"And following the tracks, they eventually arrived in the West "it could start or finish like that, and it could be a novel.
If it was on foot or horseback, it would be around 1850, during the gold rush. We would settle, hungry chips, somewhere around "Hope", a small town west of the Rockies originally inhabited by native Americans, gem embedded in the mountains, the river, two hours east of the present city of Vancouver. Appointment today of back-packers of all types, who enjoy their break from Greyhound bus to do their laundry, go shopping on the Internet or some souvenirs in the stores of pearls at the wood carver in the corner or Merchants postcards.
If it was in the process, it would be somewhere around 1885, the date on which British Columbia in western Canada, has joined the rest of the Canadian Confederation through the finalization of the Railway " Canadian Pacific ". "No train, no confederacy" Officials have said BC. Never mind, people have crossed in just five years, the vastness, altitude, rocks, avalanches and wildlife of the Rockies, which rise to about 4000 meters in altitude between Calgary and Vancouver . With picks and axes, building 300m per day in temporary camps along the route. If it was in 1885, we had traveled under the incentive of the government and the railway company, who reportedly offered to buy farmland in Alberta we install or near the coast to start a new life . That would be to the detriment of American Indians driven from their land, but also thousands of Chinese died from disease, malnutrition and accidents by constructing the railway, cheap labor treated as subhuman in Canada who still believed in the concept of "race". More train today, or almost, except for goods ... The cars were buried under branches remnants of this historic achievement of the Canadian railway, which remains mostly a few souvenirs in the museum in Revelstoke, not to be missed under any circumstances, in this small mountain town at the exit Rockies going to Vancouver by 1.
By car, it could be as early as 1954. It was at this time that Hope was reached by motorway. Heavy goods began to fill the trains, which have so far only to transport food, wood and other commodities from coast to coast. Highway 1 is now dotted with hundreds and hundreds of trucks that never end; trucks double tripple or quadruple loading; trucks traveling to most as fast as the car (120km / h on average when the limit is 100) in climbs and descents over 40% drop. Here, we do not slow down, failing to get back into it from behind! You learn to manage the weight of the vehicle and take turns without capsizing on the side (which is still sometimes shown yesterday a truck fully back on the roof!) and are believed in Mario Kart ... More dangerous .... In
van, as one does, it almost look like the years 1960-70. The era of Hippies, people across the continent as nomads just to "see what it does." At Hope, yesterday met with Betty precisely (no kidding, she had the same name as our van!), A shopkeeper who remembers those days with nostalgia. Long hair, the Beatles, multicolored flags. And recklessness, the impression that anything is possible, freedom. As for herself, she said she would do it. That the time has changed, it became more dangerous. Maybe ... But maybe not. After all it is this same freedom that we today gouttons during this journey across North America. That of deciding at the last moment we'll sleep in the morning to ask what we will do during the day. The more we advance towards the west, we cross over to other "post-hippie" as we on the road. Yesterday, in traffic jams in the suburbs of Vancouver, a van with four guys around the thirties, mustache Beatles and cigarettes in his mouth. A little later, two youths in a car from Ontario hang a U-Haul. He has long hair, she dreadlocks and bare feet on the windshield forward.
What's different between the hippies of the 1960-70 and back-packers today? The number, no doubt. From our side of the road, we have not met a single auto-stop on the 5000 km from the crossing. On the other hand, we have seen less than ten. The vans, we do not see that from a few hundred miles. And above all ... Those we see most are extremely (too) well equipped! The comfort of 2010, with Tim Horton (again!!) At every street corner that tolerate the presence of vehicles in their parking at night, take some of the charm of travel of the early pioneers and their successors. By looking carefully, that said, there are traces here and there that this story is almost legend. Who said that North America has no history? Recently, certainly, the history of this continent and that of this country is nevertheless very real, mixing, as for us Europeans, the moments of pride and glory, to stories of extermination, abuse or deportation .. .
History fades so gradually, under the chains of Tim Horton's, gas stations, the new building replacing the old (no Planning Law here). But what remains is all the detours. Landscapes with infinite breath away all the hundreds of miles, such that wildlife does not even dreamed in Europe, close, so close to humans. That is the paradox of modern comfort: it gives more space and power of nature. The men lock themselves in their condos themselves or their motels, are not interested in open spaces, and thus allow the plants time to grow back, the animals time to restock. In the endless plains that stretch from Winnipeg to Calgary around the straight line of Route 1, thousands and thousands of prairie dogs leaping at the roadside. Barely out of the highway to engage in one of the few non gondronnés trails that border, you can see the little creatures that flow almost under the wheels of the vehicle so they used to be alone and do not realize the danger. On the same road, a group of white-tailed deer and deer are just a few meters from a side street near the entrance to a campsite. Butterflies everywhere, almost unseen in Europe, and some moths, white, are magnificent. By car, almost before we mourn the hundreds of libbellules crashing on our windshield at 120km / h. We mourn least, cons, on mosquitoes, which maculent Soon the front of the van and the windshield of a thin blackish. You get used to stop for supper around 17h, and then back into the car just before dark to ride a few hundred miles to find a corner or sleeping, but this time without any windows open.
After the plains, is the arrival in the Rockies. In Calgary, at the edge of town, they take shape in the distance, huge, left and right, all along the line of the horizon, as far as the eye can see. We are in the storm, but it is nice over there, above the clouds. At 50 or 100km before us, we see the sun piercing the clouds and illuminate snowy mountains. We were told that it was cutting the breath is the word. Then came the climb. The amazing highway through the mountains for 6 channels. Trees and smashed rocks with dynamite. The eternal work to expand and the THEY CONTAIN "Trans. And tourists everywhere. To Lake Louise, tourist mecca since the train arrived in the region, we see cars of all nationalities in the world. And yet ... Yet ... Nature, once again takes over. On arrival at the lake turquoise at 1500m altitude, hailstorms, while we walk. And above all, signs everywhere: beware of grizzlies. This is the place of the world or the density of grizzly bears and men in one place is the highest. Nico does not believe too much, or at least is not afraid. As for me I get out my bell and I bear the noise as much as possible, as recommended. The electrified fences of the camp did nothing to reassure me, even less than the leaflets giving advice in case of bear encounters. Determine if the attack is defensive or predatory (ok, but it's not easy to know!). If she is defensive, play dead. If it lasts more than 2 minutes, it is probably predatory, then beat you! Cons of a bear hundreds of kg, it promises ...
And finally, we'll see our Bears ... Nico was dreaming, I feared. We've both been lucky. The chance to meet two Quebecers, Cindy and Martin, with whom we Morraine Lake Trail to the signs you should walk in groups of four "(because of the bears, yes yes ...). Lucky that we got along so well that we will all walk together for almost 3 hours. And the chance that Martin is so good for your eyes and spends so much time scrutinizing the mountains in search of wild goats he sees on the hillside across the valley, a mother grizzly and her two cubs, to Less than a kilometer away, but still far enough to not be an immediate threat. That may not happen to us every day .... We left after a coffee, highlights of this common experience, provided that s'enverra nice pictures by email, and decked out for my usual nickname of "Tinkerbell" this time which suits me quite well given the I bell at the end of my arm during the entire trip!
After that, it's the slow descent into Vancouver. After the rush of the beginning of the trip and the 5 000km of road in eight days, we finally appear to take our time on vacation. To meet people. Betty, I was talking about above, we sold the mascot that we needed for our van: a Betty Boop - Hippy 5cm plastic that we hang from the rearview mirror. Peet, wood sculptor, shows her creations in wood dust and cigarette smoke from his bench in the shelter of the mountains. Then, in Vancouver, Julia's friend Emily, our host, we offer a shower (youpi!), and takes us in a good bar to drink good beer. Do it again tonight after the beach and downtown! Saturday or Sunday next destination, Portland, to see Ron and Jayne F. Then California, marriage, friends of Nico, a few Grinders probably Wellyn children, and even the nature, beach, crossing the Rockies in the other direction, the Grand Canyon .... To be continued ....
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