Prince Rupert Loop - Apr20-26

[RichD]

Just a heads up to friends on the island, we're on a 6-day road trip. We are on a ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert on Saturday PM, returning to Vancouver via the interior. Currently, in Nanaimo area. Will be stopping in Coombs soon then...? No fixed plans as yet, just reaching out to peeps.



Ferries dictated our itinerary so we're making it up as we go until Saturday. Wanna meet? Would love to go wheelin on Friday with some friends or just meet and shoot the sh*t.

You can see our route plan here and follow our progress here.

This loop can be done in fewer days for sure. We only have one day where we scheduled 10hrs of driving; all the rest are mellow 5-6hr days. I think its going to be great; will update this thread with links to our trip report. Total costs for fuel and ferries (off-season) are approx 1000$.

Richard and Maria

[marsgal42]

I did Prince Rupert to Port Hardy the summer before last in Gumdrop, and it was a magical trip. A shame you're not doing it during the day...

Getting to Prince Rupert was a bit of a grind, I left Quesnel at 8 that morning and got to Prince Rupert about 8 that night. This is longer than Quesnel to Vancouver, and Highway 16 isn't exactly scenic until you're past Smithers.

...laura

[RichD]

I did Prince Rupert to Port Hardy the summer before last in Gumdrop, and it was a magical trip. A shame you're not doing it during the day...

Getting to Prince Rupert was a bit of a grind, I left Quesnel at 8 that morning and got to Prince Rupert about 8 that night. This is longer than Quesnel to Vancouver, and Highway 16 isn't exactly scenic until you're past Smithers.

...laura

Well its a really long sail, half of which is during the day. I'm irritated that they don't let us sleep in our van.

Maria grew up in Smithers. We'll be stopping there Sunday night (apparently missing the scenic part of the road?) to say hi to some of her extended family. The big road day is Monday Smithers to... as far as we get. I suppose we could push off the big road day to Tuesday and linger in Prince Rupert-Smithers on Monday AM.

[jessef]

envious

[Mr. Pistachio]

envious

x2 :)

[Dingus]

I grew up in Hazelton, just a little past Smithers. (62 Km) Hwy 16 can be a really nice drive. Just a few kilometers from Smithers is Moricetown, stop in the canyon for the views and hopefully watch some fishing. Hazelton has K'San Village, you have a number of really scenic routes to take in!

[thelazygreenfox]

Rich and Maria
I'm envious too. also thinking about doing that ferry trip next winter for some steelhead fishing and deer hunting on the queen charlottes.

Bummer they won't let you sleep in the deli on board the ferry. Maybe you should set up a cot in the cafeteria, hope you don't snore!

Have fun
Wayne
TLGF

[Profister]

We made the same trip in July 2008. Paid $90 for a cabin on board and it was worth it.

[Elbrad]

Shame you're in Nanaimo now, and not Sunday. I should have possession of my new (to me) Deli on Sat...and Sunday will be "cruisin' with the family" day.

Maybe we'll talk the Grandparents into a geocaching trip...

[RichD]

Thanks for the cabin pics. A shower sounds great right about now. We have an inside cabin, on waiting list for outside.

Our experience in the North Island has been kind of meh. Port McNeil had a hostile vibe, with a cop staking out the way into town and not a sign of life after 8PM. All the Re-elect John Duncan posters were enough to turn us back to hwy 19. Arriving in Port Hardy we were greeted by the frantic spinning lights of a traveling carnival, just as it was closing up for the night. All over town are signs prohibiting overnight parking. And yet there are tons of perfectly safe places to do it. We ended up driving back down the 19 to the first rest stop, which was private and quiet and offered great views of the starscape.

Back in Port Hardy this morning we had a decent breakfast at Captain Hardy's, picked up some candied fish for friends in Ottawa at the Hardy Buoys factory outlet. The carnival is in full swing today so there are teens and tweens everywhere and a hint of vomit in the air.

Grabbing a little 3G service and some cash for the ferry then we'll go chill out at the terminal until sailing time. Gorgeous weekend for a road trip.

Sunny but only 15 degrees and hardly any traffic.

[thedjjack]

waiting for photos....

[RichD]

waiting for photos....

Email me. Not posting photos to this site anymore.

[delicat]

waiting for photos....

Email me. Not posting photos to this site anymore.

Party pooper!

Screen shot 2011-06-28 at 6.56.47 AM.jpg (89.03 KiB) Viewed 6663 times

[Profister]

Email me. Not posting photos to this site anymore.

Why bother posting here at all?

[jessef]

waiting for photos....

Email me. Not posting photos to this site anymore.