Mr. Horn's September 2013 BC Interior ferry & rail trip

[Low Light Mike]

Ok, so maybe this thread's title is a bit misleading. I didn't do a trip on rail, but I did a trip to see and film rail. Same with the lake & river ferries of BC.

Some of you have already heard lots of my trip planning and most of you have seen some of the results that I've already posted. This here trip-report thread is my overall summation of the trip.

The trip's genesis was some thoughts during my Summer 2012 family vacation trip through the BC Interior, when I considered that it would be much fun to linger at some of the nice photo-op spots and make a trip of just doing that. The idea is that "time" is my luxury that I can afford. Time to linger and wait at a nice spot. Time to enjoy being in those lovely spots. Time to be at those spots when the lighting is best. Time to get some fabulous photos and videos at those nice spots.

So, with my wife's blessing, I planned a week-long trip for myself to experience some of those nice ferry & rail locations, in an in-depth style.

The planning was a fun part, and Google-Maps, especially Street-View, were valuable planning tools both to see the photo backdrop at a location and to find good access and parking.

For the lake & river ferries that I wanted to film, I found most of my vantage-points ahead of time, and all of them worked out well.

For the rail filming locations, I used a combination of experience, map-studying, advice from Wett Coast, and a review of many rail videos on YouTube and Flickr photos to find great photo locations.

One of the purposes of my trip and my postings of my photos and videos in this forum's threads is to give you the information about the vantage points that worked for me. You can see how they worked for me and the results, and then you can decide for yourselves if those are good spots that you should visit someday.


The actual trip happened September 8-13, 2013. At the end of each day, I had a very satisfied feeling. Each day, I rode at least 1 ferry and I saw at least one train.


In this thread, I'll take you chronologically through my 6-day trip, and give you my thoughts on the roads, towns and what I experienced and pondered. Solo trips are great opportunities to think and learn.

I will fill-in the 6 days of travel into this thread, in the weeks ahead. Bit by bit...

Thanks for reading.

[Low Light Mike]

Day 1: Nanaimo to Barriere, BC.

My morning alarm woke me at 5:00am. By 5:30, I was outside, packing my car. By 5:50am, I was at Departure Bay, paying my $66.90 with my BCF Experience Card, because I had enough funds leftover on it, and it made sense to use that instead of incurring a fresh charge on my credit card.

I had chosen to take the first sailing from Departure Bay, because I wanted an early start and because Duke Point doesn't run early morning sailings on a Sunday. But my trip was going to be 6 days and I wanted to start on a Sunday or Monday and end on a Friday or Saturday. And I wanted to end the trip with a Route-30 sailing from Tsawwassen because I thought I might need to be that late on my last day.

- So there are no Saturday night sailings on Duke Point, so I'd need to end my trip on a Friday.
- So I needed to start on Sunday, and that meant Departure Bay.

It's good that I know how to plan ahead...

--------------

I rarely take my car on a major route, so the holding-compound & toll booth routine were a bit foreign to me. Within 2 minutes of stopping in my holding-lane spot, the newspaper-cart guy walked past offering me a Province for sale. I declined.

After walking into the footie terminal to get some St. Arbuck's coffee and a scone, I headed back to my car, to ready my camera and tripod for my boarding filming sequence. I had figured how to position and secure my tripod in the passenger seat area of my car, and so I was ready to film my driving as I boarded the ferry. (I am almost ready to post this video - it will be somewhere on this forum, in an hour or so).

My sailing on Coastal Renaissance (which works Route-2 on weekends only, until Thanksgiving) was simple and routine.


I amused myself a bit on the windows of the Deck-7 solarium.



--------------

I don't enjoy lower mainland driving, even though I just stick to the main roads. But I got to drive the big bridges, including my first time on the new Port Mann bridge. I had prepaid the day before online, to save the $2.30 licence look-up fee (yes, I could have done that any day afterwards, up to 7 days after).

I was happy to get past Chilliwack, with the traffic thinning and driving getting more enjoyable.

As I passed the "Herrling Island" sign, I wondered if that island has a bridge, or a ferry. Well, likely not a ferry, because I've never seen it on the Drive-BC website. But maybe it did, years ago?

After passing the exits for Hope, and now beyond Hope, I entered Hwy-5 the Coquihalla and the land of Shakespeare. I enjoyed reading the signs for the various KVR-Coquihalla station names, which appeared on various road signs. And when I crossed the highway bridge over Ladner Creek, and saw that it was a deep ravine, I remembered that Mr. McCullough also had a challenging crossing for the CPR route at Ladner Creek, with a spectacular bridge or trestle at that same obstacle.

I hadn't driven the Coquihalla for a few years, and I remembered to keep a careful watch for "slow creeper" trucks, especially spots on hills where there were very-slow trucks in one lane, and moderately slow trucks in the middle lane.

I noted the old toll-plaza area, which is slowly returning to asphalt nature. No toll for me today....haha.

I always enjoy the transition of trees and plants from coastal rainforest items to interior arid items. I always like that transition. Coming down the hill into Merritt, I thought about how that town has 2 cores: the old downtown somewhere, and the fast-food & gas-station alley near the freeway exits.

Merritt is a neat place for map-nerds, because of the 5 highways that poke into the town.
- Coquihalla from north & south
- Okanagan Connector from east
- Spences Bridge highway to the west
- Logan Lake & old Kamloops highway to the north-east.

I stopped in Merritt for a fast-food alley lunch. Monty was the name, Mushroom was the game....

-------------------

Entering Kamloops, I stopped to top-up my gas tank. Being the planning kind of traveler, I had researched GasBuddy.com the day before, and noted the towns on my route that I should fuel-up at, and the towns to avoid. Kamploops was a "Yes, fill up" and places like Revelstoke and Nakusp were "don't get hosed there" places.

And even with gas stations while travelling, I'm a creature of habit. Every time I drive through Kamloops, I seem to fuel-up at the same station (Chevron near a Holiday Inn Express that I like to stay at). It's as simple as that I know where the station is, I know where the freeway exits and entrances are, etc. So I go with what I know.

After driving down into the bottom riverside of Kamloops, I crossed over the Thompson River and headed up Hwy-5. I noted the CN train yard on my left, which included some unused rolling-stock of Rocky Mountaineer.

My Sunday afternoon photo-work would be a visit to both the McLure ferry and Little Fort ferry. Both ferries are off-line for a noon break until 1:00pm, and so when I realized that I'd reach Little Fort (the further north of the 2) by 1:00pm, I decided to do Little Fort first.

I did my Little Fort visit and ride (video & photos are already posted) and then drove back south. I stopped-in at my motel in Barriere to register, and then drove down to McLure (backtracking a bit, but that's ok). At McLure, I had a fabulous time. Good sunny weather (although a bit too warm for me) and a friendly operator. I parked my car on the highway side of the crossing and walked onto the ferry. The ferry was steady-busy for the 75 minutes that I was there, often carrying 2 vehicles at a time. It was a sunny summer Sunday and many people were returning home after weekend outings.

After crossing the ferry and introducing myself to the operator, I found the trail that I was looking for on the far-bank, which led me to a nice viewpoint above the ferry route, with a clear line of sight of the route. I enjoyed my time up there, filming complete trips, with various zooms.

Then it was back down to a couple of riverside locations for more filming, and then the trip back across to my car.

Once back in my car, I switched to Rail mode, where I was hoping to film the southbound Rocky Mountaineer, at Louis Creek (a nice curve, south of Barriere).
- Here's me at that curve:



My calculations were to expect the 'Mountaineer train at 5:00pm (based on her scheduled 6:00pm arrival time at Kamloops). However, in my time at that roadside location from 4:15pm to 6:15pm, I never saw the 'Mountaineer. It was either really early or really late. No worries on my part, as I still enjoyed my 2 hours roadside, with 1 freight train passing and my enjoyment of the changing evening light and the match-stick dead trees on the hillsides.


The Barriere and Louis Creek areas had a very devastating forest fire in 2003, and 10 years later the devastation was still visible on the hills.








But some new growth is visible amid the charred poles


==========================

Day 1 was a good day.
- ferry ridden on BCF's Route-2
- train seen at Louis Creek on the CN line.


Unresolved curiosity to explore next time:
- Logan Lake, BC. It the meeting points of 3 secondary highways and 1 road, to/from places such as Kamloops, Ashcroft and Merritt. I wonder what is there and what it looks like (yes, Google Maps street view has told me already).

[Low Light Mike]

Day 2: Barierre to Revelstoke.

I left my Barriere motel room at 7:15am, because I wanted to photograph the VIA Canadian train at Louis Creek, and I projected it to pass at 7:30am. The train actually passed at 8:00am, so I wasn't off by much. It was a wonderful time to enjoy the morning light as the sun broke over the mountains and lit-up the river valley.

My Louis Creek rail photo location was at the corner of Agate Bay Rd. and Hwy-5, and it was Agate Bay Rd. that was my next journey, as I travelled this road towards Agate Bay on Adams Lake. The road was a good paved 2-lane country road, passing farms and then breaking out by a private campground on the shores of Adams Lake. Then it was a good gravel road to travel from Agate Bay down to the sawmill and ferry-landing, along the west side of Adams Lake. Some of this road was quite high above the lake shore, which gave a few really good views down to the lake.

When I got near the sawmill, I found a good view from the road, to show the ferry route. So I stopped there to shoot some film and to kill a few of the weeds.

Then I phoned the ferry operator to say I was just about there, and then I drove down to the ferry landing. I had a blast at the Adams Lake ferry, with a friendly operator who let me film from the elevated area outside the wheelhouse door. It's great to pre-arrange a ship-photo visit, so that the operator knows that you're responsible and serious about your work.

Here I am on the east shore of Adams Lake:



After my fun at Adams Lake, I drove the paved road to where it connects with Hwy-1 near Chase, BC. Then it was eastbound on the Trans-Canada as I drove just a short distance until my next stop. Just past the Shuswap Lake Estate golf-course, I turned onto Greer Rd, which is the back road to the Notch Hill rail loop.
- I spent a couple of hours at this interesting grade-reduction project, which CPR did in the 1980s. I saw and filmed a westbound coal train as it went through the loop.

Then it was back to the Hwy-1 eastbound as I drove through Salmon Arm, noting the charred remains of Pedro's fruit-stand which had burned down the night before (this was a story on CBC radio that I had heard earlier that morning - so it was strange to then drive past it later that day).

At the R.Bruhn bridge in Sicamous BC, where Mara Lake outlets to Shuswap Lake, and where the CPR Okanagan subdivision meets the CPR mainline, I was pleased and surprised to see that the rail swing-bridge was open. So after crossing the highway bridge I found a place to park, and then I walked back to the highway bridge to take photos of the rail bridge.
- that highway bridge is from the early 1960s and is showing its age re crumbly concrete on the sidewalk. I shot video & photos of the swing bridge when it was open, when it was closing, and when a train crossed it (when it was in the closed-position, of course).

I fueled-up my car in Sicamous, because Sicamous gas prices are lower than in Revelstoke or Nakusp. Then it was off driving to my next stop.
- I didn't stop at Craigellachie (last spike site) because I stopped there last year, and there is no great view of the rail line there.

My next stop was at the Clanwilliam tunnels, a spot that I discovered for myself when browsing other people's rail photos on Flickr. This was one of those Google-maps street-view planned places for me, where I knew the approaching landmarks before I got to the location and I knew where I wanted to park.
- Once there, I walked along the lakeshore a bit to find the best photo angle for me. Too far to the west, and I miss the gap between the far 2 tunnels. Too far to the east and I miss the portal to the middle tunnel. So I compromised, after much inner struggle, haha.
- I was there for 2 or 3 train passes, all Eastbound. I was hoping to see a westbound train in the tunnels, but that didn't happen. After I left and was in my car for less than 5 minutes, a westbound train passed me, on its way to the tunnels. No, I did not do a quick U-turn to race back to my spot to film it. I was content with the 3 trains that I did see, even if they were all in the same direction.

Me at Clanwilliam tunnels, with nice lake reflections from the late afternoon sun.







Next stop was my final stop, which was Big Eddy Revelstoke, where I enjoyed my nicest hotel room of my trip (Best Western Plus - also the most expensive of the trip - but it's good when quality and price align).
- I did a brief evening walking photo visit to the CPR bridge on the Columbia River, and there was a short & unusual train crossing. 1 regular locomotive, and 3 antique cars (not the Royal Canadian Pacific). I'll post photos of this sometime soon.

And that was the end of another fun day.

[Low Light Mike]

Day 3: Revelstoke to Nakusp:

Not a very long day of travel, with respect to KM distance. But this was a fun-filled day with 7 ferry rides (if you count a return-trip as 2 -trips) and just a bit of driving.

First off, the Best Western Plus in Revelstoke was the #1 hotel of my trip. Very nice room for the price, and a nice free-breakfast in the morning.

In the first 5 minutes of my morning drive (I was on the road by 7:30am), I saw a CP train. It was westbound, crossing the overhead bridge above Hwy-23. This quick sighting of a train on that day allowed me to say that I saw a train on every day of my trip.

45 minutes after leaving Revelstoke, I was at Shelter Bay. I was going to do 2 footie round trips, and then take my car across. I did it in this order, because there appeared to be no easy parking on the Galena Bay side, and there is a nice parking lot right beside the Shelter Bay terminal (at the waiting rest area).

So once I arrived at Shelter Bay, I parked my car in the rest-area parking lot and then I hiked the short distance into the wooded rocky point of land and found a relatively good spot with a view to both the ferry approach to the terminal and to the moored MV Shelter Bay. Lots of trees in the way, so it was a peek-a-boo view.

After a little while, the DEV Galena's engines were heard, and soon she came into view. After she discharged her traffic, she took on the MV Shelter Bay crew, and then scooted over to the moored little ferry and transferred her crew. This action was very interesting to see, and I consider my video & photo coverage of this to be among the most "forum valuable" of all the items from my trip.

When the MV Shelter Bay came to the Shelter Bay terminal, I jogged over to the terminal area and down the boat-ramp hill. After the vehicles had boarded, I (with my orange hi-viz shirt) boarded the tiny ferry. I immediately made contact with the Mate, and he allowed me up to the bridge wing. So I stayed at the bridge wings for the entire round-trip. I switched sides, depending on which side the DEV Galena would pass us. The officers & crew from WaterBridge Ferries were really nice and easy to talk with. They reminded me that I was doing my part in filming history, since these 2 old ferries will likely be retired in 2014.

The day on Upper Arrow Lake started with low cloud. By the end of my MV Shelter Bay round trip, the skies were clearing and the lovely Monashee mountain peaks were showing.

I disembarked the MV Shelter Bay, and stayed beside the berth to do filming of her loading and departure. Then I waited the 20 minutes for the DEV Galena to arrive.

Once DEV Galena arrived and discharged her traffic and took on her new vehicle traffic, I boarded. Again, I made contact with the Mate right away, and went to the bridge wings where I again stayed for the entire round trip. Same wonderful type of crew on this ship.

After that round-trip was done, I disembarked, and jogged up the ramp hill to my car, and quickly moved my car to the end of the vehicle waiting line. I got on that sailing and spent that last sailing doing a bit of film-work from on deck and also just enjoying my final time on this ship on this run.

After the sailing, it was the drive down to Nakusp (I resisted the urge to turn onto the road to Trout Lake City, haha).

Upon arrival in Nakusp, I found the WaterBridge shipyard. When I arrived there, the workers were just going on lunch. The manager allowed me to walk into the work yard for a bit and to do some photos quickly. There wasn't much to see. The launched hull was hidden behind a hill of dirt, from my vantage point. What I thought was the hull (and which I took a few photos of) was actually a working barge. But I did see a few propellers in their boxes (well, just the outside of the boxes).
- Photos of the NewBuild are best found on WaterBridge's website.

Then I checked into my simple motel in Nakusp (Selkirk Inn) which was clean, comfortable and simple. After a bit of a break, I drove down to Arrow Park (just a 20 minute drive) to ride & film the cable-ferry. I arrived and walked on right away, as she was on the highway side, just finishing the mid-day break.

The ferry operator was friendly and interesting to talk with, and I was able to do filming from up on the platform beside the wheelhouse.

Then it was back to Nakusp, to have some food and have a relaxing evening inside (I was a bit travel weary, at that point).

A fun & enjoyable day.

[Low Light Mike]

Day 4: Nakusp to Cache Creek:

This was a Wednesday, and it was mainly a repositioning highway-cruise for me.

I was on the road by 7:30am, and by 8:00am I was at Fauquier. Fauquier is a small settlement that has a golf course next to the ferry landing, and a few businesses, and nearby homes. In 2001 they had a small motel, which we stayed at back then. The motel is now gone, and the town seems very small. From what I remember from my 2001 visit, the old town is now under water (re the dam flooding of the river/lake) and BC Hydro had provided nice underground servicing to the new re-settlement, along with a plaque or cairn commemorating the old village.

I parked my car in the rest-stop area, just beside the ferry landing. By now, I knew my routine for inland ferry ship-spotting: Start with some filming near the landing for shots of the ship in action, and then board it (walk-on) and do a round trip for filming onboard, and then disembark and do some more filming, and then get my car into the lineup and drive on and do a normal crossing and continue my Journey (don't stop believing).

I also learned by then that my filming needed to include a variety of shots and zooms including a "clean segment" of the ship running on her route with no zooming or angle-changing by me. And so for Needles ferry, I filmed 4.5 round trips and I got my variety of filming that I needed.
- By now, you've seen my video of this.

The Needles crew were the usual WaterBridge type of friendly and accommodating. They mentioned that they've met "lots of people from BC Ferries" over the past 2 years.

After my ferry watching (from 8-10 am) I was back on the road, driving the winding Hwy-6 from Needles to Vernon, over the Monashee mountains. A beautiful drive and I saw the largest type of wildlife on my entire trip here, and it was only a deer. ...not much in the way of large wildlife seen by me on my trip !

As I drove through Lumby and saw the rail track there, I thought of a post that Ferryman made while ago about the rail line closing down. I was sad by this, but I found a news story from this week that says that the Lumby-to-Kamloops short line will be reopening.

Lumby also was the scene of a highway realignment project, where the old twisty road through outlying farming areas was about to be changed to a more straight 4-lane section.

Vernon was reached by noon, and lunch was at a convenient Wendy's location on the main highway in-town. After that, I did the rare "Never been on that highway route before" experience, and found the exit for Kamloops via a secondary branch of Hwy-97. This route took me through Falkland (a rodeo type of redneck town, it seemed) and Monte Lake and then down a steep hill to Monte Creek which is just east of Kamloops.

My trip through Kamloops on Hwy-1 is best remembered by the discomfort I felt from the need to "water the sagebrush" and my quest to find such a spot. Of course, I could have just found a gas station or fast-food place, but I'm also a bit stubborn and decided to keep driving to find something more convenient (convenient re my drive and the traffic and in not getting lost in an unfamiliar town). Well, this urge (brought on by the large-size drink from Wendy's in Vernon) stayed with me as I drove through Kamloops, and out of town, and finally relief was found roadside near Savona. By this time, my desired location was simply any road-side pullout where my car could shield me from traffic. After the flash-flood invaded the dry ground, it was back into my car for a much more comfortable ride, still heading west on Hwy-1 towards Cache Creek.

In the Savona area, I did see a few good lakeside curve locations for filming the CPR line, but I passed them up this time. They go into my "next time" list.

I did a diversion at Walachin, where I exited the highway to drive the road down to the Thompson riverside. Here was an old 1-lane road bridge that I wanted to drive and film. There was also a CN track at riverside. So I experienced both the bridge and a passing CN train. Walachin was developed by a group of hardworking people in the early 20th century, where they worked hard to build irrigation works so that they could farm the dry arid land. Then the Great War happened, and the town's men went off to war and many didn't return. So that was the end of the irrigated land as the works fell into disrepair with no one to keep them up.

Once back on Hwy-1 westward, I passed the turnoff for Juniper Beach Provincial Park, and then I found a nice highway roadside pullout with a view of the river valley and Juniper Beach below. I stayed there for 90 minutes in the hot afternoon sun, hoping to film a CPR train on its dramatic cliff-side bank on the far side of the river. However, I only saw 2 CN freights on the near-bank line, and no CPR train. So after 90 minutes, I decided that it wasn't to be and I got back into my car, cranked-up the air conditioning and drove the short distance to Cache Creek.

The Cache Creek Sandman Inn is a bit of a step-back in time, when Sandman built its chain of modern hotels in small towns all over BC's highway routes. It was still livable (quite comfortable), just a little tired and dated. But it was fine for me and a 2 night stay.

In the evening, I drove to Ashcroft, a 15 minute drive away. Ashcroft is where many of the Cache Creek employees live, and is the main town in the area. It is off the main highway, with a dramatic downhill drive to get to the town along the Thompson river. Of course, it was a town with the CN track on one side of the river, and the CP track on the other side.

I drove through the town, and found my pre-selected spot on Hwy-97c on a hill outside of town. Evening lighting and my facing the setting sun caused me to change my location to one just a little ways down the hill (still roadside on Hwy-97c) to get a better angle view of the Cornwall Creek tunnel and the tracks on either side of the river. Then it was the waiting game, with a bit of filming anxiety caused by the rapidly disappearing daylight.

When I had nice lighting, I had no trains. A CN train on the far bank teased me a few times, coming closer to my location, but stopping each time. I eventually figured out that it was waiting for a CP train to pass on the other bank of the river. Why would one rail line be waiting for the other line? Well, it's because both lines sort of merge a little ways south of here at Basque Junction, where CP & CN enter the joint operational zone where ALL eastbound traffic uses the CP line and ALL westbound traffic uses the CN line.

So the CP train which had priority was a westbound coal train, which eventually rolled through town and past below my location. After it had passed, the CN train finally started up for real and snaked around the bends of the river and entered the Cornwall Creek tunnel, in the fading dusk dim light.

After this, it was time to head back to my home-base at Cache Creek. On the way I debated "healthy vs. unhealthy" food and finally decided that I would give my evening meal business to the Cache Creek Dairy Queen (Subway could wait until the next evening). I had done lots of driving and standing on the side of the road, and had endured the bladder-urgency trauma earlier in the day, so I deserved a treat. And I decided to experience what DQ advertises with "hot eats & cool treats" and so I had a Blizzard treat along with my burger combo.

These were taken to my Sandman Inn room, and consumed while I was browsing the day's action on this here ferry forum.

Then it was time to organize my clothes and gear for the next day, because next day would be an early start (6:15am start to driving) because I wanted to avoid the 42-celsius heat forecast for Lytton. So my plan would be to do my Lytton area filming fun in the morning, starting at 7:00am at Skihist Provincial Park.
- But that would be the next day.

The end of another fine day on the road.

[Low Light Mike]

Day-5: Starting and ending in Cache Creek:

This was my day of exploring the Fraser/Thompson corridor along Highway-1.

This was September 12, 2013 and the weather forecast for Lytton was for 42 Celsius - that's too hot for me. And I wanted to spend considerable time near Lytton at Cisco bridges.

So I started early...

5:30am wake up and on the road by 6:15am.
- It was a 45 minute drive down the highway to my first location at Skihist Provincial Park.

I had preselected 6 sites to visit over 1.5 days, and I had to use some strategy to avoid excessive backtracking and to hopefully be at Cisco bridges when the Rocky Mountaineer crossed over. And with the weather forecast surprise for me, I also had to plan to avoid the heat.

So I decided to do this:
- Leave my Cache Creek hotel early enough so that I'd be at Skihist park by 7:00am, to be there near sunrise, with enough light in that canyon for rail photos at that epic location.
- Then I'd head further south and I wanted to be at Cisco bridges by 9:00am (I didn't know exactly what time the Rocky Mountaineer would pass by, and 9:00am was my earliest estimate. It actually passed by at Noon).
- So if I needed over an hour at Skihist park to see and film a train (because you never know how long it will take for a train to appear), I'd have time to get to Cisco by 9:00am.
- As I drove from Cache Creek to Skihist, the highway was empty at that early hour. Near Spences Bridge where the highway hugs the canyon wall with the river right beside, there were many small bugs that I drove through. It was as if I was driving through a cloud. The sound on my windshield sounded like steady rain pitter-patter falling. I used my wipers at high-speed for a few minutes. It was an early morning thing re the bug cloud. I also saw a southbound coal train near Spences Bridge, heading south. This is what I wanted, so I knew that I'd be able to film it at Skihist park.

So I arrived at Skihist park just before 7:00am, and the park gate (picnic area side of highway) was still locked. So I parked just outside the gate, on the side of the road.
- After I scouted and found my best location for views of the CN track with a view towards the CapeHorn tunnel/sheds, I waited and the coal train soon came by.

So my Skihist work was done by 7:30am or so, which gave me lots of time to get to my next stop.

And so I stopped at Lytton first, to do some reaction-ferry filming. I started with a roadside viewpoint on Hwy-12, high above the river. This worked really well, and my Google Maps independent-voyager planning work really paid off in finding that location and figuring out where to park my car nearby.
- Then it was a short drive down to the ferry landing area, and I walked aboard and did a few round trips while filming on board. The 2-man crew were friendly and accommodating to me, even showing me an old photo of the old days on that ferry route.

After the reaction ferry filming, I drove down to Cisco bridges and was setup on the roadside berm by 9:00am. The 3 hours that I spent there were very enjoyable as I was entertained with great scenery and various passing trains on both lines. The berm was narrow with a steep drop-off to the CN track below, so I always had to remember where I was and to be careful. I had a small cooler to use as a seat (and it also held my water supply). The heat wasn't bad from 9-noon even though I was very close to hot Lytton. The steep mountain walls meant that the sun didn't directly shine on me until 10:30 or so, and then I found a small tree to shade me.

After the Rocky Mountaineer passed by at Noon, I left my Cisco berm and walked the hundred metres back to my car. By then, it was getting hot.

As I drove north on Hwy-1, I decided that I'd stop at a few places heading back to Cache Creek. I wanted to be back at Cache Creek at 2:00pm or so, for a late lunch and a much needed nap.

Along the way, I stopped near Gold Pan park (Drynoch on the CP line) and filmed a passing train on the CP line, where the line crosses under the highway. This is across from the CN Skoonka tunnels.

Then back into my car, and my next stop was an impromptu train sighting at what I call "South Martel" which is a couple KM south of Martel (CN line). I filmed a train on the CN tracks, and then back again into my car.

Then a few minutes later, I saw the highway "Point of Interest" sign, and thinking that it might have something to do with the railway last-spike location (which I knew was nearby near Basque), I stopped. Yes, the sign was about the last spike of the Canadian Northern Pacific.

Then it was back into the car. At the turnoff for the Basque Ranch, I turned off to explore the road. I only got 1 KM in when I realized I didn't have the time for full exploration on that road (it might have taken me down to a view of the CN bridge crossing the Thompson), but I was in need of food & rest. So I decided to leave that exploration for another trip, another year.

Once back in the friendly town of Cache Creek, I went back to my hotel to leave my gear and to freshen up from my hot weather outing. Then it was a walk across the street to the high quality Husky House Diner restaurant where I was one of 2 people in that place in mid-afternoon.

After lunch, it was the "catch up on sleep" nap.
- No more train spotting for me that day.

My strategy worked for that day. I saw:
- Skihist coal train
- Lytton ferry at 2 locations
- Cisco bridges trains
- Gold Pan park train
- south Martel train and last-spike sign.

I was happy and satisfied with my day, and my early-start idea worked well.

That was Thursday.
- the next day would be my final day...

[Low Light Mike]

Final day - Friday:

- Left Cache Creek hotel before 7:00am, because I wanted to enjoy sunrise at Martel, while filming railways. And that's what I did, seeing multiple trains on both tracks during my 90 minutes at Martel.

After that, I continued driving south on Hwy-1 through the Thompson & Fraser canyons. I decided to film a good portion of this part of the trip with my camera on a tripod in the passenger seat. It worked out ok, and I enjoyed the Fraser canyon tunnels.

I stopped at Boston Bar to film and explore the roadside display of the old cable-car aerial ferry.

After a stop to visit family in Abbotsford, I made my way to Tsawwassen, delayed by the usual traffic at the Hwy-17 exit from Hwy-99.

I bumped into and visited forum-member "Mileage Photo" during my Tsawwassen wait, and we enjoyed the ferry trip together, chatting about ferries and life.

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After I got home, the fun (really, it is fun) of editing video and still photos happened, for the next 3 months. I really enjoyed reliving my trip as I presented the visual evidence.

Speaking of visual evidence, here is a very condensed video compilation of my trip. This goes through my trip chronologically with all attractions included.
- This was edited as part of a "2013 in review" video compilation that I'm working on.