It's a long trip to or from Alaska, but if you like scenery and colorful small towns, it can be very enjoyable. Leaving Hyder meant the end of our Alaska visit, but the Summer held many more adventures. Touring British Columbia was a great start.
Prince Rupert is a port city of around 12,000 population today, but was significantly smaller at the time of our visit, due to a period of economic decline. Having the deepest natural harbor along the west coast has led to major shipping activity, but when the town was founded around 1906 there were no docks. A shipload of cattle arriving at Prince Rupert was forced to dump the cattle into the bay, but most of them managed to swim to shore. That incident is memorialized all over town with various objects painted like Holstein cows and references to "Cow Bay".
Prince Rupert enjoys a moderate climate, with cool summers and relatively mild winters. A temperate rain forest, the area receives about 100 inches of rain per year, but very little snow. While most of the rain occurs in Winter, Summers are usually overcast with only sporadic sunshine. Plants do very well there.
Fishing was the original big industry, followed by timber, then shipping. A small tourist business is based on visiting a nearby island that is a grizzly bear sanctuary, which is the primary reason we were there. Boat tours run along the banks of the island, allowing close viewing of the bears. Unfortunately, we learned that grizzly tours had shut down for the season just the day before. The salmon had abruptly finished their annual run, so the bears had disappeared into the island's interior. Bummer.
After a quick tour of the native area, we continued on our way, stopping next at the village of Moricetown.
This town of about 1600 mostly indigenous people was originally named Witset until pioneer Father Morice re-named it for himself in the early 1900s. As of 2018, the town returned to its original name, so Moricetown is no longer. However, Morice Canyon is still there for passing motorists to see, and the area's farms are surrounded by beautiful mountains.
Our next stop was Smithers, a town of 5400 people created by the railroad around 1913. The residents, called Smithereens, chose to employ an alpine theme and require businesses to decorate accordingly. A fiberglass statue of an alpine horn welcomes visitors to town.
Smithers is also known for fishing in summer and skiing in Winter. Nearby, Twin Falls attracts a lot of visitors.
Prince George is the largest city in northern British Columbia with more than 75,000 residents. While we stopped overnight, we chose not to explore the city. I met a professional nature photographer at our campground who inspired me to upgrade my camera gear, which I did a few months later. He also told me of a place with great mountain scenery and wildlife, in the area around the village of McBride.
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