Another early morning before sunrise, but what a morning! The rain passed by in the night as promised and the skies were clear. I took a few quick snaps of Kamloops from the hotel parking lot before climbing into the car for the drive along the Thompson River and, after it joins the Fraser at Lytton, down the Fraser Valley. This is big sky and big hill country. Nothing here is small except for the amount of annual rainfall. It's hard to describe the scale of the countryside when everything is simply huge. 100-car freight trains look like miniature toy scale compared to the hills that the tracks wind around. Tall trees look like dwarfs. The autumn colours of the vegetation blaze in yellows and golds, balanced by the deep greens of the fir and pine. Everywhere else sagebrush and amber grass roll on to the horizon.
I looked for signs of this summer's forest fires, and found them most clearly around Cache Creek, which still smells strongly of charred wood, and in patches southwards along the Thompson. I didn't see any burned buildings, but did see several that survived despite being right at the edges of burn zones. Now that I've seen the land that the fire crews had to deal with, I'm filled with admiration for their strength and fortitude. Km 6900, an hour or so south of Kamloops, is a simply awe inspiring place. The hills rise high above the Thompson River canyon with sparse evergreen trees dotted along the slopes and ridges. The creeks that flow down the hills create their own miniature gorges, which are populated by golden-leaved trees and shrubs. The train tracks snake along both banks of the river - westward along the right bank and eastward along the left. A small farm growing fruit trees and melons has a little roadside shack for selling to passers-by in season, but was closed today. The river rushes over rapids as it falls southwards towards its confluence with the Fraser and the cold wind rushes with it through the valley. As the sun rose higher, the temperature rose slightly, but my hands were quite stiff by the time I got back in the car to continue to Km 7050. I ran into rain again by the time I reached Boston Bar. The landscape began to change, too, getting wetter and more heavily forested as the Fraser ran south. By Km 7050, cedar trees joined the mix in the forest, perfuming the air with their resin. Waterfalls spilled down cliffs and the soil was rich and spongy. At Hope the river turns west and the valley widens out. Blueberry farms, with rows of bushes turning bright red, alternate with other lowland crops and cattle grazing in pastures. The highway became a 4-lane, then 6-lane expressway for the run in to the Vancouver area and traffic filled it. The last stop of the day was at Km 7200 in Burnaby. The city skyline and rushing traffic along the expressway were a world away from the peaceful Thompson and Fraser valleys. I was happy to find my hotel nearby and enjoyed a good meal in the attached restaurant. Tomorrow I catch the ferry to Victoria Island and the last two stops on this western leg of the Transcanada Highway. It's hard to believe that in another day I'll have traveled the highway's length from coast to coast.
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Carol Loeb
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