September 6 – 21, 2015.
Vancouver Island
On September 6, 2015, we took the ferry from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, BC and did our first border crossing with the XPCamper.
As expected we did not encounter any problems. It felt good to be back on Canadian soil even though BC is quite different from Eastern Canada.
Victoria, BC
The ferry arrives in the center of Victoria and it was a nice sunny day so we parked and walked.
Jordan River
From Victoria, we decided to head to the western coast of Vancouver Island and we spent the night by the ocean in Jordan River.
After a few days touring around Vancouver Island we made it to Nanaimo to catch the ferry to Vancouver (Horseshoe-Bay). We wanted to go to Tofino but it was raining and it turned out to be a longer drive than we thought.
Vancouver, BC
Sea to Sky Highway (99)
From Vancouver we headed north on the scenic Sea to Sky Highway (99).
Whistler, BC
Our first stop was the Whistler RV Park a few miles South of Whistler Village. It was a bit pricey for our budget since we usually favor free camping or Provincial/State/National Parks because we don’t need any hookups and prefer their privacy and rustic surroundings.
The Whistler RV Park offered a lot of services (Wi-Fi, hot showers, shuttle, organic coffee shop …) and had magnificent mountain views.
We took the Peak 2 Peak (Whistler to Blackcomb) Gondola tour from Whistler Village and spent the day on the mountain top.
We walked around, had lunch, admired the views and first thing we knew it was time to come back down. The sun was shinning and the surroundings were just magical. We really enjoyed our day at Whistler but were ready to continue on.
British Columbia’s roads are in excellent conditions and their Provincial Parks offer great campgrounds where you can stay for $15 a night and also their Recreation Areas where you can camp for free and get a nice leveled space, a picnic table, fire pit and pit toilet.
You can find those all along the highways in gorgeous settings making travelling easy and enjoyable. We ♥ BC.
Kitimat, BC
My nice Sandra lives in Kitimat in Northern BC close to Prince Rupert; when we decided to go to Alaska I knew we had to make a detour to Kitimat. It turned out to be one of the highlights of our Northern trip, for two reasons:
- Seeing my niece was surely nice since I had not seen her in a few years and she announced that her and her boyfriend Tim were expecting a baby. WOW!
- Salmon Fishing was one of our bucket list items. We had the best two days of fishing Coho Salmon on the Kitimat River with Sandra and Tim, who turned out to be a real expert. He had all the gear for us and he patiently gave us all the pointers we needed to make this a memorable time.
The company, the weather, the beauty of the surroundings, the nature and catching our limit made this experience one we will never forget. Thank you Sandra and Tim!
Joe had noticed an oil leak in the rear differential casing, so with the help of Tim we found a good mechanic that fixed the problem and he also noticed that we had a dimple in our drivers side Hellwig Air Bag, which we ended up getting fixed in Anchorage, AK after it bursted. I guess it’s all part of life on the road. “You’ve got to take the good with the bad…”
Stewart-Cassiar Highway (37)
From Kitimat we headed north on Stewart-Cassiar Highway (37) all the way to the Alaska Highway (1) in Yukon. The weather was not the best, partly cloudy with a bit of sun here and there. But still a lot of beautiful nature to look at.
Yukon
Whitehorse, Yukon
Alaska Highway, Yukon
What a journey! So great to see your photos from my two hometowns (Victoria and Vancouver). Hope Alaska is treating you well and the bears aren’t eating all your salmon!
Hi Chris, thanks for following our adventures. You were right about Tofino! We are on our way to catch the ferry in Haines to do the inside passage all the way to Prince Rupert. Cheers!