Driving the West Part 2

Kathy and I got stranded on this island at high tide looking for shells. 

The Oregon coastline.

Mt. Lassen in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Bumpass Hell, geothermal area.

The girls playing in snow in August.

The abandoned mining town of Austin, Nevada.

High above Grand Canyon.

Playing around the rim.

Natural bridge formed by erosion.

A remnant of a volcanic plug.

A geyser in Yellowstone National Park.

Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone.

Beartooth Pass from the northeast corner of Yellowstone to Montana.

The final stop, the family cottage on Ahmic Lake.

Barb's huge catch.

We stayed in Pacific Rim National Park for a week, before deciding to drive into the United States. We drove back across Vancouver Island, took the ferry back to the mainland and then drove south to the US border. We had little trouble crossing. The boarder guard just asked where we were heading and if we had enough money. We weren't sure and we weren't sure, but we didn't tell him that. We crossed into Washington State and followed the highway south through Washington and Oregon. We drove parts of the beautiful coastal highway 101 to northern California. 

From there we drove inland to a national park I had spotted on the map called Lassen Volcanic NP. This is a beautiful spot and the sight of one of the largest volcanic blasts in North American history. There are still thermal areas here and it is expected to blow again eventually. We explored the geothermic area known as Bumpass Hell, where we smelled sulfur and saw boiling mud and water pools. We continued inland and through Nevada. We gave Las Vegas a pass but stopped in Reno.

Our car never gave us any trouble, but the normal phrase that a person said to the petrol station attendant in the day, "fill the gas and check the oil", didn't apply to us. In fact it was the reverse, "fill the oil and check the gas", was more appropriate. I remember one instance where we stopped at a traffic light and a highway patrol pulled in behind us. When the light turned green we turned left and the cop disappeared in a cloud of black smoke from our exhaust. Luckily he turned the other way and didn't bother with us.

We loved the arid deserts of Nevada as we drove to our most southerly destination: Grand Canyon. We were amazed at the beauty and size of it. We hiked portions of the rim and stayed for a couple of days.

Then we headed back north and made our way to Yellowstone National Park. We explored here as well and discovered the geothermal areas around Old Faithful and then Mammoth Hot Springs. We exited Yellowstone via the Beartooth Pass Highway. What a spectacular drive! Switchbacks up a mountain to the summit at 3337m , drive across the top to another and then switchbacks back down. The highway was built during the 1930's when America was trying to gainfully employ people on projects like Mount Rushmore, The Blue Ridge Parkway, the Lincoln Tunnel, the Triborough Bridge in New York, and the Million Dollar Highway. We arrived in Red Lodge, Montana where we went to a service station for a check on something I can't remember and the mechanic was alarmed at how hot the brakes were, but then he asked "Or did you just drive over Beartooth?"

We intended to drive east from here and cross into Canada at Port Huron. But, at this point we didn't have enough money to get home. The easiest way to get money would be to drive straight north and cross back into Canada in Saskatchewan where we could have Kathy's mom wire us some money. This is long before debit cards, or the internet or my having a credit card.

We crossed easily, picked up the money and returned to Ontario around Lake Superior. We stopped at my family cottage for a couple of days on the way back as a way to relax and unwind from an exciting summer vacation.

Driving the West Part 1

Our wheels, Bessy. A 69 Ford Fairlane convertible.

My bevy of travel companions: my girlfriend Kathy, and her two friends Barb and Sue.
No room for the bear.

When we arrived in Alberta we ran into John Archibald (horizontal) and Steve Shipton (in black on the right).

Clean enough to drink.

Maligne Lake

Spirit Island, the most photographed island in Canada.

Sue in the snow.

Angel Glacier, Jasper NP.

On the top of Mt. Norquay, Banff, Alberta.

Takkawaka Falls, Yoho NP, BC.

Gotta love the bathing suit!

Picking apricots in our campground.

Lake Okanagan. 

Long Beach in the Pacific Rim National Park, BC.

Sunset at Tofino, on the western end of the TransCanada Highway.

Sue and Kathy eating freshly cooked crab purchased off a fishing boat.

Summer of 1974

I took a year off after grade 12 and worked at a health food factory making granola. I worked there with my friend Mike which made the job much more enjoyable than it might otherwise have been. During the year I finally got my driver's license. I saved some of the money I made to buy a car in which my girlfriend and I planned to drive across Canada. Kathy's two girlfriends, Barb and Sue, asked us if we would drive them to Banff, Alberta where they hoped to get jobs at the Banff Springs Hotel.

So, as soon as school finished for the girls, I quit my job and we set off in my burgundy 1968 Ford Fairlane convertible which was equipped with an 8 track tape player. I got my license the week before we left, insurance two days before we left and had zero highway driving experience. But, all the girls were licensed so we thought we were good to go. As it turned out I drove the entire trip (12000 miles!). Baptism by fire.

The first stop was in Waubaushene on the south east corner of Georgian Bay. Here we visited my grandmother and aunt at our family cottage and pitched our two tents for the first time. The next day we set out in earnest and drove north to Sault Ste Marie and around the north shore of Lake Superior. We continued on the Trans Canada Highway across the prairies until we arrived in Alberta. 

In Banff Barb and Sue found there were no jobs to be had and they decided to stay with us for the summer. We spent quite a bit of time in Banff and Jasper National Parks and with the freedom of our own car were able to explore more extensively. In Banff we ran into two Toronto friends, John Archibald and Steve Shipton. We drove the highway from Banff, Lake Louise, past the Columbia Icefields to Jasper. Then we doubled back to enjoy the drive again and turned west into British Columbia through Golden and Revelstoke. We spent some time in the Okanagan Valley, and in particular Kelowna before heading further west. We visited some other Toronto friends, Steve Moffat, and Wes Boron, who were living in Chilliwack.

Then we continued on to Vancouver. We camped there for a couple of days before taking the ferry across to Vancouver Island and the city of  Victoria. This is a beautiful city and we enjoyed it very much. From there we drove up the east side of the island to Naniamo before heading west for the final section of the TransCanada Highway to Tofino and the Pacific Rim National Park. Again, like in 1973 we camped directly on the beach and enjoyed the sites and sounds of the Pacific Ocean. It is beautiful, too bad the water is so cold!

We decided to return home via a different route....