I head out late towards Prince George and get confused, trying to read my map and drive at the same time. Finally I figure out that, as with the rest of the West, I just need to follow the Yelllow Head highway to get there.

Along the way the world changes again - the trees have been snowblasted into white ice sculptures. The earth begins to pitch and heave in small hills and breathtaking valleys. I see two visions. The first comes mid-thought about the world being Narnia-esque, frozen by the power of some ice queen. All around me, the country is black and white (white trees, white sky, black road) save for the yellow centre line. And then suddenly a huge valley emerges on my left, filled with thousands of white trees - and in the middle a tower of flame rocketing into the sky, lonely but strong and powerful. In a second, I lose sight of it.

The second vision comes quickly as well - the sun is blinding me - without sunglasses, I wouldn't be able to drive - the road ahead is hot, blinding white light (a contrast to the darkness to come later). Suddenly the sun disappears behind a cloud and against the clouds there is a perfect circle that follows me, moving around the sun. I crane my neck and try to figure out what it is - the moon? the sun? a sundog (can't remember what those are even...)? It is a glowing circle against the clouds, with a perfectly defined edge, and I can stare at it without going blind... It too passes quickly, but both leave me with the impression that this is a magical land.

I can't really do justice to driving across the Rockies here. I took a lot of pictures but none of them capture it fully. I drive for a long time before stopping at a gas station in a small town (with the nicest roadside store ever! The bathroom urinals had little soccer balls and goals in them! Cool!). I remember in Calgary seeing the mountains in the distance and am wondering how far these stupid mountains are. Then I rounded the corner.

They are giant. Beautiful, huge, Gods of Canada emerging from the mists. I remember saying that the rocks and trees of Northern Ontario made me feel small - these made me feel insignificant. The world may change but these will always be here, testiments to ancient techtonic wars.


I'm listening to CBC, as one man attacks religion as myth. I'm an agnostic, but it's hard to be human and not believe that some greater power created these monuments. The radio crackles and fades, which is fine by me - better to see this in silence.



I pass a sign warning of wildlife crossings. Ahead of me there is a brown car that's slowed down. Or stopped... wait, that's not a car. It's two big horned goats? rams? (apparently somewhat rare to see, I find out later) hanging out in the middle of the road. I screech to a halt 15 feet from them and coast till I am five feet away next to them. I roll down my window and take their picture, telling them how beautiful they are.

I continue on, worrying about them - flashing my lights to alert other cars. Along the way I pass beautiful elks and caribou travelling in pairs and herds, just next to the car - almost pettable. I want to live in Jasper.



I take a LONG TIME out here - looking at mountains and caribou and before I know it the sun is setting. I am still a long way from Prince George and I speed up, stopping occasionally to snow off my windshield. As the sun sets, the temperatures drops and drags a ribbon of cloud down to the valley I travel through - I pass under it, through it, and next to it, watching it wind itself between the mountains. I pass into BC just before night falls.

I pull over to the side of the road to pee - there are no bathrooms or gas stations for a while. Others have stopped here recently because garbage is strewn around and dog prints scamper happily in the snow. I slip and slide down into the forest and find a spot to pee. The dog has been running around here too. By the size of the prints (next to the little fox prints there) it is a big dog. Or, I realize, still peeing, a wolf. Actually there's a lot of tracks around here. I scamper back up the car and head out. To quote my friend Sam, "it's cold and there are wolves."

Soon it is pitch black. the road winds around huge mountains that are occasionally visible. I drive through clouds and can't see 20 feet in front of me. Avalanche signs dots the road, although it's impossible to say where the actual mountains are. Giant trucks fly past me or crowd me from behind. Now it is pitch black, foggy and snowing and I can't see anything.

Somehow I make it to Prince George though. There is suddenly a long stretch where I sense that the mountains have receded and I am entering the long slide towards the coast. And then suddenly up a small hill, I see Prince George - bigger than I imagined and glittering in the darkness.