Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Prince George again


Status:

Days on the Road: 38
Travelled Km: 9521
Location: Prince George, BC
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Long time.....
I left Skagway-Alaska with the Ferry.
The Trip was amazing. The Ferry went in between small Islands on the "Inside Passage".
I saw so many Orca Wales I stopped counting. We also saw Hump back Wales, Dolphins and many seals. And even it was cloudy all the time, it was some of the best nature I have ever seen.
If you make it there sometime, be sure to take this Ferry (170$- almost 3 days).
In Prince Rupert I was staying with my Couchsurfhost Patrick who was picking me up at 3am from the Ferry. That was again one amazing generous thing on my Journey!!
With them I had one beautiful day in Rupert. Rupert is funny. There are Dears all over the City and they are used to Humans so you can come very close to them.
And they have a lot of Eagles and within 10 min. we saw 15 of them. While in other parts of the Country if you see one its "WOW" ;)

My original and brilliant plan was to switch in Prince Rupert to a Ferry heading to Vancouver Island. But as it turned out, someone thought it might be a good idea to let the Ferry to Vancouver Island leave on the 6th and my Ferry arrive on the 7th. The next Ferry would only be on the 23th but I could not wait that long.
So I was kind of forced to Hitchhike from Prince Rupert to Vancouver.
So Patrick dropped me of little outside of Rupert, where I had to wait almost 2 hrs. Until an elderly native couple pulled over. What followed was one of the most scenic drives along the Skeena River.
Then I got dropped of at a good spot in Terrace at around 11am.
Now my worst Hitchhiking experience to date started. I was actually at the upper Trans-Canada-Highway 16. The part where I was standing was called "Highway of Tears" because some 10 or more young Woman have gone missing supposedly Hitchhiking.
As it is with drugs, the media will only report the negative story. That there are a couple of thousand Hitchhikers each year, making there way across North America without any trouble will of course not catch any Headlines. Anyway I was staying at the street from 11 am until 5 pm when i decided to go back in to town for a quick Food/Internet break.
I filled some emergency request on Couchsurfing without any luck.
So I was heading out of town again and it was starting to get dark. I passed the Greyhound station and they had a Bus leaving at 11 pm but i decided to not waste anymore money, and instead use my Tent and give it a try the next day.
From the City to my previously spotted campsite i still had to walk about 1 hr.

When I arrived I managed to setup my Tent and start a small fire.
It was actually very cosy, but I was in the middle of Bear country. There where hungry
Grizzly and brown bears all over the place, and every small noise was a potential Bear closing in on my Tent ;)
The next day started like the last day ended. With the exception that it was shit weather in addition to the lack of rides. After another 3 hrs of waiting a guy from the US was stopping. I guess he did not receive the Memo about "Highway of Tears". He took me about 100 km. Then I got picked up by some natives. Which got me 70 km further. Then something funny happened.
I was waiting since maybe 40 min. when a car stopped and a Woman was asking: "Are you Michael" I said "Yes" - "Are you Michael von Bar" ... and I was WTF how could some one know my name while I am 8000 Km from home. So it turned out it was one of the Couchsurfer I contacted the day before. She was on here way for business and passed me on the road. She recognized me and turned around ;) That was a funny incidence I never will forget ;)
From there on it was easy. I catched two small rides and then got one within 5 min. straight to Prince George. And another fun Story. While standing at the road I got passed two times by a red SUV. Then they passed me a third time and we where laughing and waving at each other ;)
So when i got my final ride to PG we stopped at a Tim Hortons to get some coffee.
While suddenly some one says: "You are the Hitchhiker, right? You are making good time!"
And there they where again having a Coffee themselves :D Ah we had to laugh!!
So in the End i was even faster in PG while hitchhiking then them with their own car.
That's how fast hitchhiking can go!!! :D

So now I am in the Crime "Capitol" of Canada ;)
Next stop is Vancouver which will be my last major stop in Canada!

cheers

2 comments:

  1. that scenic video is just amazing dude... seeing that makes all the effort worthwhile I guess :)

    btw, still quit smoking? Or hobo-style 100percent? :]

    ReplyDelete
  2. Incredible !!! Amazing!!!
    where are the picture of the orcas and dolphins?

    ReplyDelete