Leaving Jasper in Alberta, we head up the Yellowhead Pass - the original route of the Grand Trunk Railway across the Rockies in Canada. The gradients were easier here than at Kicking Horse Pass, and that is why it was chosen. The Canadian Train follows this route today across Canada.
The source of the "mighty" Fraser River is here, and there are a number of the spectacular reflection lakes.
Here and there are big waterfalls produced by the melting snows
We stopped at the Mount Robson Park centre. We were lucky to see the summit of Mount Robson, it can only be seen 2 out of 3 days. Mount Robson is the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. The mountain is entirely within Mount Robson Provincial Park of British Columbia, and is part of the Rainbow Range. At 12,972 ft it is not the highest point in B.C., the highest is Mount Fairweather at 15,299 ft.
These waterfalls in Wells Gray Park were particularly impressive as ice formed around the cascading water, and you can see on the left hand photo that the water is covered by a "bridge" of ice.
Wells Gray is not as well known as parks like Banff or Jasper, but we found it well worth the detour. There were waterfalls and old settlers cabins - the one above being abandoned in 1946.
Driving back to our accommodation at dusk, we saw two bears snuffling along the road. These fellows were right beside the road, and we stayed in the car!
We stayed at Blue Grouse B&B, a log cabin in Wells Gray Park. We enjoyed the overnight stay here. They did not do dinner, so we had to dive about 10km up the road to have an evening meal. There were problems with the meal at Helmcken Falls Lodge - for one thing many items were not available on the menu, and for example the only pudding on offer was a very sickly Naiaimo bar.
Blue Grouse– Clearwater.They say about themselves "Put the world behind you and come discover a special new first class B&B located within world famous Wells Gray Park in the Upper Clearwater Valley. Surrounded by parklands we are located inside Wells Gray Park 24 km from Clearwater and 12 km past the park entrance, within walking distance to the Wells Gray Guest Ranch and Black Horse Saloon" Blue Grouse web site