Trip to Albert Canyon, BC

Currently sitting in my little RV at Canyon Hot Springs Campground in Albert Canyon.

Not a bad place to be sitting when you are glamping!

Where is Albert Canyon? About 20 minutes west of Rodgers National Park and 30 minutes east of Revelstoke, BC.

What is Albert Canyon? At one time Albert Canyon was a busy little place. It was a small CP rail community. At the peak it had 20 to 30 families, a sawmill, mill shop, general store and a school house. The community was home to the “diesel pushers” that helped push the trains up through a pass. It is a scenic destination where the passenger trains would stop so the passengers could get out and see “Albert Canyon”. Today the “community” consists of a couple of full time residents and another five or six seasonal residents.

Why a trip to Albert Canyon? Last summer when Ryan (oldest son) returned from his spring/summer work in McCarthy Alaska) he arranged to spend his quarantine on a property in Albert Canyon. He was interested in a property that was for sale….so Kim and I drove out to check things out with him. Turned out he didn’t fall in love with the original property but he reached out to another owner and negotiated the purchase of just under 18 acres on the south side of the Trans Canada highway. The property is just acreage. It has never been built on. Guessing it has been 100 years since it was last logged. It has some giant cedars (10 feet around) and all kinds of very large trees. Immediately behind the property is crown land that stretches for miles….the entrance to a playground for Ryan and his back country activities. Albert Canyon is also one of the launch places for Selkirk Tangiers Helicopter skiing …..and where Ryan will be working this winter.

The trip out here was to help construct a shed. The shed was determined to be a priority as he lives either in his van or in a small travel trailer. This was his first “acquisition” and it was going to be followed by a lot of smaller additions that would not do well in his van or trailer (chainsaw, shovel, rake, pick ax, etc) so he thought a shed made sense so he would have somewhere to store his new “toys”.

Ryan was receptive to some help as the help was going to supply many of the tools needed to build the shed. So Kim and I headed west. From our cottage on Sausage Lake it takes five long days of driving (47 hours at regular speeds and we are in an RV). Kim visited with Ryan for a few days then we drove to Kelowna and flew back to Hamilton to attend a wedding in St. Catherines. After the wedding Kim drove back to the cottage and returned to Kelowna and drove back to Albert Canyon. Plans are to help Ryan until late September when I will drive back home to Andover MA for a couple of weddings.

Thanks to Rob Harrison for the sketch of the shed…..our building plan.

The shed construction is “progressing”. A bit slow but we are making progress. Lots of comments to add on the construction in the next post…..and it has been interesting.