Day 70 – June 12

Similar to it’s Vancouver Island counterpart, the RV Campground had no redeeming feature other than its geographic location. As the previous night, its promised wifi was non existent, there was only one dumping station, the on site stations having been long abandoned, the shared picnic table would have collapsed under the weight of a chunky sparrow and the water was foul tasting. Other than that it was a great place to sleep.

We headed into Prince Rupert for coffee and wifi where we spent the best part of an hour getting caught up with email, paying some bills, catching up on the adventures of the LRT and posting to the blog – we were several days behind. Blog posting by the BRT will probably become more sporadic as we move into the more sparsely populated north.

Based on positive reviews by Jane and Ike as they moved through Prince Rupert we decided to visit the Northern Pacific Cannery Historic Site, but not before we explored the Sunken Gardens in downtown Prince Rupert. Following somewhat disjointed directions from someone on the sidewalk that offered help when they saw us consulting a map we eventually located the gardens. As expected, the Sunken Gardens, were built in a amphitheatre like depression. Although small, with two full time staff the beds were well kept, and as we expected at home the rhododendrons were just at their peak.

A Prince Rupert totem

The Sunken Garden

The latter part of the road to the Cannery was a bit rough, possibly a warm up for what lies ahead of us, and we arrived just as the 2:00 tour was to begin. There were two parts to the tour, the first being the industrial part and the second being the residential part. Our tour guide, Darwin, was just gaining experience in leading the tour and was prone to be conversational so our anticipated 45 minute tour quickly became over an hour long for just the first part. We had planned to have lunch there based on Jane and Ike’s recommendation but were disappointed to find out that the restaurant was only opened on weekends until summer hours started.

As this was the day that Sean and Carla had planned to head east to Banff and Jasper and then home they began to feel the pressure to get on the road and as we were planning to only go as far as Terrace, not as far as they had hoped to travel that day, we said our goodbyes there. Although we knew, since Sean and Carla joined us on May 1 at the Grand Canyon, that this day was coming, it has seemed to have come all too quickly. On a trip of this length, the company of good friends is a great comfort at the end of a day. The shared experiences seemed all the fuller viewed through their eyes as well as ours and we will sorely miss their company.

Diane and I stayed for a bit more of the tour but we too eventually had to leave the quickly decreasing tour group before the completion of the first phase. The cannery tour was a great insight into the history behind the once thriving salmon fishery and the related cannery industry that, in its hey day, saw factories like this one all along the shores of the Skeena River. The tour laid out the history of the fish processing industry from its earliest days of hand processing and cutting the tin cans from sheet metal and lead soldering them on site to the more modern machinery that displaced hundreds of the Chinese and First Nations labourers.

Frozen in time

The cannery dock

The net loft

After leaving the tour we headed east, an unusual direction for us, towards Terrace, where we planned to stay for the night. The trip along the #16 highway was an unexpected treat. Closely following the course of the westwardly flowing Skeena the road runs at bottom of a steep sided valley. On each side the hills climb to their snow capped peaks, the runoff of which feeds the many waterfalls that punctuated our route. The whole trip felt strangely reminiscent of our voyage up the inside passage of two days earlier.

There was a time in this fair land when…..

The Skeena River

Even with frequent stops for photos we made it to Terrace by 6:30. The first RV spot we checked out, even though recommended in our BC camping guide book and having a full barrage of amenities, including cable TV, just didn’t feel right. There was a single vacancy but the sites were small and unattractive so we moved on in search of another site listed in our guide. On our way to that site we ran across a municipal campground on Ferry Island, 2 minutes from the centre of Terrace and although only electricity was provided on the site we felt much more comfortable on the large well treed site.

While Diane did her back exercises I scouted out access to the Skeena for the following morning. As we were getting a little low on groceries and frankly, ambition, we followed the recommendation of the camp manager and ordered pizza from Checkers Pizza, which delivered right to our site – a first for us. Delivery was prompt and arrived at 8:00 as we tuned in the first overtime period of the Chicago vs Boston Stanley Cup playoff. Reception was particularly poor, taking us some time to determine which coloured blob was which team but the audio was fine.

After the game we decided to finish watching our serial instalment movie before going to bed, still a little sad after now having parted with all of our travelling companions. Road trips of this duration and length, now 70 days and over 16,000 kilometres and counting are not without their risks. Travelling together in the ‘armadillo’ offered some comfort that everyone was ok and we were there to help each other even if it was just a piece of rope you needed, thanks Ike, or a hand with a heavy bike rack, thanks Sean. Travelling alone not only removes some of that safety net but also leads your mind to thinking about the welfare of your former companions, whom at home you may not have thought of for days. Strong bonds get formed through common experiences. Each day we will wish the LRT and the MRT fair winds and following seas.