Hope BC report --

[BCnomad]

Went for the "maiden voyage" to Hope BC with Lightning. Poked around some and thought some might want to hear the current conditions there.


Went to Wild Rose Campground (just past the old Husky on the flats), mostly at the recommendation of my S&B neighbours, who love it for their monster 40' Class A.



tl;dr version: awesome camp ground.




I went during winter season, so there was limited choices in camping sites, at least with services. The small row I was in had been winterized (insulation on the current bush), and is apparently the big rig pull throughs. After repositioning away from tree roots, the site was level enough to not need blocks. They do have some tenting/partial hook up sites as well.

This campground has limited services (ie, small playground -- swing set, horse shoe pit and thats about it) but laundry and full washroom/showers. These were initially closed when I got there, but opened for summer use the day I was leaving. Clean and warm facilities. There is at least one train track close to the road, and sure enough the trains they be a runnin'. First night I heard just about every rail car go thundering past, but after the 4th night, I hardly noticed/lost sleep at all.

Hope had an ice storm recently (six weeks ago??) that caused some localized ice related damage, namely in the form of falling branches. Wildrose had already cleared out their debris and were basically on to the spring clean up. Which was atypical of the other area campgrounds' efforts.

I would like to try the other CG's in the area (especially the community owned one) but I will keep Wildrose on my list of go-to's.

[alan in alberta]

thanks

Sounds like a good spot to de-winterize when i get out west

[BCnomad]

Forgot they have a large dog "park" at the far end (highway side). Beautiful area.

[LarryandLiz]

We are just back from three nights at the Coquihalla Campground in Hope BC (Home | Coquihalla Campground). It is newly linked up with Holiday Trails RV Resorts. The CG was quite empty - Sunday night it was virtually empty. I would expect it to be very busy during the high peak season. For our US Escape Forum members I’d say Hope is a good option to consider since it is about an hour out of Chilliwack.

We left the 17b at the CG and toured up the Fraser Canyon to Hell’s Gate. The Tram ride down the canyon was something we hadn’t done before. As BCrs it was fun to be “tourists.” On the way up we stopped at various lookouts and for a few minutes at Historic Yale. Yale has a museum with historic church and miner’s village to view @ 7.50 a head. We’ll take that in on our return from Monck Provincial Park later this year.

the first two pictures are from the Coquihalla CG, then Hell's Gate, then Yale, then Hell's Gate x 2. The final pic is #39 at Coquihalla CG which is a site we thought we'd try book next time we pause in Hope.

This was our first trip of the season. Liz is retired. I'm hoping to retire in April next year. So this was a taste of our retired "escape" life.

Larry

[LarryandLiz]

this is the picture of the Miner's village/museum in Hope I was trying to upload.

Hope is a kind of intersection for highways heading through the mountains out of the Lower Mainland BC. Lots of trains. The Coquihalla CG is along the Coquihalla River (very pretty) with a train track not too far away. We heard the train but it wasn't close enough to be a bother. The Blue Moose Coffee Shop in town is a good local establishment and it was nice not to be in a chain (i.e. Starbucks).

[NuthatchBC]

Originally Posted by LarryandLiz

this is the picture of the Miner's village/museum in Hope I was trying to upload.

Hope is a kind of intersection for highways heading through the mountains out of the Lower Mainland BC. Lots of trains. The Coquihalla CG is along the Coquihalla River (very pretty) with a train track not too far away. We heard the train but it wasn't close enough to be a bother.

Sounds like a nice place. I'd have to find a spot closer to the tracks, however.

Doug

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by NuthatchBC

Sounds like a nice place. I'd have to find a spot closer to the tracks, however.

Doug

I have to agree.

What's that bit about "but it wasn't close enough to be a bother"??
The only bother is that it's a diesel-electric and not steam powered.

[LarryandLiz]

Originally Posted by dfandrews

What's that bit about "but it wasn't close enough to be a bother"??

The Coquihalla CG has the river, a nice forested city park and then a city block between it and the track. We heard a few trains during the day but they weren't a bother. I wasn't woken by any during the night. I don't much want to be woken by trains at night.

We walked from the CG to the Blue Moose in town. In doing so we trespassed onto CN land and walked along the rails. That is as "wild" as us lawbreakers get.

[akoaoka]

Thanks for the pictures! It is so beautiful. The total lack of crowd made it looks a bit out of this world.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by NuthatchBC

Sounds like a nice place. I'd have to find a spot closer to the tracks, however.

Originally Posted by dfandrews

What's that bit about "but it wasn't close enough to be a bother"??
The only bother is that it's a diesel-electric and not steam powered.

It sounds like you guys need to include the Kettle Valley Steam Railway in your travels - it's near Summerland, just up the Okanagan from Osoyoos. I haven't seen it (let alone taken a ride), I just remembered hearing about it.

[Seef]

Thanks for the Hell's Gate pictures, that brought back some nice memories.

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

It sounds like you guys need to include the Kettle Valley Steam Railway in your travels - it's near Summerland, just up the Okanagan from Osoyoos. I haven't seen it (let alone taken a ride), I just remembered hearing about it.

Brian,
You're absolutely right. It's now on the to-do list.
Thanks, much.

[dfandrews]

Thanks, Larry & Liz, for posting those great photos. We're always interested to see how very close to nature one can get in an Escape 17 (We'll get our turn in a few months). And, no, I'm not picking on you 2 foot-itus sufferers.

P.S. It IS really dangerous on the railroad right of way. With the current use of welded rail, there are no rail joints to make noise, so a train can literally be on top of you before you know it. Take care.

[NuthatchBC]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

It sounds like you guys need to include the Kettle Valley Steam Railway in your travels - it's near Summerland, just up the Okanagan from Osoyoos. I haven't seen it (let alone taken a ride), I just remembered hearing about it.

Planning on doing that right after the rally.

Doug

[LarryandLiz]

Originally Posted by dfandrews

P.S. It IS really dangerous on the railroad right of way. With the current use of welded rail, there are no rail joints to make noise, so a train can literally be on top of you before you know it. Take care.

Now that you mention it, I do remember reading about that. Good point.

[gbaglo]

I watched a couple fly fishers cross the tracks at Spences Bridge. They were completely unaware of the locomotive and a mile of rail cars that almost turned them into bait.

[LarryandLiz]

? Didn't the fishermen check both ways before crossing ?

I'm pretty sure we would have heard something - I hope so! Truth be told I was wondering if we were going to get busted by some passing RCMP or CN person.

[gbaglo]

They did not look and the train missed them by a couple of feet.

[NuthatchBC]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

They did not look and the train missed them by a couple of feet.

If the train was that close, the engineer must not have seen them either. If he would have, he would have been on the horn long before he was two feet away . Something just doesn't fit.....

Doug

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by NuthatchBC

If the train was that close, the engineer must not have seen them either. If he would have, he would have been on the horn long before he was two feet away . Something just doesn't fit.....

Doug

Well, pilots have been known to fall asleep, ships helmsmen have been known to not keep close watch while on autopilot and it's unrealistic to think that a train engineer stares intently down the track every inch of the way, especially if it's in an area where there's no crossing.

It's a sad fact but people are still being killed by trains because they chose to use the railway as a walking path.

Ron