We spent the last few days of our trip being spoilt by our best mate in the slick city of Vancouver - eating many delicious meals at her apartment and attempting to get our hands on her cat.
Taking the gondola up Grouse Mountain we saw Grizzlies (and boy are they BIG), ate icecream in Port Moody and relaxed at Bunzen’s beautiful lake, before crying goodbye and heading back south to the States.
Embarrassingly, we were turned back at the border when we attempted to re-enter the US – TIP: don’t carry firewood across – but finally arrived in the Cascade Mountains north of Seattle to celebrate our last night on the road with a truly unique experience…
Our final campsite was Clear Creek in Snohomish County. We arrived late and were waved in by two quirky looking characters. Window down, head out, we had a little chat. Bit tricky to initially understand our two new friends but the feeling was clearly mutual! I complimented their real tree cam while they admired my big rig...before waving a smiley goodbye and driving up the track to our final wild camp.
At around 11pm, one of the aforementioned gentlemen appeared with some beer - providing a very welcome distraction from packing. This ex-helicopter logger, hunter, fly fisher and man of seriously impressive stories, talked to us of trees, trapping and exciting encounters with the area's animal inhabitants - providing a most excellent end to our incredible 3000 mile adventure!
In Seattle we dropped off our RV, replacing it with an only slightly smaller vehicle that a member of the mafia would most likely drive and spent a couple of days winding down in a city not too dissimilar to Bristol.
Pooped, packed, pleased with all we’d achieved and carefully cradling the delicate dream-catchers we'd woven with the people of the Tulalip Tribe at the Hibulb Cultural Centre, we finally headed home with bellies full of burgers, minds full of memories and a much better understanding of what life is like on the other side of the Atlantic!
If you are interested in taking a similar trip, check out our full itinerary below. Do get in touch if you have any questions about where we went, what we did and who we met. Happy travelling!
FULL ITINERARY
Mon 10 to Tuesday 11 June 2019 Best Western Plus Suites Hotel 5005 West Century Boulevard, Inglewood, CA 90304
Tue 11 Jun to Wednesday, 12 June 2019 El Capitan State Beach El Capitan State Beach, California 93117, USA
Wed 12 Jun to Thursday, 13 June 2019 Pfeiffer Big Sur Campground Pfeiffer Big Sur Rd, Big Sur, CA 93920, USA
Thu 13th Campsite to Friday, 14 June 2019 Forks Campground, S Shore Rd, Wishon, CA 93650, USA
Fri 14 to Sunday 16 June 2019 Yosemite Lakes RV Site, 31191 Hardin Flat Rd Groveland
Sun 16 boon-docking in Eldorado National Forest to Monday, 17 June 2019 Eldorado National Forest
Mon 17 to Tuesday, 18 June 2019 Fallen Leaf Campground 2165 Fallen Leaf Rd, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150, USA
Tue 18 June to 19 June 2019 Meeks Bay Campgrounds, Forest Service Rd 1418, Tahoma, CA 96142, USA
Wed 19 Camp: boon-docking near Bartlett Spring to Thursday, 20 June, Bartlett Springs, CA 95458, USA
Thu 20 to Friday, 21 June 2019 Benbow State Park Campground, Fish Crossing Lane, Garberville, CA 95542, USA
Fri 21 to Saturday, 22 June 2019 Elk Prairie Campground, 127011 Newton B. Drury Scenic Pkwy, Orick, CA 95555, USA
Sat 22 to Sunday, 23 June 2019
Point Blanco Campground
Sun 23 Camp: Umqua Lighthouse campground to Monday, 24 June 2019
Mon 24 to Tuesday, 25 June 2019, Beverly Beach State Park, Newport, OR 97365, USA
Tue 25 to Wednesday, 26 June 2019, Fort Stevens State Park Campground, 100 Peter Iredale Rd, Hammond, OR 97121, USA
Wed 26 to Thursday, 27 June 2019, Kalaloch Campground, Forks, WA 98331, USA
Thu 27 to Friday, 28 June 2019 Sol Duc Campground Port Angeles, WA 98363, USA
Fri 28 to Saturday 30 June 2019 Englishman River Falls Provincial Park 2245 Errington Rd, Errington, BC V0R 1V0, Canada
Sun 30 to Tuesday 2 July Mussel Beach Wilderness Campground, Alberni-Clayoquot C, BC V0R 3A0, Canada
Tue 02 to Thursday 4 July, Wild Pacific Camp, 1015 Peninsula Rd, Ucluelet, BC V0A 3R0, Canada
Thu 04 Camp to Saturday 6 July, French Beach Provincial Park
Sat 06 to Sunday, 7 July, Weir beach RV Resort, 5191 William Head Rd, Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada
Sun 7 Camp to Tuesday 9 July, Anmore Camp & RV Park, 3230 Sunnyside Rd, Anmore, BC V3H 4Y2, Canada
Tue 9 Jul to 10 July⋅01:00 – 17:00, Clear Creek Campground, Darrington, WA 98241, USA
AirB&B for last two days in Seattle.