Rest stop at Lake of the Woods from Vancouver to Penticton.
Travel Day Notes: As often is, leaving the city of Vancouver is a slog. Rush hour has become rush hours – plural. Crawling along the highway with stops and starts through Burnaby, New Westminster, Surrey and eventually Langley. Around the Fraser Valley the stunning sight of Mount Baker is breathtaking, as I try and focus on the road instead of the majestic snow-capped mountain rising in the distance.
Outside of Hope I took a turn and ended up on a mini detour across the Fraser River to spot with beautiful emerald colored water caked Lake of the Woods. Perfect place to stretch my legs after sitting in traffic for a couple hours.
When I oriented myself back to Hope, I was at a crossroads. Should I go down through the south way using Highway #3? This is the route I’m fairly familiar with, as we’ve camped in EC Manning Park, and this is the road that runs to there. However, I opted for traveling a new route (at least to me) and drove north to Highway #5 – the Coquihalla.
The Coquihalla (part of BC Highway 5) was built around Expo 86. On this north route I followed Coldwater River up to Merritt through mountain passes. It was deceiving with the darkness cast from the shadow of the mountains as the road windows through the lower elevation. It felt like much later than it was – a temporary shift of time because the sun disappeared for swatches of time. But when I got back to higher elevation, the sun hit strong, reminding me of how the tilt of the earth has given us long summer day and that the sun was not yet disappearing.
It was nerve wracking at times with trucks and most vehicles going well over the already high speed limit of 120km. My reptile brain was definitely in adrenaline mode at several points. I feel like a barely evolved mammal who is marveling and slightly anxious about being able to put my foot on this piece of metal and be whisked down the road at speeds that are incredible to consider in contrast with speed of transportation in the history of humans.
After Merritt, I exited onto the Okanagan Connector, Highway #97, and basked in the front experience of the summer evening. Windows down. Wind whipping through my hair. Yelling at the top of my lungs in a really awful rendition of “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence and the Machine. It’s been ages since I’ve driven by myself such a long distance. It reminded me of my solo road trip from Pittsburgh to Toronto to visit my bestie, where I’d download some suspense/thriller novel on audiobook and a fun playlist to jam out to. This trip YouTube music suggested Epic Indie Motivation, so I hit summer cruise mode with the sun roof open to beloved classics. Artists like the Strokes, Cold War Kids, Spoon, Metric and Arcade Fire transport me to the vibes of summer in my 20s.
Finally I hit Peachland as I descended to the shores of Lake Okanagan. I was in awe of the luscious food palette painting the sky: shades of salmon, apricot and nectarine blanketing the soft blue hues of the hills around the lake.