Hell's Gate: Being Beyond Hope

We had the day all planned out. I went onto Google Maps and figured out where we were going, what stops we were going to make, and how long the drive was.
Our plan was to leave at 7AM. We wanted to stop for breakfast, and be there by 10AM. Everything was all set! Or so we thought. It's funny how you can plan everything out, and then life throws you a curve ball. What is not so funny is when that curve ball is followed by a fast ball, a knuckle ball, and a slider, one after another.

Every year, Hell's Gate Airtram holds Canyon Appreciation Day. They open the tram up for free, anyone can ride down across the mighty Fraser River, see the fish ladders, and maybe a river rafter or two, from hundreds of feet above the raging river. Once down you can enjoy the musical entertainment, do some gold panning, enjoy the salmon chowder at the cafe, or satisfy your sweet tooth with ice cream or fudge. If you are so inclined, you can opt for the walkway back up, which we have never done, but we've seen people do it! It looks hard! If you buy a season's pass on Appreciation Day, you and 10 others can ride the tram for free anytime all year!

Today was Canyon Appreciation Day, and our plan was to buy a season's pass. You see, next week is Stefani's birthday, and we were going to buy the pass so that we could go up again next week with her family and everyone could go for free!

The curve ball. We were just about at Hope, which is a little mountain village about 1.5 hours from our place in Surrey, and we saw a message on the highway sign: "Highway 1 closed at Boston Bar". No problem, we weren't going that far up the Canyon, but we were still curious. Stefani brought up Google, and quickly found out that the highway was closed due to a slide about 200 meters from Hell's Gate. Well, that should be exciting, we might see some rocks a little farther down the road. No, as Stefani kept reading, she found out that Hell's Gate was effected; they were closing the day and postponing it to next week.

Okay, so let's still go to Home Restaurant, have a great breakfast, and figure it out from there. The plan was to do some geocaching on the way home, so let's do some geocaching now. Someone said to check out Hope Nature Trails, where the Coquihalla River flows into the Fraser River. breakfast was fantastic, by the way!

There are 4 geocaches listed at the park. The trails are quite nice, and you can park at either end. Of the 4 caches, 1 was listed on the logs as "DNF" (did not find), so we were expecting that. The first cache was supposedly hidden in a log ... it wasn't there. I emailed the CO (cache owner) to confirm the suspected location, but I have not yet heard back from them. The second cache was where it was supposed to be, but not very well hidden. We fixed that. The third cache was the one that was DNF, and we also DNF it, and the fourth cache was found almost right where it said it was.

That was the fast ball ... a 50% find rate ... we don't expect to find them all, but 2 out of 4?

We had found out that we could get up to Emory Creek and Camp Squeah (about 30 mins up the TCH from Hope) to get a few caches, so off we went.

Emory Creek is the site of an old gold rush town, built around the same time as Yale. Unfortunately, when the gold rush dwindled, Emory Creek became quite deserted, and the shanty homes and sod houses dwindled with it. It is now a lovely BC Campground, with pit toilets, and easy access to the river and the highway.

There were 3 caches at the Emory Creek campground that we wanted. Unfortunately, there is no day use parking in the campground, so we did not have time to hunt for 2 of them. We did find 1, though.

So, out of 7 caches, we found 3 ... not great odds. But we weren't done, yet. We knew that we could still go to Yale and maybe get a couple more.

Yale is another historic gold rush town. At it's height, the population was that of a small city. If you have ever been to Yale, you would wonder were all those people would fit; it is situated on a tiny little bench between the mountains and the river.

We grabbed 2 caches in Yale: 1 at an old historic cemetery, and another at a spot that shows the different historical areas of Yale. Time to turn around and head for home.

At Emory Creek, on the southbound side, is a little gas station/store/restaurant that attracts travelers. Just outside of that stop is a red caboose. On that caboose is a geocache. At that stop was our knuckle ball. One of our nearly brand new tires developed a cyst. Actually, it is explained as a split in the sidewall, resulting in air being trapped, causing the sidewall to bulge. So, not only does it look kind of funny, it is also very dangerous to try driving on it, as it could blow at any time. I did not really know this at the time of seeing it, but I did know that it was something best not ignored.

Next stop was Camp Squeah, where there is a geocache in the structure/sign at the road. The bulge was still there ... in the tire ... on our car.

We made another quick stop at the BC Nickel Mine turnoff. I have to get a couple of dirt bikes, as there are some neat caches up those trails, not accessible by Mustang, especially one with a faulty tire!

One more quick stop at The Lake Of the Woods. There is a little restaurant there, and a hotel, nestled alongside a cute little lake of dark green water. Apparently it is a very popular place in the summer, especially on the hotter days. It is also the spot where my in-laws spent their first night as a married couple, but I don't really want to get into that! By the way, the bulge was still there.

We got back on the highway. Stefani drove, and I worried. Every corner, every bump, every time the wheels turned ... that means the whole time. We stopped for gas in Popkum, and decided to get off the highway at Bridal Falls and call BCAA. Hence came the slider ...

Nothing is more embarrassing than driving down a highway at 80km per hour, with the hazard flashers on, getting passed by EVERYONE! The little old man with the wheelchair sign? Passed us. The broken down 4X4? Passed us! The kids on the tricycles? PASSED US! But seriously folks, when you see someone in an obviously nice car driving 20+ km under the speed limit WITH the flashers on, assume that they are doing so because there is something wrong with the car. You don't need to honk the horn, yell, scream, finger, and swear at us! We know! We are going too slow! What do you want us to do about it?

We are home now. Beat. Tired. Ready for bed, and a little disappointed that the day did not go as planned, and hopeful that Kaltire will be nice and cover the defective tire under a full warranty. Time for dinner, a Mojito, and some TV.

Until next time ... have an adventure!