Today we crossed over to the Columbia Valley, 3 significant mountains to cross at an 8% grade plus we were on Trans-Canada 1 which is being upgraded to 4 lanes where possible. We also discovered that British Columbia does not stripe roads very well. We finally figured out that if the road appears to be more than one lane it probably is.

One of the numerous logging operations we pass

We pulled into Martha Creek Provincial Park, found a site and Tom went to pay. There was an Iron Ranger so he put the money in the envelope, filled out the info. A few hours later the ranger came knocking at our door. Tom stopped reading the envelope that over 65 gets half price, never re­ad that you had to be a BC resident. This was actually a positive if the ranger collects the money we can charge the camp fee. Hoarding our Canadian money has become necessary. We had gone to an ATM and gotten money, went into the bank and exchanged some of the bills for $1 and $2 coins(called Loonies and Toonies). If we have to pay cash we don’t have enough Loonies($1) and Toonies($2). We stopped by 2 banks and neither would exchange our bills for coins unless we had an account. We had encountered this in the States and it is quite annoying. Banks and CU’s are going to put themselves out of business with this attitude. We have found several National Parks, Corp of Engineer Campground and State Campgrounds plus restaurants that have a credit card only policy. We pretty much charge everything as it is so much simpler. 

 

The view from our site at Martha Creek

The ranger also told us to put away our barbecue since there was a Grizzly that was visiting the campground at night so all sites need to be cleaned up. No barbecues, no food, no ice chests. She was going around to each site giving everyone the info and was going to be around later to make sure all our sites are clean.