Today's adventure was a drive from BC's interior through the Coast Mountains to
the Pacific Ocean. As many of you know, Marlene and I prefer the route less
travelled, so we started in Kamloops and headed west on the northerly route of highways
97 then 99. Highway 99 is a secondary highway which carves and hugs each mountain
in its path.
There were signs specifying snow tires for light vehicles
and chains for trucks until April 30th. You might remember, we didn't have snow
tires, in fact the best I could say was we had well worn all season tires on
our rented AWD. Before heading off in the morning, a check of the hourly weather forecast indicated above zero single digit temperatures
for the day.
There were signed avalanche zones every few kilometers. Whenever
we climbed in elevation, the temperature dropped, and each time, the
precipitation changed from rain to snow. Fortunately though, the snow didn't
build up on the road.
The road was twinned with a rail track, but they were seldom
on the same side of the valleys and gorges.
The roadside was heavily treed limiting the scenic views to
some of the switchback hairpin curves. There the views were breathtaking though
there was seldom a place to stop for a photo. The traffic was light, but
meeting other vehicles on the switchback curves was always a dicey moment.
On the loosely twisted sections, we reached speeds of 60 kph
or so, but still needed to be vigilant and on the lookout for fallen rock, deer
and washouts along the edge of the shoulderless roadway.
About 30 kms before reaching Whistler, the road straightened
out. The day's adventure was over, but had resulted in one of the mountain
experiences we were looking for.
Click here for the next story in this series:
Orca View, Our Home Away from Home
Click here for the next story in this series:
Orca View, Our Home Away from Home
