VANCOUVER TO HARRISON HOT SPRINGS AUGUST 20 - 23, 2013

Our next destination was to find a campsite within driving distance to Vancouver.  Paul had found an automotive shop in Vancouver that could help us with our leaky convertible roof.  Yep, all the rains we'd been having the last 2 weeks had really saturated our roof and the leaks meant we always had to have a couple of towels ready in the car whenever we drove anywhere...not a good thing.  It had been getting worse the last few months and he was so excited to find someone who specialized in fabric roof repair.  So, I did some searching and found Klahanie RV Park in Squamish, BC.  Our drive would be about 45 min into Vancouver from here. 

Not quite sure how to describe this park.  No one around to answer questions, all self check in with a very tiny map to route me through the very tight little dirt maze of the park.  Thank goodness I did it alone in the car, the motorhome would have gotten stuck, I'm sure.  Finally after lots of looking I did find a site large enough for us and in the shade for Foster.  All in all, it turned out to be a pretty great park, definitely nothing fancy. Being close to Vancouver made it a good deal with a laundry room that I really needed.

Once we got settled we walked across to the other side of the highway for a walk up to Shannon Falls. A pretty afternoon walk, we could even see the falls from our campsite which was neat.  That night we watched the headlights of climbers up on the rock walls near the falls, much like in Yosemite.

 We drove into the little town of Squamish and stopped along the way for a look at Stawamus Chief Provincial Park.  Huge rock climbing area but no camping.

 The little bay was perfect for a pretty evening view then back to our campsite.  We learned later that day that our little Grand Nephew, Harvey Marcus, had been born that day in Baltimore, MD. Such long awaited, happy news!

 Wednesday we were up early and in Vancouver by 10:00. it was going to take most of the day to get the treatment done on the top but we were able to catch the metro and spend the day along Vancouver's waterfront.  What a perfect day in the city with lunch outside at a Japanese Restaurant.

 By 3:00 we got a call that the car was ready so back we went. We got the demonstration of the new waterproof surface on the top and we started the drive back during rush hour traffic, which wasn't very rushed at all.

 Now that we were done with city stuff it was time to move the motorhome further east and our next stay at Sasquatch Provincial Park, near Harrison Hot Springs. A lovely small resort area with all kinds of things for kids, including the water park area out on the lake.

 But the real treat was finding the most ideal campsite in the park on a Thursday evening...right along Deer Lake.

 I had stopped making reservations knowing that as long as we were in a park by mid week, Thursday at the latest, there were usually sites available.  I knew that the park was 7 mi north of Harrison, but that was only the entrance to the park.  From there it became a gravel road...read BUMPY...for another 5 miles till we reached the first of 3 different campgrounds. The first campground was OK and had one or 2 sites we could take but too dark and not much under story for privacy, so I decided to check out the other campground at Deer Lake.

 In Canada, you check the reservation list to see which sites are open for the night. I use the iPhone to take a picture of the list then go looking.  There were 2 sites available and one was absolutely perfect...view of the lake, private, with trees all around. Evidently someone had booked the site, then cancelled so it was available for the next 2 nights. As we had found with all the provincial parks, there were no rangers anywhere around, you just check into an available site and they come later in the afternoon to collect the fee. Well, we waited for 2 days and no one ever came.

 So we were treated to a beautiful complementary campsite with these views

 We did spend the 2nd day in the little town of Harrison and enjoyed the hot springs there as well as a walk along the lake and wifi time at the resort. Nice two days though pretty chilly and gray.

Next stop...Hope, BC

DUFFY LAKE ROAD August 19, 2013

Catching up again...which takes us back to Whistler area of BC. The road from Whistler east to Lillooet, Highway 99-Duffy Lake Road,  is beautiful and also a bit treacherous for our big RV with car in tow. But in the convertible with top down it was wonderful!  Our first stop was at Nairn Falls Provincial Park for a nice river walk.  Along the way we met up with a group of 5 very enthusiastic rafters carrying their rubber raft down the hillside to the raging Green River...hanging onto the limb to get settled and then off they went! 

 We continued on to the falls for some beautiful views. The park is just 20 minutes north of Whistler with a lovely campground

 Back in the car we drove on to Pemberton for a few groceries and lunch.  From here we began the climb up Duffy Lake Road to Joffre Lakes Provincial Park.

 We hiked only to the first of the three lakes from there is it a stiff 2.5 mi to Middle Joffre Lake and a challenging ascent for another mile to Upper Joffre.  Being mid afternoon it was perfect to sit and enjoy the view from the lower lake.

 The view was stunning as we came around the corner. Teal blue water, surrounded by trees with the snowy mountains in the background. Absolutely gorgeous!  We sat along there for about half an hour and soaked it all in.

 We drove further north on till arriving at Duffy Lake, a popular spot for canoeing and kayaking. The wind was pretty strong with only one small fishing boat out. We were only midway to Lillooet but time to head back home. If we thought the climb UP the road was a strain, the descent was many times more difficult! Brakes all the way and so very glad we weren't in the motorhome, too scary as it was!

Mt Rohr in the distance.

 Back at Whistler RV Park I took a couple shots of our scenery from our campsite.

 The cloudy skies had cleared and sun was expected the next day.  Since we had decided not to go further east we turned south on Tuesday morning back down beautiful Highway 99.