Travel Bug: Gold in Them Thar Hills and a 10 km walk in Hope, BC

A beautiful morning greeted us. We drove into town from the RV park and parked in front of the Hope & District Recreation Centre to start the 10 km Volksmarch in Hope, British Columbia.

Imagine my delight that there was a bakery within one block of the start of our walk! Bob and I stopped to buy treats and enjoyed a snack at the beginning of the route. Mmm!

Today's walk will focus on the chainsaw carvings throughout the town and the Rotary Trail along the Fraser and Coquihalla Rivers. On our discovery walk in Hope two days ago, I took numerous photos of the chainsaw carvings. We will see some of them again and I'll try not to duplicate photos.

Across the street from the Hope & District Recreation Centre, we had a nice view of a wood-carved lumberjack. As you can see, this tall wood carving goes past the roofline of the business it's in front of.

A random Volkswagon "bug" on the side of the road.
It's a permanent art installation.

"The CN Conductor Bear."

"In Memory of the Fallen."

Historic downtown Hope, British Columbia.

"Rambo," by Ryan Villiers, (2020)
a wood carver from Edmonton, BC.

Sasquatch bench in downtown Hope, B.C.

We walked around the historic downtown, looked inside the tiny Visitor Center, passed Centennial Park, and headed to the Fraser River Bridge and residential neighborhoods.

While walking around downtown Hope, we discovered a house where the owners love birdhouses. Two tree stumps were covered with a wide variety of them! Click on the photos to enlarge them and enjoy the craftsmanship and creativity.

On top, is a Rambo bridge. "Rambo:
First Blood" was filmed in Hope, BC.

The photo below is of Christ Church National Historic Site. This Gothic Revival building is the longest continually operating church on British Columbia's mainland. When it was completed in 1861, Hope had a diminished role in the Fraser Valley Gold Rush. More on that later in this blog.

Christ Church National Historic Site, Hope, BC.

The historic Hope train station below was moved to a new site in town. It will become a new museum/visitor center with a restaurant wing to be added. When we were there this summer, not much had been done to restore this building for an opening in 2025 (although apparently that is the plan).

The building dates to 1916 and was part of the history of transferring Japanese-Canadians to internment camps during the Second World War. [I will write about that history when we explore Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum.] Read more about this railroad station and see photos of the move in the Vancouver Sun article by John Mackie dated February 14, 2024.

The old train station has been moved behind
the temporary visitor center.

This Volksmarch included multiple chainsaw carvings (there are about 80 around town). "The Wizard" below has a lot of detail. A small mouse is peeking out from his beard and a face is at the top of his walking stick.

"The Wizard," by Randy Swope.

"Sturgeon Rotary Bench." The Fraser
River is in the background.

Totem pole in Telte-Yet People of
the River Campsite in Hope, BC.

Hope is part of Fraser Valley's
Gold Rush history.

This cute house overlooks the Fraser River
AND the mountains!

Our walk continued under the historic Fraser Bridge. Signs under the bridge highlight the history of the railroad, road, and Gold Rush here.

The Fraser Bridge steelwork.

Fraser Bridge specifications.

The Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) was the reason for the Fraser Bridge, which was built in 1914. Authorized by the Canadian Pacific Railway, the KVR line was "one of the most challenging railway engineering and construction undertakings in Canadian history...The KVR provided a lifeline to southern British Columbia by moving passengers, mail, and freight...and [providing] a telegraph line."

This Fraser River view is upstream from the bridge.

The next part of our walk is through Hope neighborhoods, the Rotary Park, and back into town.

Views of the mountains are great
everywhere in Hope.

Below is the Fraser River. You can see two distinct water colors. The muddy color is the main Fraser River, whose water flows from the glaciers. The designation of that water color is "glacial flour." As the glaciers grind the rock underneath them, they pulverize it into a finer compound called "flour." The beautiful blue, crystal clear water enters the Fraser River from the Coquihalla River.

The distinct line formed by the glacial flour water
of the Fraser River and the clear water of the
Coquihalla River.

Here's where the Coquihalla River enters the Fraser River.

Bob at the entrance to the Hope Rotary Trail.

"You are here." Yes, we are walking
the trail alongside the Coquihalla River
opposite the golf course.

This rock dragon keeps getting longer as people
add painted rocks to it.

Great burdock (Arctium lappa).

The Rotary Trail in Hope, BC.

The sign below describes a different kind of railroad crossing. The rail line here has a diamond junction with an "at grade" (level) crossing. The second and fourth bullet points on the sign explain it best.

One of my favorite places on the walk was the front yard of a house with a railway theme. Look at how much work they put into their yard in the four photos below! It's truly amazing what they did here with the scenes and the flowers.

The flowers add so much beauty to their train theme.

These look handmade.

Someone had a lot of time and fun putting
this front yard together!

In our travels, we've rarely seen a sign like this.
Usually, people regard swimming holes as secrets.

An old bridge over the Coquihalla River in Hope, BC.

After our walk, we had lunch at the RV park. We then drove north on TC-1 to Hell's Gate Airtram, a tourist attraction located on the Fraser River. This is the steepest, non-supported tram in North America.

Looking downriver from Hell's Gate Airtram.

Upriver from the airtram.

Hell's Gate Airtram cable car.

We spent a couple of hours and a few dollars learning the history of explorer Simon Fraser, the local gold rush, building the highway, and how building the highway impacted the fish.

Simon Fraser is Canada's version of Lewis & Clark. He mapped the Canadian wilderness and befriended the Native Americans (First Peoples). They showed him passages through the mountain ranges.

The Fraser River is low enough to see the
fish ladders in late summer.

You can see the raging river through the grating on
the bridge. Some people wouldn't walk over it.

The S.S. Skuzzy is the only ship that made it through Fraser Canyon here. The Captain made attempts over ten days; however, the current was too swift. Ring bolts and ropes were installed on both sides of the canyon. The captain hired 150 Chinese laborers and placed them at intervals along the canyon to pull the steamer through the raging waters of Hell's Gate. If the laborers were to let go, they would fall to an almost certain death.

You can read more if you'd like.

Simon Fraser in 1808.

Specifications of the width and depth of Hell's Gate.

The history of Simon Fraser, a partner
of the North West Company.

There were no roads when Simon Fraser explored
this canyon. He followed Native American
fishing trails or rode the river in canoes.

There's a museum dedicated to the history of salmon in the Fraser River. When the canyon walls were blasted to build the railroad, rock debris clogged the river. Fish battered themselves against the rocks trying to get to their spawning grounds. Reparations were made and elaborate fish ladders were installed. The salmon numbers are still recovering.

After we learned about the salmon, we stopped at the ice cream/candy store for ice cream cones. Then, we took the airtram to the top.

Our next stop was at the Alexandra Bridge Picnic Area. We spent half an hour hiking down, taking photos, and hiking up.

This parking lot is next to the highway.

The trail took longer than ten minutes. It was a great leg stretcher as we hiked down and back up. This steel and concrete suspension bridge, rebuilt in 1926, spans the Fraser River. Remnants from the 1863 bridge, along with newer associated roadworks and retaining walls, can be seen here. Nearby are historic fur brigade trails and early roads now used as walking trails. [Information is from the Hope & District Arts Council brochure.]

Alexandra Bridge.

Alexandra Suspension Bridge.

As we drove south along TC-1, we kept watch for an unnamed waterfall we had spotted on our way north. We found it, but there was no sign, trail, or viewpoint. We walked out onto a bridge with no walking path, just a small one-person-wide concrete edge next to the railing. It was difficult to see the falls through the foliage, so Bob scrambled up a steep bank to get a better view of the waterfall and took a photo. The bridge was scary to walk on. Whenever a semi-truck roared by, the bridge shook like crazy!

Here's my photo from the bridge.
We couldn't find a name for this waterfall.

Here's Bob's photo from his hillside scramble.

Next stop, Yale, British Columbia. Bob wanted to learn about the British Columbia Gold Rush. We didn't go to the museum but stopped to read the roadside signs at the rest area. The informational signs covered the Hudson's Bay Company fur trade, the Gold Rush, the Chinese camp, the building of the Cariboo Road, the Canadian Pacific Railway, First Nations peoples, and a current recreational map.