Bella Coola - Highway 20 through the Land of Cows and Lakes

We enjoy the short stay in the hotel-like Guest House (5 rooms) with a king-size bed 😊 Only the dripping rain gutter outside our room wakes us up briefly around 5 o'clock 😅 The breakfast is more than sufficient for the few guests. We're happy to have fresh fruit and fried eggs.

In the next larger town, we try our luck with the spare tire. They have one tire, but no capacity for a change... We're already super happy that something is open on a Sunday. The employee is very friendly and even tries to fix our tire - but the hole is too big... We continue for now like this and will try again later on the way to Bella Coola.

After a short gas stop and some drink replenishment, we head on the long stretch to Bella Coola, more than 400km on the Chilcotin Highway 20 - luckily, everything is paved with 2 to 3 lanes (except for a later part) 👌 The road is sometimes hilly with curves, sometimes straight like in America. Large parts of the forests to the left and right of the highway have burned in recent weeks 😔 The sky is very hazy in many places (we suspect from the smoke). It looks quite desolate at times... But it's warm ☀️ The entire route is dotted with small and also larger lakes. Until noon, we see countless cattle, calves, and many horses (Melly even spots Haflingers 😊😎). The cows sometimes simply stand in and ON the road! So many calves around.

We take a lunch break in Alexis Creek - much smaller than it looks on the map 🤣 At the rest area, a local lady greets us as she removes weeds. Everyone here is so warm-hearted 🫶

A quick drink break at Tatla Lake, then we continue and the road becomes a gravel road again. We keep our fingers crossed that we won't break down again - and everything goes smoothly. Going down the mountains, we have an amazing view - and then suddenly another bear trots in front of us 🐻🥰 - right in the middle of the road. He seems curious (or a bit hungry/thirsty?) as we pass by. A little later, the road is paved again and we breathe a sigh of relief.

The rest of the journey feels like we’re flying... and then we miss our last stop 🫣 We actually wanted to stop at the viewpoint with a platform overlooking a wildlife park... But our navigation had jumped back to the AirBnB accommodation 🫣

We enjoy our dinner on the terrace in front of our log cabin and go to bed early. Tomorrow we have to leave at 5:00 ⛴️ 🤘