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Active Canada
Kaye Fallick takes a car and drives through British Columbia and Alberta in search of adventure.
It wasn’t my first trip to Canada, but the others had involved too much air travel and too much time in cities. This trip was going to be different, with the freedom that only travelling by car can bring. A good move: the drivers are courteous, the roads are excellent, fuel prices lower than Australia, and there are endless and rewarding opportunities to depart from the main roads.
My first destination is a couple of days at Painter’s Lodge in Campbell River, a resort on the north-east coast of Vancouver Island, a fir treed jewel to the west of British Columbia.
The lodge is famed in North America as a sport or recreational fishing destination. Guests can eat their catch, send it home, or have a fish print made by a local artist who wraps it in silk, recreating the pattern of scales ready to be framed for the living room wall. During my stay, 120 fisherwomen - including an 82 year old who has attended every year - converge in the late June sunshine for the tenth annual Ladies’ Salmon Fishing Derby – just like a bakeoff, but with hooks and sinkers.
For Australians, the other attraction is the chance to relax after a long flight: to sit under an umbrella, gaze at snow-topped mountains, teal fir trees dense to the water’s edge, and the interplay of fishing boats, canoes, seals, and dolphins. At night, as many as ten cruise ships in an hour can glide majestically past, like Disneyland on water. Across Discovery Passage is April Point, a sister resort to Painter’s Lodge, and there’s a complimentary shuttle service so guests can freely enjoy the ecotourism features of April Point as well as the Sushi Bar or West Coast cuisine in the main dining room.
To Whistler
It takes only two hours to drive the Sea to Sky Highway from Vancouver to the resort town of Whistler, and it’s the best introduction to the grandeur of scenery only Canada can offer, with an inspiring kaleidoscope of rushing creeks, rugged cliffs, towering mountains and endless fir trees appearing with every twist of the highway. Whistler has 7000 permanent residents, but hosts two million skiers a year. With almost monotonous frequency, it has won awards for best ski and snowboarding resort in North America. Yet the long days and the diversity of outdoor activities create an equally compelling reason to visit Whistler in summer.Originally called Alta Lake, Whistler was renamed in the early 70s when the town’s fathers began a serious push to develop the skiing potential of the Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. Summer visitors are offered an impressive array of restaurants, boutiques, galleries and resort spas. Golf is the other clear favourite here, with four courses catering for all skill levels and budgets. Beyond the town, and into the surrounding valley, there are the options of hiking, water sports, and mountain bike riding.
To Wells Gray Provincial Park
The next day, serious touring began. The drive to Clearwater on the Duffy Lake route leaves behind the coastal mountains and traverses the plateau of the Cariboo region. I cross and recross the Fraser River on a seriously challenging section of highway, stopping frequently to marvel at frenetic white creeks, calm emerald lakes and to savour evocative names like “Cayoosh Creek” and “The Bridge of the 23 Camels”.Clearwater is an ideal accommodation choice for a two or three day exploration of the Wells Gray Provincial Park, a 540,000 hectare wonderland of volcanoes, waterfalls, mineral springs and glaciers. This corner of the Cariboo Mountains is also a rich repository of history, with traces of early homesteaders, fur trappers and prospectors. The most peaceful part of the park is the Ray Farm, where a farmer who helped local Indians during a smallpox epidemic was rewarded with a plot of land. The old homestead remains today, a headstone marking where John and Alice Ray lie buried in their former orchard.
Wells Gray also lays claim to some of the most spectacular falls in British Columbia. Late August at Bailey’s Chute, on the Clearwater River, is the prime time to watch Chinook salmon leaping out of the white water to negotiate the falls before arriving upstream to spawn and die. The chute is named after an engineer, James Bailey, who helped build the river crossing but, ironically, died in a boating accident. There are many ways to negotiate the wonders of Wells Gray – on foot, by boat, by car – with perhaps the best combining all three. From Wells Gray Ranch, situated at the entrance to the Park, a six-hour tour called the Western Appetizer combines mini-bus touring of the more spectacular falls, with canoeing on Lake Clearwater and hiking in old growth forests.
To Jasper
The four-hour drive the next day is a dream. The road follows the valley of the North Thompson River in the arms of the Rockies at Jasper. With a surfeit of grand peaks, Canadians have an endearing habit of naming mountains after people they admire. North of Valemount is Mount Terry Fox, named after the one-legged runner who attempted to cross Canada to raise money for medical research.Jasper is located on the north-western edge of the province of Alberta. It is the newest municipality in Canada as well as a National Park, with UNESCO World Heritage listing.
The best introduction is the Walk in the Past, hosted by Friends of Jasper. The early evening stroll celebrates Jasper’s forebears; fur traders, early mountaineers, miners, and schoolteachers. It starts at the historic visitor’s centre in Connaught St where we learn of the coming of the railway. A survey line was staked from Jasper through the Athabasca Pass for Canada’s first trans-continental railway in 1877, but the line was built instead through Kicking Horse Pass in Banff. It took another 34 years before the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway finally reached Jasper and the population soared. The frequent shunting and clanking of passenger and goods trains, and the imposing heritage station in the main street confirms that the railway still dominates the town.
For those wanting a geographic orientation of the Natioal Park, the Jasper Tramway takes just seven minutes to transport you 2500 metres to the upper terminal on Whistler’s Mountain (yes, another one!). From the terminal it is a solid 45-minute hike to the top. The reward is indescribable – a 360 degree view of six mountain ranges, with lakes, rivers and alpine meadows – and perhaps mountain goats, marmots or black bears.
It’s difficult to imagine a cleaner or greener environment than Jasper. It’s also an ideal base, for day trips to the Athabasca Falls, the former mining town of Pocahontas, or the hiking trails of Mount Edith Cavell. A refreshing way to end the day is the late afternoon tour to the Miette Hot Springs, featuring a dip in the hottest mineral springs in the Rockies. It’s all a great way to start to appreciate the Canadian wilderness – even a few days is worthwhile.
To Lake Louise
It’s only 230 kilometres on the Icefields Parkway, but the sightseeing opportunities can fill an entire day. The road runs beside the turbulent Athabasca River, the location for the Marilyn Monroe classic, River of No Return. A further 50-minute drive is the Athabasca Glacier, the highlight of the Columbia Icefields, the largest body of ice in the Canadian Rockies. Interpretive displays at the visitor centre are an excellent introduction to glacial formations, but nothing beats the exhilaration of a ride right onto the glacier itself in the specially built sno-coaches.The contrast between the natural history at the Columbia Icefields and the manmade luxury and sophistication of Chateau Lake Louise and the Banff Springs Hotel is huge. Built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late nineteenth century, these two hotels epitomise the grandeur of the Victorian era in the Rockies. Chateau Lake Louise borders the iridescent blue lake of the same name, at the base of the massive Victoria Glacier. A sunny afternoon is the perfect excuse to venture out in a canoe. Or perhaps a sumptuous afternoon tea after a short hike to nearby Lake Agnes.
To Banff
The town of Banff is located in the heart of Banff National Park, one hour’s drive from Lake Louise. The cultural heart of the Rockies, Banff offers fine restaurants, upmarket shopping arcades and a Centre for Arts, as well as an endless list of active pursuits. Try the Whyte Museum for an historical perspective, the Sulphur Mountain Gondola with its interpretive boardwalk, or the Upper Hot Springs Pool to soothe tired hikers’ limbs.A less expensive option than the chateaux of Banff and Lake Louise is to stay in the “bedroom” suburb of Canmore, 22 kilometres away, and make day trips to Banff and Lake Louise. Canmore also marks the start of Kananaskis country, the valley of the turbulent Kananaskis River. This is the time to test your nerve with some white water rafting! With all levels of confidence and ability catered for, this is a must-do activity. And viewing the beauty of the valley from the centre of the river whilst rushing downstream, in singing, swirling waters gives a whole new perspective.
To Calgary
Late in June, the hotels gear up for the Calgary Stampede, held on the first weekend in July. Hay bales, wagon wheels, old coaches, and post and rail fences appear in the most sophisticated of hotel lobbies. White hats and pick up trucks are everywhere as visitors from around the world descend upon Stampede Park for a week of beer drinking, bareback riding and Chuckwagon races.Calgary is my last stop. Since my first sighting of Mt. Terry Fox, I have travelled within the constant presence of the Rocky Mountains – every direction I look has offered at least one snow-topped peak, or amazing sunset – and I have enjoyed a profound sense of peace and wellbeing. Locals say visitors from prairie towns often feel crowded by this impressive chain of mountains, but my experience is the opposite – I felt strangely secure within the circle of their presence. Flying over the Rockies as I leave Canada, I experience a real sense of loss.
WHERE TO STAY
Cameron River - Painter’s Lodge or April Point
Ph (250) 286 1102Vancouver - Listel on Robson
Ph (604) 684 8461 www.listel-vancouver.comWhistler - Snow Country Cottage B&B
Ph (604) 938 1178 Email snowcc@direct.caClearwater - Blue Grouse Country Inn
Ph (250) 674 0200 www.bluegrousecountryinn.comJasper - Amethyst Lodge
Ph (780) 852 3394 www.mtn-park-lodges.comRafter Six Ranch Resort
Ph (403) 673 3622 Email vacations @raftersix.com
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