It was an epic and memorable trip in May’17, which was originally intended for WL and her friend CY to attend their friend’s wedding in Vancouver. It eventually panned out to be a partial road trip for the 3 of us, and then slowly evolved to be an activities-filled 16-day YOLO trip. Follow the entries to read about the daily happenings!
Day 6: Driving from Vancouver to Clearwater
The start of our road trip! We booked a sedan, but got a SUV instead! It actually got us a little nervous, as we've never driven a SUV before. I was the first to drive the first leg of the journey, out of downtown Vancouver to the Trans-Canada Highway (Hwy 1). The worry was unfounded, as the SUV was much better to drive in, due to the higher seats, and it had a bigger capacity to pack our 3 gigantic luggages. Personally, it was quite a joy, to say the least!
It was probably about 2 hours when we decided to have a lunch break at a restaurant just beside one of the exits of the Hwy. The restaurant was just next to the
Bridal Veil Falls Provincial park, where we decided to drop by for a quick visit. It was just a 10-min walk on the trail to reach the bridal veil falls, a 122-metre majestic waterfall that can only be partially seen from the viewing point. The rock face created a veil-like effect of the waterfall, hence inspiring the name. It makes a really good stop along the highway, considering that the tall waterfall is so accessible -- the visit can be done within just half an hour.
CY drove the next leg of the journey. We made a brief stop at
Hell's Gate, where we alighted and walked around for a short while, before hastily made our way back to the car. Strong winds were passing through the mountains and menacing clouds were turning the sky dark.
We reached
Kamloops close to sunset (around 7 plus or 8 plus), a popular stop halfway between Vancouver and Jasper, where drivers and train passengers commonly stay for a night at. After refuelling, WL took over the wheel and drove us onwards to Clearwater, where we had decided to be our pitstop for the day.
It started pouring really hard during this leg of the journey. Temperatures dropped, the skies were dark and we had to drive slow. At one point, it became so cold that the windscreen started to fog. Being new to such a phenomenon, our first reaction was just to wind down the windows to let the air temperatures be constant, instead of reaching for the anti-fog function of the car.
Traffic slowed to a complete stop in the punishing rain, with just 20km to go. The area was dark. When we finally reached Clearwater town at around 10 plus, the town was shrouded in darkness. We spent a long time locating our accommodation, amidst darkened buildings and empty streets. It felt like a ghost town. We finally found the receptionist inside a darkened building of our accommodation, and were told there was a blackout all around the town. It had poured really hard before we arrived, trees fell and electricity was cut. Standing in the open was a torture when it was probably just 2-3 deg C then.
Being power-less inside our room, we could do nothing much. Thankfully, the heater was still fine, so I could still have my warm shower in darkness before sleeping. The girls didn't like darkness and preferred to skip their bath.
