Embarking North, Part 2: Ennis, MT to Smithers, BC
On July 1st we said our goodbyes to Christina’s family and climbed back into the seats of our truck. With full hearts from spending so much quality time with family we were setting off once again, but this time, into fully new territory for both of us.
From Ennis, we headed north and visited one of Christina’s co-workers, MP, who lives just south of the Canadian border crossing we planned to go through from Montana. Even though Christina and MP have worked remotely together at the same tech company for over a year, they had never actually met in person. As it turns out, an emerging theme of this trip has been finally turning internet friends into real life (IRL) friends, and we were once again headed to officially make more IRL friends!
It was wonderful to get to spend time with MP and her husband Phillippe. We are so looking forward to spending more time with them the next time we pass through the Flathead Valley!
Next up was something that neither of us had done yet… It was time to drive across an international border!
For us this border crossing was both very exciting and slightly stressful. We had done an exhausting level of research to learn everything that we could so that when we arrived we were prepared. We had read about so many different people’s experiences for border crossings that ranged from the very quick and painless to the extreme of a full car search, so we were still unsure of exactly what to expect.
At the border crossing we pulled in line and waited patiently behind two other cars ahead of us. Our time finally arrived, and with passports in hand we rolled up to the window. We handed over our passports and answered a few very simple questions. Where we were from, where we where going, how long would we be in Canada, if we had anything that we intended to sell, if we had any firearms, ammo, or pepper spray. After answering all the questions we were handed back our passports and were welcomed into Canada. The whole thing took less than two minutes and we were shocked at how easy it was especially since we had a pet with us, we where expecting a bit more of an affair. In reality, I doubt it could have been any easier and our new found love for Canada grew quickly after such an enjoyable first impression.
With the seamless border crossing behind us we set our sights again to making rapid progress north. Experiencing the midnight sun in Tuktoyaktuk was the first goal and we had a limited timeframe to cover the 4200km (2600miles) from our border crossing north to Tuktoyuktuk, and then another 1666km (1035miles) return south to get to Palmer, AK where we would meet some friends and resume work. That tight time frame would mean that we would have to spend lots of time driving in the coming days.
The next few days of travel were really fast paced and we didn’t take as many opportunities to get out and stretch our legs on hikes or dip our toes into a creek to fish as we would have liked. Despite how quickly we were traveling we were taking lots and lots of notes on the places that we would want to return to on our drive home in the fall. Surrounded with so much beauty, the list grew very quickly.
One of the places that we did stop to make lunch and walk Greta was just in perfect viewing distance of Mount Robson - the most prominent mountain in North America's Rocky Mountain range, and also the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. We were easily enamored by its beauty and size. We spent several hours in the valley below this beautiful peak enjoying flowers, letting Greta get some of her energy out from so much time in the car, eating some PB&J’s and lots of snacks.
As we continued north we took advantage of several paid campgrounds along the way. This is something that we don’t do very frequently but the provincial park campgrounds are in a league of their own. The ones that we experienced along this section of the trip were so beautiful and well maintained. They had free firewood, picnic tables, very level spots and super clean facilities. We were truly blown away and to date haven’t experienced anything like it in the US.
As the work week approached and we started to get near civilization again it was time to start looking for a place to land for a few days that would have either good cell signal or reliable internet. We searched over maps and weather forecasts to find a suitable spot. The more we looked, the worse the weather seemed like it was going to be. The forecasts were showing a huge rain and thunder storm system that was settling into nearly all of British Columbia for several days. Working in the GFC in rain isn’t much of a problem for us. However, leading client calls from inside of a wedge style tent as lightning and thunder cracks around us certainly isn’t ideal. So, we made the decision to get an Airbnb for a few days in Smithers, BC which was already one of our planned stops along the way so it made sense for us to find a place there that we could push the pause button on driving so much for a bit.
Settling into an Airbnb for a few days proved to be the right call. It gave us a great opportunity to catch up on a lot of little chores that needed to be done. We took Dolores to a local shop and had an oil change preformed, washed several loads of very dirty clothes and were able to get a bunch of photos uploaded with the ridiculously fast internet connection at the Airbnb. We also enjoyed a well stocked kitchen to cook some of our favorite meals that are hard to do on the road without an oven.
Thankfully the weather didn’t turn out to be as nasty as forecasted, which allowed us to take advantage of some incredibly long hours of day light. On the days that were clear enough, we would wrap up work and head out to explore the surrounding areas. We fished and hung out around a beautiful mountain lake, and added lots of spots to our list to check out on our return home.
After work one particular evening, we headed out to hike up to an alpine lake that we had found while searching for trails around the area. The long evening light and a forecast of just light rain gave us a unique opportunity to hike up to a small alpine lake around 7PM — something that we generally would never do so late in the day in Colorado. We loaded up all our rain gear and mosquito head nets and set off.
Mosquitoes in this area are no joke! Our visit was well timed with what we would later learn was the worst mosquito conditions that any of the locals had ever seen. A warm and wet spring had led to prime breeding and bug growing weather. A head net in this kind of environment is nearly mandatory if you would like to keep your sanity.
This hike blew us away. We were shocked to see that given its relatively low elevation of 1780m (5840 feet) the terrain and plant life very much resembled what we would see in Colorado but in an elevation that would be at least twice as high.
As the work week started to come to a close so did our time in Smithers. We repacked our truck with now clean clothes, grabbed the last of our delicious left overs and climbed back into the seats of Dolores to resume our journey north. We really enjoyed the time that we spent in Smithers and we are eager to return again in a few months.
Thanks for following along! We can’t wait to share the next leg of our trip with you all!
