Covering the distance
Today was a pretty dull day actually. We started off this morning on high spirits with a good breakfast and the prospect of some driving and some nice activities.
Unfortunately, the latter has bot proven to be right. Nor has the first for that matter.
The drive itself was good, yet dull. I mean, call us spoiled, but after nearly 4000 km of pine forests and small lakes, you get the point. Today the road was scarcely used and from time to time we passed through small communities about the size of your average street with nearly all businesses closed down and buildings in shambles. Not too pretty to the eyes, but a realistic image we’ve encountered before and probably will hereafter.
We were looking forward to the activities we though of; small hikes, interesting natural phenomena and good views all around. That was until we stopped in Houston where the nice ladies from the Visitor Center looked at us sheepishly when we told them we wanted to hike and had a cleancut message for us: not here.
So we went on.
And found out that even though the landscape was good and getting better, the hiking was next to impossible. Only very short hikes (10 minutes or less) or very long and strenuous (6 hours +) were available. That’s is not for us.
To top this, we went out to a site reportedly giving access to fossil beds and good sightseeing options where we found out the beds were inaccessible, protected and not viewable as they were 30 meters up on a steep hillside littered with rocks and gravel. It had a nice wheelchair accessible road though! Equality! 🙂
Finally, we went out to a suggestion by the guy from the Smithers Visitor Center: a 2 hour return hike to a nice viewing point which overlooks the majority of the valley and gives nice views of the adjourning snow capped mountains. This was a good trail over some private property, but well worn and easy to follow.
A good end to a weird day.
Maybe we are getting tired, maybe we are spoiled. Let’s hope tomorrow is a better day.
Unfortunately, no pictures today.
“after nearly 4000 km of pine forests and small lakes, you get the point.” – very recognizable. Worst thing I found after coming back to a city (Chicago in my case), I thought ‘pfft, city is not as cool as nature’. Or maybe I was just tired from driving for two weeks.