I got up early and headed for BC 97, only to find a diversion because the nearest entrance to that road was closed for repairs. I wasted 10 minutes trying to find another way on to BC 97 because although that entrance was closed, there were no signs saying where to divert to.
Once on BC 97 I made excellent progress as it was two lanes each way and there was very little traffic. I was sure that my journey would go fast and smooth now that I was back on BC 97 and later would join Highway 1, the Trans Canada Highway. Had I bothered to do some research into the state of the road, I would have been sure that my journey would go slow and difficult!
The road between Cache Creek and Hope down in the South had been badly impacted by the severe flooding from the Pineapple Express (a.k.a. an atmospheric river) of November 2021, and they are still repairing/strengthening sections of road from that event. We were caught South of the Nooksack River in Washington State on the worse day of the storms so I should have realised what the storms did to the road and passes in the mountains.
What I encountered at Cache Creek was soul destroying. The flooding had started on May 3rd, a week before I got there. IT was caused by a combination of snowmelt and heavy rainfall. The creek runs into the Thompson River at the South end of the town. Having lived in Houston area for 22 years I was more than familiar with severe flooding, having witnessed many a bad tropical storm, including Hurricane Harvey in September 2017 that had dropped 54” in three days over the Southwest area of Houston.
And now I was looking at scenes reminiscent of Houston after Harvey. I know what it takes to recover from flooding such as I was witnessing, and I felt sick in my stomach for the people of Cache Creek. When I drove past this spot I could see that much of the land down the side of the fire station had been washed away. They had already done a magnificent job to get one line of traffic through the town, but they had so much more to do before them. Life would not return to normal for a long time.
You can see the effects of the Cache Creek flood at https://cache-creek-flood-mitigation-planning-true-consulting.hub.arcgis.com/apps/107c01ff21684561bef3936bbf3f0ffc/explore
What makes the situation even sadder is that Cache Creek is just 54 miles North of another area that suffered a major disaster – the town of Lytton. It recorded the hottest temperature of 49.6°C on June 29, 2021 and the following day the town was almost totally destroyed by a wildfire that raged through it.
There were many other hold ups, but the longest were road repairs at Summerland on BC 97and at Jackass Summit on Highway 1 they are building a new bridge so that meant alternating traffic and a delay of 45 minutes.
When I go to Hope there was signs indicating that Highway 1 was closed and to divert North up to BC 7. By now I was beginning to wonder if I would make it in time to get on the 3:45 ferry – I didn’t want to miss it because the next one was at 6:15 pm and then I wouldn’t get home until 8 pm.
But having no choice I went on to BC 7 only to find that it was generally a straight level road and there was little traffic. Then at Aggasiz there was a sign to rejoin Highway 1, so, thinking that surely Highway 1 must be the best, smoothest, fastest possible route, I dropped South back on to Highway 1. It’s difficult to describe what a silly, silly move that was!
Highway 1 was to take me through Chilliwack, Abbotsford, just North of Langley, skirting on Surrey, through Burnaby and into East Vancouver itself. That’s a who’s who of bad traffic areas in Vancouver and the suburbs. It would be difficult to think of a worse route to take, even though it wasn’t yet rush-hour. From Abbotsford it was stop/start, with more stop than start!
So why was this such a bad move? Because BC 7 continues on the North side of the Fraser River and I could have taken BC 7A at Coquitlam and shortly thereafter, rejoined Highway 1 at Hastings Park, just 1 km from where Highway 1 crosses the Fraser River on the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge. That would have been 7 miles short in distance but a lot shorter in time – and it was time I was short of.
When I trained as a pilot, the lesson that was drummed into me the most was that many pilots died from a severe disease called “Get-home-itis”. They continued their journey without doing their homework on what may be in front of them because they just had to get home in time for something. I think today I had a severe case of get-home-itis. I was in such a hurry to make it to the terminal in time for the ferry that when I hit that diversion I didn’t stop and think things through to identify the best course of action, and thus the best course. Had I done so, I would have stayed on BC 7 and had a faster journey with far less stress and risk. Hopefully, lesson (re)learned…..
I made it to the terminal at 3:20 pm and quickly asked the woman in the ticket booth if I would make it on to the ferry. It was then explained to me that I had missed the cut off time, so I had been converted from a “definite” to a “maybe”. To jump ahead a bit in time… this was especially galling when at 4:10 pm an announcement was made on board that “we will arrive at Departure Bay in Nanaimo bang on time thanks to our on-time departure form Horseshoe Bay”.
Your what from Horseshoe Bay? This bloody ferry left at 4 pm, so if that was on time, then so was my arrival at the terminal – you can’t have your cake and eat BC Ferries, so which one of us was “on-time”? If I wasn’t so tired, I might have visited the Purser to ask that question, but I was exhausted.
So, I drove into the “maybe” line to wait and see if I would get on the 3:15. This terminal is unlike any other BC Ferries terminal that we have used. It’s alongside BC 99, a.k.a. The Sea to Sunshine Highway which goes up to Whistler and beyond to join Highway 1 just North of Chase Creek. You can see the weird layout in still “BC Ferries Horseshoe Bay Terminal”. When your lined up you are far back from the terminal loading area so you can’t see what’s going on, which vessels are in or how the loading is going until you are called forward to drive on to the ferry. So waiting in the “maybe” line is a tense time.
I mentioned the terminal being next to BC 99 but I came to the terminal on Highway 1, the Trans Canada Highway, so where has that highway gone? The answer is – nowhere, I am parked on it! The Trans Canada system goes from St John’s, capital of Newfoundland, on the Atlantic coast to Victoria, capital of British Columbia, on the Pacific coast. It’s a mere 4.645 miles and one of the longest route systems in the world.
But isn’t Victoria on Vancouver Island? How does Highway 1 get from Horseshoe Bay to Victoria? The answer is the same way as everyone else does – by ferry. The ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo is Highway 1! Then it continues from Departure Bay in Nanaimo to Dallas Road on the Southern shore of Victoria.
Finally, I am called forward to drive on to the ferry, and being as tired as I was, completely forgot to switch on the video camera. I was just not doing very well today – at anything it seemed.
At the start of video #1 (the only one) you can see the state of my Subie… a dirty wretch that badly needs cleaning – nothing like the pristine specimen that I set out in from home 12 days earlier.
But you can also see that there is a space to the left of the vehicle, and that’s the space I originally drove into, only to be told to back up and go into the position that you see it in because “I’ll get another vehicle in there”. Well, a motorbike would fit in there, but they all go into a special area designated for them right at the front of the vessel. A bicycle or two or six would fit in there too, but they all go into another special area. Of course, you could chop a car in half and that too would fit in there. Can you see where I am going with this?
That lane, waiting patiently for that next vehicle to arrive, was one of the first lanes to drive off the ferry. The lane I was no in, on the other hand, was the very last one to do so. At least I wasn’t the only one having a bad day at the office.
Frankly, I was too exhausted to care and just wanted to get off the ferry and get home. Trish had told me the night before that my eldest daughter and her partner were waiting at the house to welcome me home – what a lovely surprise!
About halfway across the Straight of Georgia I decided to go up to the bow of the top passenger deck too get a view of Vancouver Island. Although it was quite cold, the sun was shining, there we not too many clouds in the sky so I would get that beautiful view of the Straight and the Island that I liked so much. You can see the stills I took in IMG_1915/6/7. IMG_1916 in particular is a most beautiful panorama of that view – it’s the image at the head of this post. I think that the two islands to the North (right) in the Straight are Lasqueti Island (smaller) and Texada Island (larger).
Look at IMG_1917. It’s two young guys practicing their dance routine in the freezing howling wind on the bow. There is actually a third guy – he’s lying on the deck looking at them. Go to 1:12 on the video and you can see them in action.
The ferry docked on time as promised, though it took another 25 minutes before I got off it. Then it was just a 20 minute drive home up BC 19 – the same road I had gone on to head North to get the overnight ferry from Port Hardy twelve days earlier. My artic adventure was finally over. I just wanted that nice cup of tea that was waiting for me.
Now it’s time to think of the next adventure – home on Vancouver Island to the end of the Trans Canada Highway in Nova Scotia… that as far one way as the entire journey I just completed, but no Dempster Highway 😊
You can see the stills and video shot today here.
