Thursday, September 20, 2012

beyond Hope...

We had family here last week...
while we celebrated Dad's birthday.
But we also celebrated a few other family birthdays...
and we had campfires and brunches...
and toured gardens and had ice-cream cones at the beach.
And on Saturday we decided to do a day-trip to Hell's Gate...
up the road beyond Hope!

My niece from Iowa decided that she would sooner stay behind.
'That is not a nice name'...she declared.
We talked her into coming along for the ride.

 In 1808 Simon Fraser described this narrow passage along the Fraser River as...
 "a place where no human should venture, for surely these are the gates of Hell."
And so it became known as Hell's Gate.


We all rode the aerial tramway across the canyon.
Our international host gave us a few facts on the way across.
200 million gallons of water per minute thunder through this 33 metre wide passage.


Once safely on the far side...we walked back across the Fraser River on the suspension bridge.
It seems we could have hiked across both ways and saved the tram fare!

Far below us...
in that swirling water...
some tourists were having a 'joy ride' on a boat.
I was glad to be up above on the bridge!


It's an interesting and historic place to visit...
this stop along the 'gold rush trail'.

It is also the home to Hell’s Gate fish ways...
built by a joint Canadian /United States Commission and completed in 1966.
It s all about saving the salmon!


We saw...
we walked...
and then we sat a spell.

We breathed in the wonderful fresh mountain air...
which smelled of pine and fir and other woodsy scents.


And since we all had two-way fares...
we took the tram back to the other side.

And here's the thing...
they gave us a season's pass which is good through all of 2013.

Maybe we'll go again sometime.
Hell's gate is just beyond Hope.
Not so far...
and not so bad.
Even if it does not have a nice name!

9 comments:

  1. Great post! Those cable cars look fun, although I am not good with heights I think I may have been persuaded to have a trip in one. Lovely photo of the little one on the huge chair!

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  2. Judy,
    What a fun day! Beautiful scenery. I'd go on the tram ride. I don't like heights either, but am learning to be better with them. I'd just grip hubby's hand extra hard!

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  3. It certainly doesn't look like the gates to hell, it might feel like it, though, if one were on the boat instead of the bridge.

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  4. Love it Judy! Your niece's response made me chuckle. Ha! I'm going to have to ask Vee what the gates of Hell do look like...

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  5. Love the little sprite on the huge chair.

    This post brings back memories of riding that tram many years ago.

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  6. Good to go along on the tram with you - I've passed by so many times when I lived in Prince George. i hadn't heard why it was named Hell's Gate before but it makes perfect sense!

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  7. You know how to do these kind of excursions! They always look like a great time and give the rest of us ideas on where to go. I've been wanting to go with our kids, but so far it has not happened. I think they close sometime in Fall.

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  8. My stomach churns when I think of going over and also seeing the boat in the water. It is a beautiful place to take guests.

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'The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.'
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson