Driving itinerary for British Columbia

I am planning a 9 day driving trip to British Columbia this summer,
start and finish in Seattle. More interested in nature than towns /
malls / museums etc, though will probably spend a day in Vancouver. I
would highly appreciate if somebody could suggest an itinerary;
especially would like to know if the "Nothern" (actually, middle) part
is worth a visit on such a short trip.

"Ptich" <ptich@m> wrote in message
news:1113709205.884644.160050@o13g2000cwo. o...
>I am planning a 9 day driving trip to British Columbia this summer,
> start and finish in Seattle. More interested in nature than towns /
> malls / museums etc, though will probably spend a day in Vancouver. I
> would highly appreciate if somebody could suggest an itinerary;
> especially would like to know if the "Nothern" (actually, middle) part
> is worth a visit on such a short trip.
>
Do you know your dates yet? That would help me to recommend some
events, as well as some routes.

> Do you know your dates yet? That would help me to recommend some
> events, as well as some routes.

End of June - beginning of July.
At > 50 latitude, should be pretty late sunsets.

As a side note, I found very few guidebooks about BC in our public
library - most of them deal with Vancouver / Victoria only, and at best
dedicate just a couple of pages to Prince Rupert Area.

This sounds like a very good route, but, from looking at the map, it is
hard to evaluate how difficult the road is. Looks like it will be >
2500km (1500 miles), in just 6 days, so hey, if it is mostly a mountain
road, I'll be doing nothing else but driving, and driving...

> Consider reversing the above itinerary. Start out in Bellingham
aboard The
> Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) to Prince Rupert and drive East
along
> the Skeena to Prince George and Jasper. Then South on Hwy 93 thru the
Jasper
> National Park, the Columbia Icefields and Rocky Mountains to Banff
and Lake
> Louise. Continue South on 93 thru Banff National Park to Hwy 95 which

> continues South to Hwy 2 in WA and Spokane. Then either continue
West on
> scenic Hwy 2 or I-90 to Seattle. A lot of driving but a highly
rewarding
> journey. If you plan on using the AMHS be sure to get your
reservations in
> as soon as possible.

Ptich wrote:
I am planning a 9 day drivi
ng trip to British Columbia this summer,
start and finish in Seattle. More interested in nature than towns /
malls / museums etc, though will probably spend a day in Vancouver.


The drive from Clinton to Lillooet to Whistler on 99 is magnificent.
We stumbled on it by accident while making a circuit of BC two years
ago.

I think that our route had excellent scenery. We took 3 east from
Vancouver along the US border to Osoyoos and then 97 north through the
lake district. Then Canada 1 to Golden and down 95 to Radium Hot
Springs. Then 93 up through Kootenay NP and on to Banff. Leaving
Banff we took 93 to Jasper, detouring the short distance to Yoho NP.
Then west on 16 to 5 south, then 24 west to near 100 mile House, then
south on 97 to Clinton as mentioned above, and then back to Vancouver.
This route will take you through 6 national parks and several
provincial parks. If you have more time, you can go north at 100 Mile
House to Quesnel and Barkerville Historic Town.

George

"george" <gpolkowskim> wrote in message
news:1113818534.635508.190240@o13g2000cwo. o...
> Ptich wrote:
> I am planning a 9 day drivi
> ng trip to British Columbia this summer,
> start and finish in Seattle. More interested in nature than towns /
> malls / museums etc, though will probably spend a day in Vancouver.
>
>
> The drive from Clinton to Lillooet to Whistler on 99 is magnificent.
> We stumbled on it by accident while making a circuit of BC two years
> ago.
>
Ha! What you *don't* want to do is stumble OFF it!

My daughter and I were returning from one of our
(in)famous Rock & Roll Roadtrips to the Peace River country, and didn't
like the increasingly heavy smoke from the Big Fires (2003) along the
Yellowhead Highway, so we took the Clinton-Lilloet-Whistler road
instead.

It is indeed spectacular, in many ways: the panoramic views are
stunning, and the engineering skills of the route builders deserve a
salute in passing. Now if they could just engineer the cattle off the
road ....

We should turn it into a tour for visiting biologists and botanists - I
can't think of any other place in Canada where you can go through half a
dozen "micro-climates" in just a few kilometres. A great road for
photographers!

"Ptich" <ptich@m> wrote in message
news:1113767068.122321.266460@o13g2000cwo. o...
>> Do you know your dates yet? That would help me to recommend some
>> events, as well as some routes.
>
> End of June - beginning of July.
> At > 50 latitude, should be pretty late sunsets.
>
> As a side note, I found very few guidebooks about BC in our public
> library - most of them deal with Vancouver / Victoria only, and at
> best
> dedicate just a couple of pages to Prince Rupert Area.
>
You're in luck! The Williams Lake Stampede runs June 30 - July 03. One
of the world's great rodeos, with real cowboys and real Indians. Just
up the road is the preserved Goldrush town of Barkerville, always worth
a visit. Get there via Vancouver-Whistler-Lilloet-Clinton-100 Mile
House. If you're not fixed on a night in Vancouver, then continue North
a couple of hours, straight to Whistler.

Then North to Prince George, where you can head West to Prince Rupert
and a choice of ferry routes (MUST have reservations!).

Or you could head East to Jasper National Park and from there south on
the Icefields Highway (Quick! See the glaciers before they're all
gone!) to Banff, Radium Hot Springs, Fort Steele (preserved RCMP outpost
and town) with an operating steam railway, and Cranbrook - a very nice
town with a FABULOUS railway museum.

Then West to the West Kootenays, where there is a strong Russian
cultural influence (amazing food!) and Nelson, the prettiest city in
Western Canada.

Then south to Washington State and home. Nine days? Just right! Save
the coast-ferries-whales-kayaking bit for next year.

Have fun!

I wrote:
> The drive from Clinton to Lillooet to Whistler on 99 is magnificent.
> We stumbled on it by accident while making a circuit of BC two years
> ago.
David Gee replied:
Ha! What you *don't* want to do is stumble OFF it!

Agreed. I mentioned driving north to south because I don't think that
I would like to be on the drop off side going the other direction south
of Lillooet on the "cliff" face and would also prefer to take that
steep grade going uphill. It's such a great route, and not even
mentioned in our guide books! In late May we didn't see any cattle,
but I liked the small oneway bridges.

George

Ptich wrote:
> I am planning a 9 day driving trip to British Columbia this summer,
> start and finish in Seattle. More interested in nature than towns /
> malls / museums etc, though will probably spend a day in Vancouver. I
> would highly appreciate if somebody could suggest an itinerary;
> especially would like to know if the "Nothern" (actually, middle) part
> is worth a visit on such a short trip.
>

I have done a number of driving trips around BC (and into Southern
Alberta) On the last 2 trips I found The Big New BC Travel Guide to be
extremely useful (As I bought it on the previous trip I used it to help
plan the last one)
It is printed by Beautiful British Columbia, the ISBN is 1-894226-01-1.
It covers all the major highways/tourist routes throughout BC plus the
Rocky mountain national parks and Alaska Highway, each of the routes is
covered in great detail (almost mile by mile detail) explaining the
sights of interest along the way and also those which are easy side
trips. Also each route is illustrated with a map with the sights marked.
As others have mentioned I would heartily recommend the sea to sky
highway (Vancouver - Whistler - Lillooet (you then continue on to either
Clinton or Cache Creek depending on whether you head North or
South/East)) for the breathtaking scenery, on each trip I have been on
this has been the route used to leave Vancouver.
I enjoyed the loop heading north Vancouver- Sea to Sky Highway - Prince
George - Prince Rupert - Inside Passsage - Vancouver Island - Vancouver,
but personally enjoyed the loop from Vancouver - Sea to Sky - Kamloops -
Jasper - Lake Louise/Banff - Glacier NP - Revelstoke - Kelowna/Penticton
- Princeton/Hope - Vancouver more.
If you want any further information please feel free to e-mail me
directly or via the newsgroup.
Have an enjoyable and safe trip whatever you decide to do in that
wonderful part of the world
Ian
(who keeps dreaming about heading back for a trip there again some time,
despite now living amongst the scenery of Middle Earth)