“USA 🇺🇸 ~Through Canada 🇨🇦 ~Third Leg / Returning to the Lower 48 from Alaska: Two Days Travel from Prince Rupert via Beaverly, British Columbia to Valemount, British Columbia”

• August 24, 2023
• By Pen
• 2 Comments

Heading Back to The Lower 48 From Alaska

The Route:
From Prince Rupert, British Columbia, to Beaverly, British Columbia

Day 1 of 2

On our way out of Prince Rupert, and the wasteland of the Prince Rupert RV Park, we tried to fuel-up at the only diesel station in the town. It was too tight to take a chance, manoeuvring around the pumps, so we continued on. We are a big rig with a huge fuel tank, so there are advantages. We’ve only passed on fuel fill ups a few times during this entire trip, so just know it’s usually big rig friendly at the pumps. 

On our way back to the highway, we saw a deer walking in front of some houses, in town. We also noticed, a huge cruise ship was in port at Prince Rupert.  I couldn’t help but wonder what the cruise people will do for fun? I really do think Prince Rupert was an interesting place at onetime, but it’s defiantly taken a hit over the last few years, and has declined. It reminded us of Anchorage, Alaska, but not as big of an area, but the number of people wearing ankle bracelets, compared to those who are not, is surprising.

It was foggy when we left the campground, so we couldn’t tell if smoke had moved in, or if it was all fog. We would be a few hours down the road, before we did see the sun try to break out for a minute. There was definitely smoke, but not too heavy at first.

We stopped at a Truck repair/Freightliner business in the  town of Terrace and got two new oil filters for The Whale. (one is a spare) They have been unavailable for over a year. We had to re-use the oil filter we had, at the last oil change. We will be due for another oil change, after all the miles we’ve traveled on this trip, so we are very happy to have secured these. We also got filled-up with diesel in Terrace at a truck stop with lots of room, which has normally been easy to find.

We left Prince Rupert at 8AM and felt really frustrated to have to backtrack for three hours to get back to the route, since we chose to visit Prince Rupert, which was no where near worth the extra three hours in, and three hours out!  When we did the same to visit Haines (even more hours in and out) it was WAY worth it. We can also say the same about Stewart, which was 1.5 hours in, and 1.5 hours back out, but NOT worth it to visit Prince Rupert.

When I originally arranged our camping time, leaving Alaska and “seeing what Canada had to offer,” on our way back, by spending more time, actually camping, and less time boondocking our way through, like we did going up to Alaska in May; I’ve got to say, if Hope is a disappointment, we will get our answer.  Stewart 1: Prince Rupert: 0 Hope? We shall see.
I can also add, that driving up on the AlCan was so much more scenic than driving the Cassiar back down. The Alaska Highway in British Columbia was VERY remote and there were hardly any residential homes or towns. This made the wildlife viewing, better for sure. On the Cassiar, which is still pretty, there are more residential places, with farmland and lots of towns, so this always equal less wildlife sightings. All that being said, we are very glad we did both routes, and we sure loved Stewart BC, with all the Bears, and so we could visit Alaska, one more time, in Hyder, also with Bear activity!

On this current day, we ended our driving, 10.5 hours later. We would spend about an hour of that time, fueling-up, and eating dinner we warmed up at a rest stop. After dinner, we continued on, and stopped around Beaverly, just before Prince George, at a rest stop, along with other RVers and truck drivers. We were still hoping Hwy 97 would open by the morning.

Our normal route to Hope, BC and our next and final campground, would have us leaving Hwy 16, for Hwy 97 at Prince George, but there is a fire somewhere along Hwy 97, and a portion of it is closed. The part that is open, there is so much smoke, only essential driving is allowed. We take that to mean for those living in the area.

⬆️ Blue route is 16 and the grey route is 97

So we are staying on 16, and then hit up Yellowhead Hwy 5, which is a super highway of sorts for truckers, but with some steep grades. The grades will be no problem for The Whale, as she has an engine brake, which saves on brake wear and for them not to over-heat. All this will get us there, through Kamloops, but with an added 3-hours of driving for us. So today we pushed, hoping to beat any fires that could potentially close Hwy 16, next.

We also put together a “bug out” bag, each, should we wake up to discover a fire to be closer and have to go, we could. But, if we get a knock on the door telling us we can’t drive or something and we have to evacuated by other means, we are ready for that, too. It’s discerning to have to think in these terms, but it’s good to be prepared. It is nerve-wracking and not any fun traveling under the pressure of fires and evacuations around us. We are tired and our eyes and throats are burning a little. Otherwise, we are good and will be even better, after we get through the next few days. We have lots of miles to go, before Hope, BC.
We really look forward to stopping and glamping, and not driving for awhile. Maybe the fires will leave Hope alone.

Wildlife Sightings:

3 Deer (Buck)
1 Mule Deer (Doe)

Photo Dump ~Day 1

⬆️ Good riddance to this campground!

A moment of sunshine, and before we saw smoke

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Day 2 of 2

The Route:
From Beaverly, British Columbia  to Valemount, British Columbia

I woke up about 4:30AM to rain. I’ve been frustrated with all the rain over the last three months, but in the current conditions surrounding us, rain is a blessing!!! BUT, it didn’t come quite soon enough, as Hwy 97 remained closed, when we left at 7:30AM. We soon drove through Prince George, stopping to fuel-up at a truck stop; and stayed on 16.

Daryl’s phone has some wifi, when in a service area, but when I tried to use Maps, it kept trying to re-route us back to Hwy 97. Ha! Yes, we wanted that route also, but on Hwy 16, we remained, and then we watched for the Hwy 5 Junction, so we didn’t end up at Jasper National Park.

It had been raining steadily for most of our drive, today. The smoke is still bad, but as our day went on, actually moving toward the fires, we felt encouraged, as the smokey skies got better, as the rain was really making a difference. We know Washington state and other states around also are dealing with the smoke from up here, on top of suffering their own local fires. It’s heartbreaking, but hopefully the rain will continue and help put out the destruction.

We spoke to a local at a rest stop and got good news. He agreed Hwy 16 was the way to go, since Kamloops was, in fact, reopened after evacuation! He did not see any problems for us getting to Hope BC. 

Since we made so much progress, driving, we decided to treat ourselves to a campground for the night, instead of boondocking. We tried to find one with wifi, but some were full and others didn’t have full hookups, or wifi. We always decide to boondock overnight for the one night intervals for free, if we can’t have something extra for the price.

We ended our day, after six hours in Valemount, at iRVins RV Park which is nice, but their wifi is only so-so. That being said, they were very friendly, and we were happy to stop, get full-hookups and have enough wifi to catch up in a few areas.

I was up at 5AM on our departure day, to get on the wifi so it would be strong enough to get this blog done. It’s a big campground, and pretty full, so other campers are using the same signal and it only goes so far. Early in the morning, when most (normal) people are still sleeping, is the best time on shared wifi.

The roads have improved a great deal, since Prince George, so that’s a relief. There are bad sections, still, but way fewer and far between. There is also ongoing bridge repair and paving construction that take extra time to get through.

We are about 330 miles from Hope BC. I tried to get our reservation moved up to Thursday, for there, but they are full. This means we can leave a little later in the morning, from our current campground and take our time, not feeling any pressure, rushing to beat fires from closing routes, for the first time in four days.
We drive very slow, compared to others, so it takes us longer, and there are passing lanes, built in, so we do not have to take the time to pull out and let others pass.

Incidentally, on this day, we saw cops in undercover vehicles, pulling over people; right and left. We have not seen many cops over this whole trip, let alone seen people getting pulled-over. People do drive WAY too fast, so I was happy to see some justice.

Anyway, we will boondock or camp, one more night, close to Hope, and be able to arrive at check-in, which is noon. Happily, we will park The Whale and enjoy some down time. I REALLY hope they have a good wifi that works!

Wildlife Sighting:

1 Coyote

Photo Dump ~Day 2

Remember, in Canada it is the metric system. These are in Kilometers

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British Columbia