A Pleasant Surprise – Yellowhead Highway

Yellowhead Highway is the nickname of a major highway in West Canada – Highway 16. I drove the section from Prince George, BC (east) to Kitwanga, BC (west) as part of my roadtrip to Alaska. I didn’t expect all the highways on this roadtrip to be scenic and special. Yellowhead Highway was one of those routes for which my expectation was low. However, it proved me wrong. The drive was somewhat boring at the beginning from Prince George to Burns Lake. But it got more green and scenic as I drove west. Snow-capped mountains and forest-covered valleys appeared. Ariel and I had several nice surprises and also some disappointments. 

Pleasant Surprises

Prince George

Prince George, BC is a major stop for roadtrips to Alaska. It’s located at the intersection of Highway 97 and Highway 16. It’s also a relatively bigger city. So people usually stop here for a rest and to load up supplies. Bug spray is a must because flies and mosquitos are thick and relentless in West and North BC. In addition to the convenience of a big city, Prince George has many dog friendly hiking trails. We went to Forest for the World and hiked the Greenway Trail to Shane Lake Loop. Like a botanical garden, this place had countless types of plants that I couldn’t name. And they attracted beautiful wild butterflies. Even better, the trail was quiet and peaceful. We saw only about 7 people in total.

Fraser Lake

Fraser Lake is a vast, beautiful, crystal clear lake next to Yellowhead Highway. Once you see it from the highway, you will want to jump into it. I found the best way to get access to the lake is through White Swan Park. This park has both day use areas for water activities on Fraser Lake and campsites for overnight visitors. You won’t be by yourself in this park, but it’s not crowded either. I saw plenty of space on the beach and many available campsites when I arrived.

Ariel and I played fetch on the beach. It was also Ariel’s first time seeing people swimming. When she heard splashes, she thought people were drowning. She ran towards the swimmers immediately trying to save lives, although she actually didn’t know how to swim. I of course stopped her in time but was so proud of my baby girl. 

Barrett Hat

I found this dog friendly trail, Barrett Hat, close to the highway and thought it would just be a random place where we could stretch our legs. I had no expectation of it because it had only 31 reviews on AllTrails. It turnt out to be a great hike with good amount of workout and stunning views of the Bulkley-Nechako forestry. The 3.5-mile trail was flat at the beginning. But the section close to the top required pretty steep climbing on loose rocks.

The views on the top were so worth the effort. On a clear day, you will see glacier-crowned mountains standing in the far distance and the vast forest valley expanding beneath you. It’s a 360-degree view of the entire Bulkley-Nechako valley with no obstruction. Moreover, there are photo boards explaining what you see and names of the mountains. I even met the guy who developed and maintained this recreation area. He said Yellowhead Highway is just getting interesting from here and the drive all the way to Prince Rupert is a must. He also recommended several short detours on my way down so that I got to see all the wildflowers, butterflies and different angles of the forest. The trails were well groomed with clear signs. I highly recommend you make a stop here.  

Ross Lake Provincial Park

Ross Lake Park is named after Ross Lake in the park. It’s another beautiful and quiet lake. We had the lake all to ourselves when we visited. Besides water activities, the park has a short and easy loop trail around the lake, Rainmaker Trail. The 2.1-mile hike is almost flat and doesn’t have special views. But you will get some peaceful alone time in the wilderness.

Smithers

Smithers is the 2nd largest city after Prince George in the section of Yellowhead Highway that I drove. It’s a great stop to do refills, dine at restaurants, and buy some souvenirs. We stayed at Riverside Municipal Campground right by the Bulkley River. Surprisingly, it’s well maintained and has full hookups on site. Also, reservations can be made online.

If you want to explore nature, Twin Falls Recreation Site is a popular destination. It features two spectacular waterfalls cascading from glaciers. The challenging Glacier Gulch and Twin Falls Trail will bring you to the waterfall viewing platform and provide a good view of the glacier gulch. This trail ascends about 3,000ft, most of which is off-trail. You may need to do a decent amount of climbing on loose rocks. If it sounds too risky, the hike to the Twin Falls viewing platform is only about 0.3 miles and well-maintained. Ariel and I hiked only this section. We still got great views of the falls and surrounding mountains.

Disappointments

Call Lake Provincial Park

Call Lake Provincial Park is nearby Smithers. It’s not maintained at all. We didn’t see any signs for it or its trails. I followed the direction from AllTrails for the Call Lake Trail, which is supposed to a trail leading to Call Lake. We got ourselves into a muddy mountain and wild bushes with no path at all. Furthermore, the entire trail was extremely buggy. Insects from flies, mosquitoes to ants and spiders were everywhere. As we got close to the lake, bushes were so high and thick that they were not passable anymore. So we turned around without seeing the lake.

Tyhee Lake Provincial Park

Compared to Ross Lake Provincial Park, Tyhee Lake Provincial Park also features a beautiful lake, Tyhee Lake, but it is much more crowded. Moreover, its day use areas including lake beaches are not dog friendly. So Ariel and I didn’t stay.

Gitwanga Totem Poles

To my surprise, Gitwanga Totem Poles are located in a residential area that looks pretty abandoned. There’re no signs or introductions for these poles either. I didn’t get any information about them. In addition, it didn’t look like the poles were maintained or protected. Compared to those I saw in Alaska, these totem poles were not appealing.