The Day We Almost Ran Out of Gas...

We left Tweedsmuir (and its plague of mosquitoes), heading for the Rockies...a very long drive that would take us two days, with an overnight in Williams Lake. Weary of being a mobile mosquito buffet, most of the group were not keen to hang around Anahim Lake any longer than necessary, but our tour leader was in no great rush to get to Williams Lake - it was just a convenient port of call before the epic trek to Jasper. So, the ever helpful (some might say beguiling) hotel proprietor suggested we take a scenic detour via Farwell Canyon.

On the road again

Sounded like a good option, so we set off...stopping a couple of times along the way to admire the view and then ironically, as you will find out later, at the gas station featured above. We did not in fact fill up with gas here...instead we sampled tiger-tiger ice cream (orange ice cream striped with licorice and delicious!) in the coffee shop and admired the mounted cougar. We found out that the poor beast had been declared guilty of hunting livestock, and shot for his sins...only the cattle-rustling didn’t stop after his demise, so he was falsely accused.

An innocent cougar

Shortly after the ice-cream stop, we turned off for the detour, in search of Farwell Canyon...

Which way?

Farwell Canyon lived up to its name.... it was well far away, and possibly a much longer drive than our leader had anticipated. Just when we were beginning to wonder if we’d been sent on a long farewell by the hotelier (perhaps he has an odd sense of humour... bwahahaha!) we began a slightly hairy descent down into the canyon.

The Chilcotin River winding through the Farwell Canyon

We found a good spot to picnic

I was fascinated by the ruined log buildings of an abandoned ranch, close by. I wonder what prompted its residents to up sticks and leave one day? Possibly the end of cattle ranching in the area. A bit of a creepy place, that would make a great set for a horror film..."Ranch of the Damned", or perhaps "The Long Farewell"?

Having come down such a steep descent, we naturally had to drive back up again. Our tour leader had mentioned earlier that she was going to have to fill up with gas at some point, but she was quite relaxed about it. She’d said there was loads of mileage in the reserve, and we weren’t onto that yet. On that steep ascent, however, when the reserve warning light suddenly flashed up on the dashboard she was not quite as relaxed! We were going to have to find gas soon....on a Sunday, in a very deserted area. OK, time to kill the aircon...it was probably the hottest day of the trip....but conserving fuel was top priority.

Random shot from the van

All eyes were now pealed on the side of the road, looking for a sign to a gas station...we’d all become familiar with the distinct blue “Gas Food Lodgings” signs along the roads, but never had we been so keen to see one as that day! At least three times, we spied one in the distance, only to read “Golf” when we were close enough...who cares if there’s a $£%&*golf course in the vicinity, we needed GAS! By now, our tour leader was clearly getting a bit worried...we were getting closer to Williams Lake, but were still not close enough to walk into town with a jerry can to buy fuel. Never did a road seem so unending... but eventually we were on the outskirts of town. Luckily, it was a downhill run, as we literally coasted in on vapours and pulled into the nearest gas station.

Panic over.

Bridge over the Fraser River, taken from the moving van