Revelstoke, Gem Number 3

Like all of our gems, we came upon Revelstoke by a complete "stoke" of luck.  While camping in the Okanagen valley,  Frances chatted it up with our neighbors, who turned out to be from Seattle.  (He works for Mr. Softie).  We were talking about our plans for Jasper and Banff, but expressed our concern for the crowds.  He suggested we try Revelstoke.  What?  Where?  It took us about 3 days to remember the name of the place.   Since we typically need a lot so supporting evidence before darting off on a lark, this was good enough for us.  He said that they had just been there and that the crowds were small.  While we liked the orchards and lakes of the Okanagen, the crowds on highway 97 were just too much.  In addition, the Provincial Parks in these busy areas are just not quite our style.  They are a bit like the Oregon coast, i.e. periodic patrols by the campground staff selling wood, emplacing lawn sprinklers, etc.   We also had to plan around the upcoming Canada Day.  With all national parks free this year in honor of Canada's 150th year of "somethingness", we knew we couldn't just roll the dice and show up at some park on 30 June and be able to get a spot.

Revelstoke is an old railroad town that may have a few souvenir shops, but it still have the feel of a small, local town.  Skiing and mountain biking are very big, but the people we met moved here to do those activities, and didn't just pop in for the weekend.  The Columbia River and the famous Big Eddy run right through town.  I did enjoy, Big Eddy Street, Big Eddy Pub, Big Eddy Market, etc.  I'm totally coming away with a Big Eddy T shirt.  The folks who work at the tourist bureau have gotten to know us pretty well, and have given us some great advice.  Every town in Canada that we have been through has a tourist office that is staffed with folks to provide recommendations, and hand out maps, etc.    Typically you find these offices right on the edge of town, and by some puzzling process, they seem to be always on the side of town that we are entering?  I guess traffic flows mostly South to North for tourists by car?

We stayed for six nights at Martha Creek Provincial Park, snagging the last spot in that park on 23 June.  This is a nice park on the Columbia River, which is wide at the park due to Revelstoke Dam.  There is great cycling along the river on a newly surfaced road that is a 150 KM dead end at Mica Dam.  There is logging traffic on the road, but we managed to do our riding on weekends and holidays, and never had to share the road with loggers.  Given the low level of traffic in general on Route 23, I think the riding would have been fine even if the trucks were running. 

We left Martha Creek on about the 27th and did a two day excursion to Banff and Jasper.  In this 5 hour drive we went through 5 national parks.   We traversed Revelstoke, Glacier, Yoho, Banff and Jasper National Parks.  I was glad that they were free, as entrance into National Parks in Canada is much pricier that the US.  I think when Maggie and I went skiing over a decade ago, it was about $70 to get in to Banff.  The parks were all beautiful and filled with snow.  Unlike US National Parks, many Canadian national parks don't have camping in the park.  For sure, many do, but some are back country that had been set aside for hiking and fishing/hunting and don't have a lot of added infrastructure such as water, toilers, etc. 

All of the things that we saw on our two day trip to Jasper were stunning.  The Icefield Parkway between Banff and Jasper is everything it is claimed to be.  This includes drivers stopping the the middle of the road to take pictures.  So the crowds were a bit of a turn off for us.  We we got back to Revelstoke, we moved to Wadey Recreation Area, 7 KM up river.  We had used up our 7 days at Martha Creek.   We both heaved a big sigh of relief to be back in a small, mostly quiet campground.  The next day we did a bike ride toward Mica Dam.  Today we hiked up the road to Mount Revelstoke.  There is a road to the summit, which is unusual, but they blocked it off 6 KM from the end due to snow. So we walked the last bit.  Tomorrow, I'm going to cycle up.  The bike ride will be about 20 KM up.  It was a beautiful day for a walk.

We are departing on the 4th of July heading south on  Route 23, which will include a short ferry ride as we move toward Nelson.  Our bartender yesterday suggested a visit.  To be honest, It is still difficult for us to comprehend the size of British Columbia.  It is bigger that CA, OR, and WA combined.  The only thing I've learned is that we are barely scratching the surface.  But Revelstoke, is a keeper, and would be a good place to establish a base for more exploration of this beautiful place.