Jasper ride (Wapiti Campground) to Clearwater (Wells Gray Provincial Park at 323 km / 200mi) with the final destination Dutch Lake RV Park (Day 11). Along the way we took a walk to Rearguard Falls (3.2 km) and stopped on the way in Avola for lunch at a food stall. Rearguard Falls can be reached via a path that runs through the Reargurad Falls Provincial Park. The waterfall borders the furthest stretch of river to where Chinook salmon can come to spawn. The distance from the sea all the way to Rearguard Falls is 1250 km / 775 mi. The fish return to the Fraser River, their birthplace, after many years in the sea.
Some salmon are still strong enough and can still reach the top of the waterfall, but for most this is the end point. We saw the salmon jump up the waterfall, but did not see any of them getting up. At the end of the path you will come across stairs that lead to different vantage points on the waterfall and the Fraser river. When we were there the sky had a special color, probably because of the smoke that hung in the air. The sun could not get through well, so the waterfalls had a greenish appearance.
Dutch Lake RV Park & Resort
The campground was Dutch lake RV Park. This time we had not booked an overnight stay in a Provincial or National Park, but on a private campsite on Dutch Lake in Clearwater. I had read about this campsite on the internet and booked 2 nights, partly due to the good criticism. Nice quiet place to swim, because the water was the ideal temperature at the time. Dutch Lake RV Park is practically located as a base to visit the waterfalls of Wells Gray Provincial Park, but just as well as a sleep-in campsite for one night in transit. You can rent a boat or canoes and sail on Dutch Lake.
Reastaurant on the waterfront
We were assigned spot #32 and found it to be one of the best spots in the campsite. The other camping places next to us had less privacy and the RVs were all neatly next to each other. Cottages can also be rented on the water's edge of the lake. The price for the 2 nights for our 25 feet camper was 92 $ CAD (Full Service). Here you can view the plan of the camping. Right on the water there is a cozy restaurant and on the terrace you have a beautiful view of the lake. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all possible, but reservations are recommended. We went there for dinner. We didn't have to cook and Eli & Tess could eat fries.
Dutch Lake
After we had installed ourselves with the camper, we first went to feel at the water if it was not too cold to swim. Fortunately, the water had the ideal swimming temperature. There was a kind of yellow haze in the air that day because of the many forest fires. The temperature was again around the 30 C ° that day. The children have put on their swimming gear and they have swum until 7 p.m. As you can see from the photos, there is a platform in the lake, where they could swim to. They also did not got tired of jumping 20 times from the pier.
Long journeys were sometimes difficult for the kids
For them too it was a completely different journey than we were used to. The many hours on the road with the camper and the sometimes long walks were not always easy for the children. They did not always liked it, but they have done their best to make sure they didn't showed it too much. There was no (much) nagging along the way and at times like this they enjoyed double. The next day we went looking for bears, jumping salmon and we went to see waterfalls in Wells Gray National Park. They were looking forward to that!
Wells Gray Provincial Park 🠻
Day 12: Wells Gray Provincial Park is known for the many waterfalls that you can see there. We visited four and went trout fishing. On the way back to Helmcken Falls we saw a little bear boy on the side of the road that had lost his mother.
Read moreFrom Jasper to Dutch Lake RV Park via Rearguard Falls
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