A few pictures

Finally remembered my camera and have high speed internet at Naomi's friends place in Smithers so figured I'd use this time to post a picture or two, just a sampling.

The first is a picture from the road up to Cape Scott past Port Hardy. It is a little tough to see but a car has been smashed by a falling tree, yes that is not expected when you are around large trees in clear cut areas.

This next picture is of the sloquet hot springs. This remote host springs south of Pemberton after a few hours on a pretty good gravel road, meander into an active logging area and if you believe it, you will see this sign saying there is a hot spring down this steep trail. To my surprise, this swiss couple was there hanging out. They left expectantly but met up with Fletcher and Alexi happened to mosey on down. Ended up camping and having a great camp fire that evening. Nothing like hot mineral water all over your body in the middle of the night. And a big thank you! To Fletcher and Alexi for the coffee the next morning! Sorry all I could offer was the cheapest beer possible....

And finally, a picture of the old trail that has changed the whole province of British Columbia, the Cariboo waggon trail (the "waggon" is spelt that way on purpose, but I have no idea why....) Anyways, it was this old trail that wagons and hopeful prospectors would go on up to barkerville from Yale. It is not used much these days, in fact it is not used at all, it was supposed to be a hiking trail up to Barkerville but I got turned around after a few kilometres because of an impassable river... Lots of old buildings, artifacts, graves, and history to spark your imagination in every step. I was very engulfed by the spirit of this area....

Alright.... time to rest up and hit the open road tomorrow morning up to Whitehorse hopefully by friday.... We'll see.....

Prince George (what a handsome fellow)

I am not too sure who Prince George was, but I am sure he would be proud of this place. So after 1.5 months on the road, I have finally reached the geological centre of British Columbia. What a vast province! Almost too much. A sensory overload is around every corner, in every tree, in every breath.

The last few weeks have been in the Cariboo Chilcotin area. Wells/Barkerville/Quesnel/Williams Lake/Likely. Just all awesome towns with awesome people. It seems that the locals really know where to go. In Wells, this real small (Population 200) just before Barkerville (A tourist stop), I stopped in at the visitor information centre. The girl there could tell I wasn't looking for the usual. I started asking about hikes and snow shoes and the sasquatch and stuff, you know, general conversation and she told me about this lake that only the locals know about in Wells. You have to go down this small road that doesn't look like more than a trailhead. You just have to believe it's there she says.

It led to this lake (I can't think of the name right now... oh yea Wandel? Wendle? Wandle? Something like that). So it was pretty much the best spot possible to park a van, light a fire, go for a swim, fish, hike, and just let the soul explore anything that it wants to. I went back twice to this lake, I couldn't get away.

The second time though was after stopping in at a ghost town called Stanley, nothing left but some rubble and garbage. We create sooo much waste these days but if it wasn't for the garbage of yesterday, this rubble wouldn't have been as interesting. It gave insight into the way of life out there. Anyways after exploring a bit, it was time to try to strike it rich, gold panning! I truly believed this was my time, history repeats itself and gold rushes will happen again. After a few cold wet hours, nothing but rocks... probably valuable to some people, but not the right people. Oh well.

So I don't have my camera with me otherwise I would post a few pictures, not that I have been taking many because they all look the same after awhile, the typical mountain senery shot, but some are nice, well we'll see if they are nice.

Anyways I see some people have replied, and some have commented and some have signed up to follow which is much more than I ever expected. Thank you everyone! And sorry, for the previous e-mail, it is not a burdan to hear from people or anything, I love to get updates from anyone! I was just feeling a bit overwhelmed but it is getting better so please anyone, everyone let me know how they're doing! and like I said, i'll try to try to reply!

Hope everyone is enjoying that beautiful world out there, ciao!

Gabe

First Update

I write from Williams Lake/Quesnel today.... haha after a good week near Wells and Barkerville and surrounding Ghost Towns I came back to Williams Lake for an afternoon or day, we'll see how it goes, but I got 1 minute left on the library terminal so yea I'll try to get something better up soon.....?

Not a huge fan

Greetings all! I will be up front about this that I am not a huge fan of "blogs". But after a long, fierce debate with myself, I figure this might be the best way to get an update e-mail to everyone without having to actually e-mail everyone. You see, I am a very lazy person when it comes to keeping up social contacts.

Anyways, I write to you from the awesome gold rush town of Lillooet. I can't write long as I am at a library, but I can tell you I took my first shower in weeks and it feels awesome!

Over the comming weeks I hope to post a picture or two, let you know where I currently am and where I've been. It has been a crazy month and a bit living out of the van. Met some awesome people, saw some awesome sights, but I am still "only" in Lillooet, some 250 km from Vancouver. You think I'd be further, but the lower west coast of British Columbia has been so great to me, it has been tough to leave, but I have left. I'll let you know later on.

Thank you all for reading, I look forward to hearing from anyone who reads this, let me know how they're doing and I will try to respond personally. To all who just read, thank you but I am sure there is something better you could be doing with your time.... haha but I do lead an interesting life, at least in my mind....