2024 Alaska Road Trip (Day 52)
This journal posting chronicles Day 52 of a road trip to Alaska and back with Diane, Kenny and Deneen.
Day 52 - Tuesday August 13th
We continued south on the Cariboo Highway (Hwy 97) today until Cache Creek where the road south became the Trans-Canada Highway (Hwy 1). From Lac La Hache Provincial Park to our campground tonight, at Emory Creek Provincial Park, was 208 miles/334 km.
At least for the start of the trip today, the landscape was a cool set of gentle rolling hills.
Cariboo Highway (Hwy 97), British Columbia, Canada
Deneen discovered on the BC fire website that there was a fire just west of the highway in front of us, and we could start to see thicker smoke ahead. Eventually we passed what looked like a fire camp. We never saw active fire, but we could see previously burnt lands and we could see roads leading west from the highway that were closed with fire crews on them.
Smoke - Cariboo Highway (Hwy 97), British Columbia, Canada
Fire Camp - Cariboo Highway (Hwy 97), British Columbia, Canada
The Fraser River has train tracks on both sides.
Train next to Fraser River - Trans-Canada Highway (Hwy 1), British Columbia, Canada
Deneen tried hard to take a photo of this old church as we drove by, but her timing was off and she kept capturing objects in front of the church.
Old Church - Trans-Canada Highway (Hwy 1), British Columbia, Canada
Old Church - Trans-Canada Highway (Hwy 1), British Columbia, Canada
As you can see in the photo below, the Fraser River narrows down and the canyon walls get steep, which results in lots of train tunnels. We also had a number of road tunnels for a stretch of the road.
Train Tunnels next to Fraser River- Trans-Canada Highway (Hwy 1), British Columbia, Canada
Our campground for the night was Emory Creek Provincial Park, and it is a first come first serve campground, and not very big. But we managed to snag the last available campsite that was big enough to fit us.
Campsite - Emory Creek Provincial Campground, British Columbia, Canada
It was a nice campground and it even had its own library.
Library - Emory Creek Provincial Campground, British Columbia, Canada
There was a short trail near our campsite that went down to the river. As trains went by, we could just see them behind some trees on the other side. There was also a railroad track between the campground and the road on our side. The trains went by many times while we were there. If you are not into train sounds, this may not be the place to camp. But I enjoyed it, although I wished I had a better view of both train tracks.
Fraser River - Emory Creek Provincial Campground, British Columbia, Canada
Dinner tonight was ravioli with olive oil and roasted pine nuts.
Dinner - Emory Creek Provincial Campground, British Columbia, Canada
Dinner - Emory Creek Provincial Campground, British Columbia, Canada