Revelstoke

Impeccable roads through indescribable views.

We got a Golf. It's dark grey and reminds me nothing more than a St Cuths senior, except that it's stuffed full of camping gear which - as a far as stereotypes go - it's very un-st-cuthbert-like. Sorry Yitty but you know there's at least a bit of truth there!

Turns out St Cuths girls have reasonable taste and the Golf is a decent enough vehicle for two. It took us east out of Vancouver, via the nearest-but-not-actually-so-near Tim Hortons for bagels and coffee and onward towards Revelstoke. Of course, an obligatory Walmart visit was made where we stocked up on all things American (and the missing camping/cooking gear).

It didn't take an engineer to notice how smooth the roads were. Even Cat passed a remark or two, much to my astonishment. She was spot on. We didn't see a pothole for our first four days on the road. The lanes were wide, well marked and almost over sign-posted. There were slip-out lanes for every turn and lowered speed limits through every intersection. Even the road works and construction had minimal impact and maintenance had seemless transitions with existing surfaces. A pleasure to drive, and the complete opposite to how we've been travelling the last six months.

We didn't get to Revelstoke until the early evening but the views on the way were amazing. The sun was out, the grass was green and the mountains just kept on growing. We got a lucky score on the campsite at Williamson Lake; nabbing the last available spot which was actually not really a spot and made us look like creepos camping in the children's playground. Fortunately the next night we upgraded to the lakeside spot which was a little less embarrasing. Our first dinner was a hot chicken stir fry which we impressed ourselves with and then spent the remainder of the evening scrubbing ourselves and the dishes before removing our food-smelling clothes in paranoia of the dreaded bear.

Mount Revelstoke National Park was our playground for the following day. We've nabbed a park permit from Tristan which, as part of Parks Canada's 150th anniversary, means we get free entry to every national park in Canada. Now we're talking! We drove to practically the summit where we embarked on a four or five hour hike.

It was amazing! We started in fields of wildflowers and meandered through lush forest, over rocky slopes, raging rivers and made our way up to the snow line where we found two lakes; Eva and Miller lakes. They were equally as impressive as each other and our cream cheese and ham bagels completed the sensory overload. We were also graced with the presence of plenty of cheeky squirrels and several much larger marmotts. What a hike!

On our way back to the campsite that evening we picked up some much needed beer and an inflatable lilo ($3 each) which would prove the most valuable investment of the entire trip.

The gas cooker that night delivered us a meal reminiscent of Torres del Paine; instant mash and chorizo. We had hot showers, flush toilets and wifi which was all just ridiculous for what you would imagine to be 'camping'. I'm not complaining and to be honest, at $32 per night I wouldn't expect any less.Read more