Burns Lake to Smithers, British Columbia – 15 June 2024
It’s crazy how we have spent 30 years in British Columbia and yet there are so many places we are only discovering now. We are thoroughly enjoying the BC scenery as we make our way to the Yukon. Its hard to imagine the scenery in the Yukon and Alaska being better than this.
Smithers in particular was breathtaking. Every turn in the road here opens up to yet another breathtaking view of snow capped mountains, green fields and lakes. No wonder so many movies have been made here. This place is a paradise for skiers, hikers and fisherfolk.
Our campsite was in Witset, situated 20 minutes north of downtown Smithers, at the top of a hill looking down onto the Bulkley-Nechako River valley. Witset is home to the Wet’suwet’en First Nations Band which means “People of the lower hills”. Interestingly, Also many Dutch and Swiss families who immigrated to Smithers after WW2.
Smithers was the first town to be incorporated in British Columbia in 1912 and was established in 1913 as the divisional headquarters of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. It was named after Sir Alfred Smithers, the chairman of the board of directors of the railway.
Smithers is in the middle of the stretch of highway 16 that runs between Prince George and Prince Rupert. While driving in this area we were reminded of the terrible atrocities that have occurred here. This stretch is known as the Highway of Tears because it is said that around 40 – 80+ people – mostly Indigenous and mostly women or girls, have gone missing and/or were murdered along this route in the last few decades – many of whom were hitchhiking.
Many efforts have been underway to deal with this problem, like expanding the cell coverage, and providing more bus shelters and highway webcams along the way. While the number of disappearances have declined, there are still incidents and many of the cases are still unresolved.
In spite of all its natural beauty, British Columbia still the highest number of missing adult reports per capita than any other province.
We celebrated Father’s day on Sunday, and after a hearty “Mediterranean themed” breakfast, attempted a hike to Blue Lakes. Unfortunately the road to the first parking area (2 kms uphill) was closed so we had to walk. While we had sprayed ourself with bug spray we were still swarmed and especially poor Jax. The hike became quite unpleasant and we ended up turning back and visiting the Smithers brewery instead for a couple of cold ones.
