Tramping: Prince Rupert and Northern BC

This was one of the trips I had been thinking about for a while. The ferry via the Inside Passage to Prince Rupert in Northern British Columbia. It was a 2 day journey. First the ferry from Horseshoe Bay across to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Then a 6 hour minibus trip up to Port Hardy to stay the night. Then up early for a taxi to Bear Cove ferry terminal and a 17 hour daytime sailing to Prince Rupert.

BC Ferries map

From the ferry to Nanaimo

Interesting to see a cyclist ride up and pop his bike on the front rack of the local bus.

View from Port Hardy

Sculpture

Town sign

The hostel was lovely as was Ann who runs the place. Late nights and early mornings for her. The ferry gets in to nearby Bear Cove at midnight and passengers have to check in 1.5 hours before the 7.30am departure!

Bow doors open on the Northern Expedition. Foot passengers have to walk on via the car deck - hence the super early check in time.

Sorley on one of the rear decks

The MV Northern Expedition is slightly larger than the Shetland Northland ferries. It is 150m long and can take 115 cars with over 600 passengers and crew. Being a day crossing there were plenty of places to get great views of the surrounding landscape and wildlife. We spotted humpback whales and spinner dolphins on many occasions.

I paid an extra tenner for a seat in the Aurora lounge with fantastic views through big windows. The boat didn't feel busy and there was plenty of seating everywhere.

Aurora lounge

The tree cover is incredible. Right down to the waterline and to the tops of most of the hills. And driftwood everywhere including some massive logs floating past. Some escapees from log rafts perhaps.

Dryad Point - the narrowest point of the passage at 800ft is just to the south of the lighthouse.

Dryad Point lighthouse

View ahead

Along the way there were stops at First Nations settlements like Klemtu and Bella Bells. The latter a site that has been occupied for over 10,000 years.

Waterfall amongst the trees

Sunset

In Prince Rupert I visited the excellent Museum of Northern British Columbia.

Museum

Glad I didn't need to carry this timetable around. The railroad was an amazing engineering feat but it destroyed the nearby salmon runs.

First Nations drum

Scenery

I was lucky enough to meet a nice Canadian couple who took me out for a hike and a drive over to the old cannery.

North Pacific Cannery

The cannery was built in 1899 and ran in various forms til the 1980s. It's now partly restored and run as a museum. The workers of different nationalities did different jobs and were housed separately. The Japanese were master boat builders and carpenters. Their house had a cedar wood bath with boiler to keep the water warm. Women packed the cans at piece rate and could do 72 in a minute. Many suffered in the harsh conditions with freezing hands.

Cannery buildings

Salmon tins

The train line to the Prince Rupert freight terminal runs past the cannery. We counted 170 cars on one of these trains. It's the shortest crossing to Asia from here and cuts 1 to 3 days off the journey.

Sculpture in Prince Rupert with the Wheelhouse Brewery behind

From Prince Rupert I took a 4hr whale watching trip out into Chatham Sound. And we weren't disappointed, with multiple sightings of Humpback whales. Also sea lions.