June 3 Jasper National Park to Prince George, British Columbia (BC)

Today is another travel day … about 5 hours to Prince George where we will be spending 5 days with my husband’s brother and his family.

The drive out of Jasper National Park was beautiful. It’s another warm, sunny day. We saw a couple of black bears along the road.

As we exited the park and entered into BC we also entered Mount Robson Provinical Park. Mount Robson is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies at 3799+ meters. We also gained another hour and are now in the Pacific time zone.

My brother-in-law suggested we stop at the Ancient Forest Provincial Park before going into Prince George as it has unique forest growth not found anywhere else. We hiked the whole area having made sure we were adequately protected against the mosquitoes first! Then we had the sandwich lunch that I had purchased in McBride earlier. It was lovely and warm in the sun.

Chun T’oh Whudujut/Ancient Forest is a Provincial Park and Protected Area 120km east of Prince George.  Within the traditional territory of the Lheidli T’enneh, the park protects a portion of the only inland temperate rainforest in the world.  The Ancient Forest trail took us past thousand-year-old western red cedars and a rich biodiversity of plants, mosses, lichens and fungi. 

While conducting research of lichen biodiversity, a UNBC graduate student came across the impressive stand of western red cedar trees.  Forestry was and continues to be a prevalent industry in the north; at that time, these same trees were flagged and designated to be logged.  Recognizing the vital importance of the Ancient Forest to the local First Nations and the unique ecosystem of the area, trails were soon developed to bring visitors to the site not only so others might see the majestic cedars, but bring attention to the site so that it might be protected.

The rest of the day’s travel was non-descript. Once we left the mountains behind we were driving through rolling hills that were fairly repetitive. No habitations or towns until we reached Prince George. We arrived in camp mid-afternoon and had some very badly needed showers, and put the mosquito tent up because we need it here and we’ll be here for a few days. We put on some nicer clothes to go and have dinner with family.

The next 5 days is family time. I will post items of interest that we explore while we are here and talk about Prince George but not on a daily basis. We get back on the road on June 8.