Day 7

Saturday September 17, Day 7, Pemberton-Lillooet-Cache Creek

After almost a week in Pemberton, it is time to leave. I had plans to see Whistler, go up into the alpine meadows, but the weather has turned wet and cold and the forecast is for a week of more rain and cold. Whistler wasn’t high on my list of things to see. It used to be a small mining town, and only in the 1980s has it been turned into a skiing resort. Because of the Olympic Winter Games, it is now very well-known. The centre might be nice, and the mountains around it are beautiful, but the chalet type condos all over the place are not attractive to me. They look like condos in any ski resort, be it the French Alps or Vail in Colorado. We would have enjoyed seeing the view and the meadows, but it is not to be. Across the pass, on the other side of this mountain range, it is supposed to be warm and sunny. That is where we are heading for.

Our host has decided to come with us half way today, have lunch with us and then we can begin our road trip. He knows the area well. We are heading for Lillooet. Our first stop is Joffre Lake, a beautiful lake, where we stop because of the whiskey jacks, another name for the very hungry grey jays which will land on your hand if you offer them a piece of bread or a biscuit. They are very swift and it is difficult to catch them on camera, but my friend manages to take a few good ones.

Photo taken by Joke de Bakker

The next stop is Duffy Lake which is full of old and bleached tree trunks and branches, then on along the Cayoosh Creek and through the Cayoosh Canyon which is very picturesque. The sun tries to get through the low clouds and every now and then we get a glimpse of the white mountain tops. We take lots of photos, of the lake, of a waterfall, of the canyon, but reality is far better than any of the photos we take.  At Lillooet I eat my first buffalo burger, in the Reynolds Hotel, near the railway on top of a hill. Before we say our goodbyes to our host, a woman kindly offers to take a picture of the four of us in front of the hotel.

Along route 99 North of Lillooet

It is warm and sunny here, and the land is dry. We follow route 99, north through the Fraser Canyon, watching the train deep below us. Once a line taking passengers north, even to Prince George, it is now only used by long freight trains. It must have been quite an experience, going through tunnels and across high bridges, along the river deep down in the canyon, and across bridges high up on trestles. This area with bare yellow rocks and little vegetation reminds me of Nevada, of the high desert at Gold Hill over Reno. The road turns east through Marble Canyon, through a green area along a creek with a long and narrow camping ground, cool in the shadow of the mountains. As soon as we emerge from the canyon, we hit upon bare rocks again. We turn into route 97 and stop at Cache Creek, where the 97 to Kamloops and route 1 meet. It is a non-town, just a crossroads with a few motels and eating places, gas stations, and a general store. The motel though is nice, with pleasant flower boxes, so we call it a day.