May 20, 2026 – Williams Lake to Smithers, BC , Canada
“They work six days a week planting trees after the clear cuts have happened and then they come in here and spend a lot of money at the bar, actually too much money,” says the bartender at the local brewery in Smithers, BC. The bartender is a bass player from Montreal who has traveled the world on cruise ships and across Canada with his own band and has temporarily settled in Smithers, where his partner of four years is from. Smithers is the classic intersection of great skiing on Hudson Bay Mountain (9,000 feet) and a very small town far from anywhere (700 miles northwest of Vancouver, BC.)
He is talking about the “tree huggers” or “hippies,” the mostly young students hired by the tree companies each summer who got paid for each tree they planted. He continues, “They make a lot of money in a short period of time, and they may not use it wisely.” He also talks about the ski bums who take over his bar in the winter. They come off the mountain each evening and stay late into the evening. They are dressed much better than the tree huggers who have been playing in the dirt all week. He seems to just enjoy people, “This job fills my social life, and music fills my professional life.”
There is also a German couple in this ski/tree bar who immediately strike up a conversation and tell us that Canadians are much nicer and go deeper than Americans (from the US). We don’t disagree, but we try over the next hour and a couple rounds of beer to convince them that there are some Americans who might be just as nice as our neighbors to the north.
And this is the joy of travelling – meeting others, striking up a conversation, and getting just a small insight into their world … and it is all the more special if it just happens like it did this evening when we walked through deserted main street Smithers and Siri saw a sign for the local brewery.
And an hour plus later we are better for it.
Another good day on the road that also included more historical museums, another river walk, a few more “World’s largest ….” and few more walks down memory lane.
Tomorrow, we plan to arrive in Prince Rupert, our final destination, and will meet up with our fellow six travellers for the grizzly bear adventure.
After so many months of planning, it is hard to believe it is here.
Siri and David Adventures 