From the Mountains to the Sea

We headed out early the next morning hitting the road again with plans of driving all day. We pulled off at a scenic spot to few the Twin Falls that the area was known for. It was a little hike uphill to the viewing platform, and from there we kept on, making our own path, until we reached the bottom of the biggest waterfall. We stayed

for a while, but quickly got cold from the

wind and mist and decided to walk back down. We stopped once more along the road, this time for the world's largest fly rod, in Houston, BC. We walked around a bit there, more so to

stretch our legs than anything. Our next stop was Prince George, the self-claimed, capital of northern BC. We had intended on staying at an RV and campsite outside of the city, so we headed there first to claim a spot. When we got there, their was 3 elderly people sitting in camping chairs inside the office. They informed us that they didn't allow campers in September, only RV's and that we would probably have no luck in the area. We both found this ridiculous and tried to rationalize their thought but just couldn't. We had our hopes up for this place because not only did it have showers, which we were in desperate need of, but it also had a heated pool, which we were looking forward to. Dismayed, we headed back to the city in search of a Mexican restaurant, since we had both been craving some Mexican cuisine. We searched for at least a half our and found nothing of the sort, eventually settling on a place called Moxie's which ended up being a trendy, posh, lounge area which we did not fit into at all. They used words like "Moxiesize" in reference to their drinks and asked Katie for 2 forms of government ID when she ordered a drink, which made her a bit flustered to say the least. After dinner I decided I had had enough of the town and we went back on the road for a while before we started searching for a spot to sleep. We found a little town and pulled into the Best Western but while we were moving our gear to the front we were spotted by the night attendant. We admitted defeat and packed up, and right as he was walking over to us we hopped in an pulled out. A few miles down the road we came across a Walmart filled with trailers and other travelers and decided to stay their for the night. We woke up early and made our final trek through BC, planning to end up in

Vancouver for the night. First we payed back Walmart for its hospitality by getting CJ's oil changed there. We continued down the road in the usual fashion, making good time and very few stops. We took the Sea to Sky Highway down from the mountains to the coast. The road again was beautiful and we ended up spotting 3 more bears along this stretch of highway. The road was an old logging road and had some insane descents, some at 15% grades as well as hairpin turns that shot you back in a complete 180. There were also numerous one lane bridges and tunnels that were a bit nerve wrecking and made you pray for no traffic in the other direction. All in all it was a fun road and it definitely paid off for us to take the scenic route. Before entering Vancouver, we had to stop off at a Starbucks to check our email. We had sent out various couchsurfing requests to people in Vancouver and we were hoping that someone had responded positively so that we would have a spot to stay as well as someone to give us tips on what to do. Unfortunately, only one person responded and they were unable to host us. Deciding that we really needed a shower tonight, Katie began searching campsites in the area. She found one close by, about 45 minutes outside of Vancouver and we headed there after picking up some Subway. This place was an RV / camping site as well, but perhaps since it was much further

south, or because they were interested in making money, they offered us a spot. The campsite was amazing, probably one the best I have been at while at a commercial campsite. It was very secluded, up on a little hill, and hidden behind trees and bushes. The best part, is when we got there, there was a pile of wood waiting for us near the fire pit! We ate our dinner and cracked our final Alaskan beers, then I started a fire which we sat by and enjoyed all night. We also made intermediate runs to the shower, taking our time, and cleaning off 6 days worth of grime from our bodies. It was excellent! Even though we ended up not pitching a tent that night since rain was in the forecast, it was nice to spend an evening by the fire again and spend time relaxing in the semi-wilderness. In the morning I went for a 3.5 mile run, the first time I have ran since leaving home. We sat around the campsite most of the morning, utilizing the campsites free wifi and again enjoying our natural surroundings. There was still no responses from couchsurfing, but we decided to head into the city anyway. Along the way the road hugged the coastline and I got my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. A skyline was also a familiar, yet forgotten sight, as we have not seen a proper one in a couple months. We rode into Vancouver and pulled off at the first Mexican restaurant we spotted, then drove around the city for a little. Katie had found a

trail outside of the city that we decided to hike, the Lynn Canyon

trail. Hiking the mile long loop was fun since we had not been on a trail in a few days. The atmosphere was also completely different from anything we had been in before. The air was extremely humid and everything was wet, we felt as though we were in a rainforest. There were beautiful ferns and moss growing everywhere. After the hike we drove around the city some more but eventually decided that it was time to head back to the states. We crossed the border into Washington and pulled off at one of the first rest

areas we saw immediately being grateful to be back in the US

where it is legal to sleep at rest areas. We stayed up for a bit reading, no longer needed to worry about being spotted, and went to bed in the lower 48 for the first time in a month. From here we are planning on staying with some friends in the Seattle area, but not until next week. Now we are headed to the Olympic Peninsula to bide our time at Olympic National Park enjoying the Pacific coastline, the Olympic mountain range, and the temperate rainforests, all of which are contained in the park.