This morning, the power was back on at the Safeway, so the kids did a bit of homeschool while I got the blog up to date:

We headed into downtown Smithers to purchase a gas plumbing part for our catalytic heater.  Unfortunately, the main street had a median which had concrete planters in it at every intersection.  Turning right onto a side street, the rear left corner of the trailer grazed the planter.  With a couple screws, judicious application of the rubber mallet, and silicone sealant, we were back in business after about 15 minutes:

We had to break her in at some point, I guess.

Smithers is in the foothills of the Canadian Coast Range:

Driving West out of Smithers, we reached Kitwanga after about 70 miles, the Southern end of the Cassiar Highway:

The Cassiar Highway is 450 miles of virtually unpopulated country.  The rule on the Cassiar is “never pass up a gas station”, since gas stations are over 100 miles apart and frequently close due to running out of gas or equipment failure. 

We drove North on the Cassiar for 97 miles, turning off towards Stewart, BC at Meziadin Junction.  About 15 miles after the turnoff, we passed Bear Glacier, one of the only glaciers accessible by paved road in Canada.  The glacial ice, which can be hundreds of feet thick, is a bright blue:

Continuing on, we passed through a narrow gorge area.  In places, we could see hanging glaciers hundreds of feet above.  The nearly vertical faces were covered in lush greenery, interrupted only by waterfalls cascading down from the glaciers above.  Signs said “Avalanche area, no stopping”, so we didn’t photograph this spectacular area.

We stopped at Clements Lake, which is about a mile off the highway.  There’s just a small turnaround, but here in BC the rule is you can camp anywhere so long as it’s not posted otherwise.  It was amazing to have this lake and the snow covered mountains behind it all to ourselves:

Days are over 17.5 hours long here at 56 degrees North.  With the overcast skies, the day seems to just go on forever, an effect I find disconcerting.

Good Shabbos from Clements Lake, near Stewart, BC!  See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.