Over the Border - Welcome to British Columbia
/We were through the Canadian border control in about 10 minutes. After all the requisite questions and answers (no weapons, some beer, no cigarettes, no gifts) , we were welcomed to British Columbia.
Surprisingly, Route 93 continued over the border as BC-93, taking over when US-93 left off.
A reminder after being welcomed to Canada was a “Thinkmetric” sign. Crossing into Canada and we were on the metric system… kilometers, liters, grams and centigrade. 80 km/hr = ~ 50 mph. If you’re a Canadian over 40+, you know both metric and Imperial measurements… bilingual. The younger generation is metric all the way.
think Metric! Photo Credit: Pushbike girl.com
BC-93 joins BC-3E a few miles up the road. David had done his homework and we turned east and headed to Sparwood, B.C in the Canadian Rockies. Frosted peaks loomed large as we followed the winding road along the Elk River.
Our destination was the Mountain Shadows Campground. Our plan was to head directly to the campground until we saw a sign… World’s Largest Truck. All thoughts of the campground were erased and we were on the hunt for the truck. The campground could wait.
Forget the Campground! Where’s the truck?
Sparwood is a mining town and it wasn’t hard to locate the Titan. It was on display in Titan Park and getting a new paint job.
Titan gets a paint job
According to the town brochure, the Terex Titan was “assembled in 1973 at General Motors’ London, Ontario plant … and became the world’s largest, highest capacity haul truck and held the title for 25 years.” Only one was ever manufactured and this is the one, saved for posterity and on display. Because of the paint job in progress, the truck was fenced off and the tires were wrapped in plastic. We were told by a local that visitors often write their names on the huge truck tires. Darn… an opportunity missed!
Next to the Titan is the Balmer North Miner Statue and a memorial wall to all those lost in mines in the area. The list is long. Balmer North was an underground coal mine that suffered an horrendous explosion in April 1967.
Balmoral North Coal Miner
After the excitement of the big truck, we headed to the campground. Mountain Shadows is a community campground and there were lots of spots available. Site #21 was wooded and very spacious with a fire ring and picnic table.We paid $42 CAD/night (~$32USD) for electric and water, Wi-Fi (iffy), hot showers and free firewood. Yup, we admit it… we’re glampers. It was too cold and windy to sit out (5°C / 42°F), so after cooking up some red chili, we climbed back into Blanche.
A pretty, but chilly campsite at Mountain Shadows
The area around the campsite had lots of wildflower coming into bloom: arnica, violets, pussytoes, saskatoon, striped coral root, barberry and mahonia. I used the iNaturalist Seek app on my cell phone to identify them all.
The night was cold and we snuggled up under the comforter till early morning when we turned on the diesel heater while sipping our freshly brewed coffee. Life is good!
Here’s our progress so far. The red shows our proposed trip and the blue is where we are… British Columbia and a long, long way to go.
No rush we’re heading over the Rockies and into Alberta next time. Join us in Medicine Hat.