After leaving Seattle, I head north and east to the North Cascades National Park and Recreation Area. I get in later than anticipated, but luckily I have already researched a free roadside campsite! But when I get there, it does not exist. That or I had an incorrect point. Either way, this means I need to find an actual campsite before it gets dark. I wander into the park, and find many sites along the Skagit River. All are beautiful, and doable at $16 a pop. At least there are toilets and water and no road noise. I find a site and begin organizing my truck for the border crossing tomorrow. I want everything to look clean and orderly so they don’t feel like they need to tear it apart and search everything. I’m carrying a shotgun, so I already know I’ll be pulled into secondary. I just want that to go as quickly and painlessly as possible.
As I jump out of the truck to begin organizing, I’m swarmed by mosquitoes. Shit. I knew this was going to be an issue, but already?? They are bad… I grab my insect repellent which keeps them from biting me, but they’re still buzzing all around my head constantly. Annoying as crap, but not too terrible. I can only imagine this will get worse as I travel north.
The next day, I pester some park employees about hiking trails, and I’m told of one called Thunder Creek Trl and 4th of July Pass. A moderate trail that supposedly has some good views at the pass. As I drive to the trail head, I stop a few times at some of the overlooks. At least 3 dams are here on the park, creating vast lakes with aquamarine water. They look cool, but I hate dams. I especially hate to see 3 dams in a place as beautiful as this. I also really hate when dams are glorified at National Parks… Nothing natural about totally disrupting the flow of water for personal gain.
Thunder Creek Trail was pretty awesome. Easy terrain and good river views. I turned to take a steeper trail up to 4th of July Pass, and immediately regret it. This shit is straight up and down. But, I’m too stubborn to turn around, so I slog through the 3.5 miles until I’m up at the vantage point. ….Um, this vantage point sucks. I can barely see anything! You made me walk almost 4 miles straight up for this?! Stupid trail…. I turn around a walk back along the vertical trail, pissed at myself for not doing my own research on what to hike. Lesson learned.
Back at the car, I do some more driving to see the official Diablo Lake and Ross Lake overlook areas. They’re pretty ok I guess, but I’m still upset about the whole “put a damn everywhere” mentality here. I decide to head out of the park and to the border town of Sumas to cross into British Columbia.
Pulling up to Sumas, I’m a little nervous. Mostly because I don’t want any of my stuff to be taken, and I don’t want to have to clean up any messes from a vehicle search. I get to the gate, and the officer asks the normal stuff. Where you from, where you headed, that kind of crap. That part is easy, I’m just driving the entire country and heading up to Alaska. Then he asks about what I have to declare, and I say I have a shotgun and some nuts. He says, and I quote, “I’m not worried about your nuts.” Obviously he only really cares about the shotgun, but phrasing!! I thought it was hilarious. He did not.
So I get pulled into secondary. The officer directing me there is creepy and scary as shit. He says grab your ID and the yellow slip of paper the officer gave me and nothing else and walk inside along the red line. I follow these directions, and walk into the customs office which, of course, has a TV playing hockey. I’m the only person there. Good thing I came on a Monday evening. They take my keys, I tell them where the gun is, and where the filled out paperwork is for it. A few minutes pass, and I’m told the fee is $20. Guess that means everything is cool? I have to walk back outside to the creepy officer and grab my wallet, then go back inside to pay. All in all, I’m in and out in 15 minutes. No vehicle torn apart, and nothing to stress about. I’m told that my gun is only for defense against wildlife (which is what I wanted), and to keep this customs paperwork with it at all times. Pretty easy is you ask me. PS I did not take pictures. I was too scared it would piss them off.
After the border crossing, I get into the land of the metric system. Shit, how fast is 50 km/h? Everything looks different and feels different. I pull over at a Costco to get my bearings and figure out where in the hell I’m headed to for the night. I have a roadside parking area planned, but it’s too far. I start driving north, just looking for anywhere to pull over and spend the night. I eventually find a cute trailhead parking area just outside the town of Yale. So I have a place to park and a place to hike in the morning! Score!
Unfortunately, the road noise from truckers during the night kept me awake. I slept like shit, and light is pouring in at 5am. I decide to wake up early, hike, then head to an actual campground about 3 hours north of here. I begin my hike, only to realize this is straight up and down. Even worse than the 4th of July Pass at Cascades! I’m not too stubborn today, I turn my ass around a half mile in and hike back to the car. Screw this hike. I decide to just drive north and see if I can find any cool places to stop along the way.
I mean, I found some touristy stuff. A place called hell’s gate, some cool log cabins… All very Canadian. I try and get gas, but my credit card doesn’t work in the machine? Apparently they don’t do like, a dollar hold where you can fill up and go. You either get like, $20, or $50 of gas, or you give your physical credit card to the clerk, and they ring you up after your done. This seems silly to me… Also, I went to Safeway which is a supermarket that’s all over the west coast. I have a rewards card to get the lower prices on select items. When I go to give my card to the clerk, she’s like, “oh, we don’t do cards in Canada.” Then why have a card member price and then a regular price? Y’all make no damn sense.
So, I’m frustrated and tired. I finally pull into the town of Cache Creek to a visitor information center. It’s set up to look like a 50s diner. Weird, but ok… I walk in to find a girl behind the counter, and I begin asking her about hiking trails. She is sooooo helpful, so I start asking about the gas pumps, ATMs, and which route to take. She’s got an answer for everything! Plus, get this, I get the secret on where to find showers. Public pools! Pay $2 and you get a shower AND a chance to swim. I’m sold. I thank her profusely, and head north.
I decide I’m too tired to find a random spot on the road to camp, so I pull into a provincial park and pay $18 for a campsite. Really it’s like $15 in American dollars, so I’m fine with that. As soon as I stop I am swarmed by mosquitoes. Like, really bad. Dammit! I decide to pull out the bug net today and cover the truck. This works better than expected!!
Now that I’m at the park, I realize there really isn’t much to do. Some lake access, a shitty hiking trail, that’s about it. But, I don’t mind. I’m too tired at this point and I’m ready for sleep. Tomorrow I’m heading north and getting onto the Cassiar Hwy. Should be interesting!!
