Prince Rupert - 'city of rainbows'

I arrived in Prince Rupert after the two day 'Skeena' train ride, late in the evening on Monday. After a few checking in issues, Andrew and I headed out to try out the seafood for which this coastline is renowned. Sadly, the only restaurant open late was 'Zorbas' - a Greek (?!) restaurant serving cheap and cheerful food. It did fill the gap though, and sleep was quick to follow after!

The train ride into Prince Rupert was amazing, the Skeena Valley is just astoundingly beautiful. As I wrote previously, the thickly forested mountains crash into the steely grey, incredibly calm water. Unbelievably picturesque. Prince Rupert itself is the most northern town on the western coast of Canada, and according to the locals, thus qualifies as "the north". I quite enjoy this, as a visit to Northern Canada is one of my travel goals, but personally I think I'll only 'tick' that one off once I've paid a visit to the Yukon or Alaska.

Called the 'city of rainbows', apparently it rains here a lot... The first day I was in Prince Rupert was amazing though. The sky was mostly clear, it was fairly warm and stunningly beautiful. The town centre itself is pretty typical for a 'frontier wilderness' town such as this, but some of the older timber frame buildings retain a bit of the pioneer town atmosphere. The areas overlooking the myriad of islands and winding waterways are really beautiful, and I can only imagine that the winter storms bring an entirely different feel to the place.

As Prince Rupert is half-way on the coast between Vancouver Island and Skagway (the Alaskan ferry drop-off far to the north) it is a regular stop-over for both cruise ships (mostly americans) and the regular ferry service (mostly locals and independant travellers, as well as loads of RV's). A cruise ship came in yesterday, and I was quite happy to avoid all obvious tourist spots (of which there aren't many) just to avoid the passengers. I did manage to share one of the local busses with a few though, and I was amazed that one of the passengers wanted to pay the $2.50 CAD fare with a $20 USD note, and get accurate change reflecting the exchange rate. On a bus! crazy stuff.

Andrew and I made the most of the sunny day and went on a great hike to Butze Rapids just outside the town. The micro-climate (loads of rain, relatively warm and thick boreal forest) means that the vegetation is incredibly lush and actually is quantified as a 'rain forest'. The 1.5hour hike slowly became a 3 hour meander as we both stopped seemingly every 15m or so to take photos of some cool slug, mushroom or leaves... My idea of a great way to spend an afternoon!

We had got lunch from a really cool little independant coffee shop in town, and ate it overlooking one of the typical picture-perfect coves that are seemingly in endless supply. A sign at the start of the hike warned of roaming bears and wolves, and suggested singing and clapping to scare them away. I must be honest, I was really hoping that a bear or wolf (both of which I considered we were highly unlikey to see) would make an appearance, far enough away to feel safe, but close enough (of course) to get a photo. Sadly, this did not happen. I was keeping my eyes peeled though!

Andrew left the next day (on Wednesday) to head to Vancouver Island on the ferry, and I made my way to the North Pacific Cannery - a museum 20km south of Prince Rupert in Port Edward - one of the last remaining Salmon Canning plants in BC. I had found a reference to this place in one of my internet travel forum searches, and found that they offer accommodation in one of the old bunkhouses. For $44.07 per night, I certainly wasn't going to give this a miss...

The Cannery is amazingly beautiful; abandoned in 1968 it is in a very picturesque state of mild disrepair, and in another (warmer) climate it would be one hellava lot more popular than it is now. As it is, I was the only traveller staying in the inn, the other 2 people there are lumberjacks who are staying there for the summer season. As such, it was incredibly quiet, the atmosphere was amazing. I had a double room to myself, and it was really good having a bit of space to myself for a change.

The museum curator is a young interesting guy from Ontario, and he spent a winter in the cannery as the winter watchman. As the cannery is so far away from civilization (8km from the nearest village) during winter it is incredibly isolated. He spent a while this morning telling me ghost stories, I was very happy he didn't tell them to me yesterday or I probably wouldn't have had the nerve to stay the night in this huge place pretty much alone! Apparently there was a Native village quite close to the site that was destroyed in a mudslide in 1782, and the curator has heard some freaky things when he has been alone at night... eek!!

I went out for dinner last night to the (only) sushi restaurant in town. It was amazing! I more than satisfied my (in London, weekly) urge for raw fish. Apparently it is the best sushi north of Vancouver, although to be honest, I don't think there are many towns north of Vancouver on the coast... Vancouver Island, I suppose... It was great sushi though. Especially as both the Salmon and Tuna were caught locally, the salmon especially was such an amazing colour - the brightest pink salmon I have every seen! so tasty too...

I also went to see a First Nations story-telling perfomance, organised by the fantastic Museum of Northern British Columbia, which was really great. It seems that a lot of the local First Nations tribes are really working on keeping their culture alive. The town is filled with totem poles and First Nation iconography, and although a lot of it could be for the benefit of the cruise ship / bus tours, it does seem to be genuine.

So tomorrow I leave on the ferry to take the Inside Passage to Vancouver Island. I'm hoping that the weather clears a bit (after the first sunny day here, it has been raining non-stop ever since. No wonder the locals joke about growing webbed feet!!) so that I'll be able to see the mountains. Either way, it should be pretty spectacular. Whale sightings are common, and I am really hoping to see some Orcas, even though their season has passed already... I can always hope!