Travelling in the North of the Province

Here is a photographic record of a trip we made into Northern British Columbia in October.  We drove up the island to the ferry terminal at Bear Cove, close to Port Hardy.  This is the route that lost the Queen of the North a few years ago when it ran into Gill Island in the dark.  Some of the crew lost their jobs as a result. The Northern Expedition has replaced it on the route.  This is a very beautiful ship indeed.  We left at 6.00 p.m. so we had a few hours in daylight before reaching Prince Rupert at 4.00.pm. the next day.  A lovely trip.

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Northern Expedition

In the Inside passage

We stayed two nights in Prince Rupert and on the second day we went to an old canning factory on the River Skeena.  Fishing is still important but the canning industry has collapsed in the face of ships with freezer capability.

The River Skeena

A bit worse for ware

The old cannery, now a museum but closed that day

The Museum

After Prince Rupert we drove toward Terrace and visited the First Nations Nisga'a reserve north of Terrace.  The reserve contains a number of villages and we visited Gitwinksihlkw
on the River Skeena

Footbridge over the Skeena

The River Skeena in full flow, very muddy

Totem Poles guarding the Skeena Bridge entry

Gitwinksihlkw

A significant feature on the reserve lands are the Nisga'a Lava beds which stretch for quite  distance down to the river.  The volcano cone can be visited but it was bit off the beaten track .

The NIsga'a lava beds

The Big House at Gitlaxt'aamiks:(formerly New
New Aiyansh)

Totam Poles at Gitlaxt'aamiks

Close up

A small waterfall along the way

A glacial river

We stayed two nights in Terrace and on the second day we drove down to Kitimat.  This is a company town developed by Alcan Canada now Rio Tinto Alcan that was placed at the top end of a deep fjord linking to the Pacific Ocean.  The reason the town is there is that there is an aluminium smelter that required a large supply of electricity and that was provided by a hydro electric scheme in the mountains near by.  The aluminium ore comes in from Jamaica!  While in Kitimat we called into a couple from Comox - Jim and Kathryn.  Jim is a carpenter who moved to Kitimat on a temporary basis to find work on the redevelopment of the Rio Tinto Alcan Plant and his wife had joined him there.

An old ferry used as accommodation, mainly for management staff.  The Silja Festival was used in the Baltic

An ore carrier at the plant

Our travels took us to the east and then north towards Stewart on the Alaska border where we were to spend two nights.  On the way we passed by the Usk Pioneer Chapel.  The chapel was originally the Marsh Memorial Church in Usk across the Skeena River and it was placed it Highway 16 as a wayside chapel.

The Usk Pioneer Chapel

The route took up the Cassiar Highway past the First Nations village of Kitwanga that has over 50 totem poles within a short distance.  There were plenty to see in the village itself.

About the totem poles

A fine bird atop a pole

Not a happy chap

On the way into Stewart you pass the Bear Glacier, right by the road.

The toe of the Bear Glacier

Stewart lies on the Alaska border and nearby is the Salmon Glacier.  To reach this you cross into Alaska and then cross bck into Canada.  The road starts off paved but becomes gravel as you climb up beside the glacier, a drive well worth doing.

The toe of the Salmon Galcier

Further up the glacier

The river valley running out of the glacier

Not a lot of wild life while we were there

An old snowmobile in Stewart, not going anywhere

Our home for two nights

This has seen better days - a bum boat for moving logs around

We had mixed weather, this day had low cloud as we left Stewart

On our way back to the Yellowhead Highway on the way to Smithers we visited the First Nations Museum site at Hazelton

A small totem pole at Hazelton

The Museum buildings - closed at this time of the year

Totem Pole detail

The top of another pole

Bridge at Hazelton over the River Bulkley

The River Bulkley Gorge

We spent two nights in  Smithers, the second day was pretty wet.

Fish Ladders

We stayed the night at a lovely B and B on Clucunx Lake near Prince George.  We visited Prince George and met up with an old Brandon friend for dinner.  The next day we drove a long day to Kamloops to see Tim and Aileen and the boys and then drove the last leg to Comox.