Kamloops to Bigbie Summit

70 Mile House on the Caribou Gold Trail

We are now somewhere near 70 Mile House on the Caribou Gold Trail going north to Prince George and then west tot Prince Rupert. We did not travel far today but got to do some sightseeing.
Just north of Kamloops on Hwy 97 we stopped at a great lookout to view the lake there down to Kamloops. You could probably see 30 to 50 miles. Often the trees in this area are dead from bark beetle infestation and the wood is not good for commercial use although I am told it could be if people would use it.
Next stop was the Hat River House or ranch which was on of the 50 some stopovers every 10 miles or so for the miners headed to Hatcher. This was a great stop for Bev and she enjoyed looking at the old rooms and the farming machinery as well as stables. Unfortunately, we were too late for the stage coach ride and so we missed that but the interpretive guide was great with stories of the original families and their misadventures (three were hanged plus a friend for killing the sheriff).
Now we are camped for the night at a view site after going down the Painted Gorge to take some photos of the various stratus of rock that formed during the last ice age.
Scruffie has found a place when traveling on Bev’s lap and that seems to be where he is most comfortable. When we leave him for the day sightseeing he seems to prefer the closet where we keep the shoes so I made some extra space for him.
I thought that we would be getting out of the mountains and into a long valley between mountain ranges but it seems that we are still climbing and then going downhill quite a lot but the mountains are not so steep and the road is much better with lots of passing lane areas. Gas to seems to be all one price with just a 1c difference between cities and the country areas with the country less than the city. But it’s still $1.39 CND per liter (4 liters to the gallon).
Later in the evening we climbed to the top of Bigbie Summit to the fire lookout station, wow you could see 50 miles in one direction and about 100 miles all around you. The valley just seems to spread out everywhere.
I will try to post this later with the pictures.
Lorne