It was a dark and stormy night...

OK, it was more of a misty, murky morning, but that doesn't have the same drama. I awoke to find Vancouver buried in the mist, so I decided to head for Cache Creek and save the exploration of Vancouver for another trip. Vancouver would make a good half way point to meet up with my friends from the south - hint, hint!

Anyway, I headed north on Highway 1 East (don't ask) towards Abbotsford, the raspberry capital of Canada. This was a little ironic as all the fruit stands that I passed were selling blueberries and cherries - not a raspberry to be seen! After this I quickly abandoned Hope (a small town with not much going on) and headed straight for Hell...well, technically Hell's Gate.

Hell's Gate is an area in Fraser Canyon that is particularly treacherous. During the gold rush Simon Fraser and his companions came through this area looking to establish a new fur trading route to the Pacific. According to Fraser's journal "we had to travel where no human being should ever venture for surely we have encountered the gates of hell." The name stuck.
Due to a narrowing of the canyon the water flows very quickly through Hell's Gate making it very hard to navigate.

This part of Canada is known as the Canadian Desert due to its arid climate. Looking at the moutains here does remind me of Arizona, except there are pine trees instead of cacti. The slopes are covered in scrub through which you can see the layers of lava that formed the mountains. In between the peaks are lush valleys that are farmed for corn and various fruit.

It was a dark and stormy night (late afternoon) when I pulled into Cache Creek. I felt sure that there was going to be a storm with a significant amount of rain. There are wildfires in the Cache Creek area, so a storm would have been very welcome. Instead it rained for less than 10 minutes and then the sun came out again. Good for the tourist, not so good for the firefighter.