope. Established in the mid-19th century by the Hudson's Bay Company, the town of Hope takes its name from the hope of early explorers to discover a new trade route through the mountains of British Columbia. Located at the strategic confluence of the Fraser and Coquihalla rivers, this former village experienced strong development during the gold rush. Today, it is a peaceful town, framed by the peaks of the Cascade Range.

The Fraser River runs along the edge of the town.

Erected by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, this memorial commemorates the 1848 founding of Fort Hope by the Hudson's Bay Company following the drawing of the American border. Fort Hope became the strategic starting point for a complex network of river and land supply routes to the interior, active until the gold rush of 1860.

Sculptures were made with a chainsaw. This Indian chief was carved by Levi Caya during the Hope World-Class Chainsaw Event in 2021.

This old bearded forest spirit was created by sculptor Peter Rieger.

Randy Swope imagined this old wizard.

Another chainsaw-carved statue depicts Sheriff Will Teasle from the movie Rambo with Sylvester Stallone, filmed here in 1981.  

Sylvester also has his own wooden statue.  

And a bear by Pete Ryan, and an owl by Brigitte Lochhead.

Memorial Park.

The historic Hope cinema, opened in 1945.

We leave the town to reach the Hope Slide Site, where a colossal landslide occurred on January 9, 1965. Triggered by a minor earthquake, this landslide dumped more than 46 million cubic meters of rock into the Nicolum Creek valley, radically changing the topography and burying Outram Lake. Four people were killed in this landslide. But that's not all: a small plane crashed in the same spot a few months later, in August 1965, and another plane the following year, on April 23, 1966. The configuration of the mountains made it an aerodynamic and meteorological trap for aviators of the time.

The landslide moved more than 46 million cubic meters of rock and snow. The road and the old Outram Lake were 70 meters under our feet...  

End of the day. Tomorrow we head to Vancouver Island for the last week of the trip!