We awoke today to a bedside clock that showed we had slept in until 8:00, beautiful blue skies above, and total quiet; it was awesome.
We learned how to “percolate” coffee on the gas stove, and actually navigate a morning without checking the internet or a cell phone, it really was not that bad.
Linda made us a real country breakfast with fresh eggs that the hosts Jon and Jodi had left us, before we took Jebo out on a trail walk through the forest to the lookout bench over the Stikine River.
Jebo stayed on the trail with us for a short time but then chose his preferred route of crashing through the brush as he picked up different scents. We were out for almost an hour after which he was covered in forest “souvenirs” and totally done.
The rest of the morning was purposefully lazy; we looked over and tried to plan the rest of our trip, read up on some of the local lore and decided we really had to go see this Canyon.
Telegraph Creek Road is a long compact dirt / gravel road running from the old / abandoned town of telegraph creek up en route to the Yukon. The road is impressively smooth and well maintained given the very little traffic / inhabitants on this road. At least that is the way it seems until you get to 65km mark
You are warned that there will be steep grades (up to 20%) on the road,
and as you round the corner there is a little dip or two and we laughed about the big sign. But only a few minutes later you round a corner and the valley just falls away in front of you.
For those of us with a fear of heights it was all at once terrifying, sending butterflies right through my belly, and exhilarating; it is really a “take your breath away” moment.
The road follows the meandering Stikine River and at this point we were plunging down to the rivers edge,
only to get across the river and begin a steep climb up to the cliffs edge on the other side of the river. This would be a scary proposition at the best of times, with steep switchbacks and 20% grades, but it began truly frightening as the road narrowed to barely more than a cars width or compact dirt and no shoulder / guardrail.
We asked ourselves out loud, “is this crazy?” and we both agreed it was. However, we successfully made it to a rest area / lookout over the Canyon and it was a moment filled with awe.
The canyon is stunning in it height, width and the sheer faces on both sides of the walls. There were several “ledges” you could climb down to which made the experience even more exhilarating / terrifying.
So we had made it to Canada’s Grand Canyon, an incredible drive to an incredibly stunning sight, and throughout the entire 3 hour trip we saw perhaps a dozen other vehicles on this road and there wasn’t another soul at our lookout
We spent our drive home marvelling at how much beauty lies within BC and how few get to experience any of it. We have now lived here for 8 years, and now seen many parts of this province. Virtually every part of the province is stunningly beautiful, so varied in terrain and climate, but there are few places you will visit for the first time that doesn’t fill you with awe.
Maybe we were filling especially sentimental as we knew that this was our last full day in BC, tomorrow we head north to the Yukon / Alaska, a quick duck through the corner of BC en route to Alberta and east. We really don’t know when we will be back to this province. We felt so lucky to have been out here to see this special corner of the province on this day.
Its been a fabulous time here BC, thanks for having us!
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