Hope, BC

After a brief stay in Princeton, (which has a glorious dump by the way – it's really crazy what people actually throw away and I should also note that it is a great place to collect scrap wood to burn for free. We continued on to Hope, BC.  Although Hope, was not a place that we had planned on stopping however, it seemed a good plan after a long day of driving. We approached a local pastor of a church and asked if he minded if wAfter a brief stay in Princeton, (which has a glorious dump by the way – it's really crazy what people actually throw away and I should also note that it is a great place to collect scrap wood to burn for free. We continued on to Hope, BC.  Although Hope was not a place that we had planned on stopping however, it seemed a good plan after a long day of driving. We approached a local pastor of a church and asked if he minded if we spent a couple of days in his parking lot. This proved to be a good spot, although there is not much happening in the small town of Hope, especially on a rainy Monday. The downtown was a little bleak – however we did manage to scope out a very cool non-profit book store Pages, that has been established as an effort to raise awareness for mental health. Tucked away on a side-street, we came across Pages during a night stroll –the store's manager Naydeen was more than welcoming, preparing us some herbal tea and offering us chocolate in celebration of Valentine's day. If you are ever in Hope, this funky little bookshop is definitely worths supporting.

One of the distinct differences between this town and the last (Osooyos) was the amount of moss covering everything, from dry to wet within a day's drive.  After day or so of exploring, we chose to take advantage of the drizzly wet weather and did some laundry and repairs to the bus (things seem to come apart after driving along bumpy roads). Our second day in Hope, we decided that it was worth the climb of the Coquihala Canyon to see the Othello tunnels – that were originally a part of the CPR and chiseled by hand some hundred years ago by Chinese immigrants. During our day hike we met our friends Dave and Shelley, along with Simba their dog – we had a nice chat and learned that the first Rambo movie was also filmed at this site. Although the tunnels were supposedly closed to the public, we chose to go anyhow – it was definitely worth the squeeze through the gated fence.  Apparently a scene from the Rambo movie First Blood was filmed here as well...

One of the distinct differences between this town and the last (Osooyos) was the amount of moss covering everything, from dry to wet within a day's drive.  After a day or so of exploring, we chose to take advantage of the drizzly wet weather and did some laundry and repairs to the bus (things seem to come apart after driving along bumpy roads). Our second day in Hope, we decided that it was worth the climb of the Coquihala Canyon to see the Othello tunnels – that were originally a part of the CPR and chiseled by hand some hundred years ago by Chinese immigrants. During our day hike we met our friends Dave and Shelley, along with Simba their dog – we had a nice chat and learned that the first Rambo movie was also filmed at this site. Although the tunnels were supposedly closed to the public, we chose to go anyhow – it was definitely worth the squeeze through the gated fence.

After Hope, we intended on continuing west toward the island, however a chance encounter with a woman led us north on highway #5 through Yale, Hell's Gate and eventually Lytton. After a brief stop in Yale to explore the Spirit Cave trail, a trail that was recommended in our guide, but clearly not maintained had us climbing up the side of a mountain for a spectacular view of the Fraser River. A slippery climb, nearing sunset, turned us around to continue heading north but not before checking out Yale's cemetary. Reputably, Yale was at one time, the largest city north of San Francisco and west of Chicago, hard to believe since now there are likely fewer than 100 permanent residents living in this small town. What caught our attention was not only the early dates of the tombstones, but the tombstones created out of wood.