If You Go -- Coast Mountain Circle Tour

Want to head north to British Columbia on a driving trip? Here's some information on the Coast Mountain Circle Tour, a 370-mile driving loop route in southwest B.C. that covers everything from Whistler resort to wilderness.

Crossing the border

Summer brings traffic snarls at the main U.S.-Canada border crossing at Blaine.

Avoid it Fridays and Sundays if you can, or consider alternative border crossings farther east such as at Lynden or Sumas.

Have ID for everyone in the car, including birth certificates or picture ID for children.

The loop route

You can easily drive the Coast Mountain Circle Tour in three days from Seattle. I prefer doing the loop clockwise as it makes for a convenient first-night stop in Whistler (about a 5 1/2-hour drive from Seattle depending on traffic). The roads are open year-round, although there can be heavy snows in winter. Summer weekends can bring lots of traffic on parts of the route, including slowgoing RVs, so May or June or summer weekdays are ideal times to go.

Here's a suggested itinerary and some stops. For more information, contact the region's tourism office at 800-667-3306 which can mail a brochure on the route.

For general information on visiting B.C. (and to make hotel reservations) call the provincial tourism office, 800-663-6000. Web site: www.travel.bc.ca

Vancouver to Whistler

A fiord, peaks and river canyons highlight this mountainous stretch of Highway 99 north to Whistler.

Leaving Vancouver behind, the highway hugs the island-studded Howe Sound. Pause to drink in the views at roadside pullouts. Or stop at Britannia Beach, midway between Vancouver and Squamish, to see the B.C. Mining Museum (604-896-2233, reopening for the season in early May). visitors can explore the buildings and shaft of an old copper mine.

A 10-minute drive north, and just a few minutes' stroll from a roadside parking lot, is Shannon Falls Provincial Park where a waterfall tumbles hundreds of feet down a cliff. There are picnic tables and viewing platforms where visitors may get dampened by the fall's mist.

The logging town of Squamish, now becoming a bedroom community of Vancouver, sits at the end of Howe Sound. North of the town, the road climbs through somber forests and mountains. Hikers could take off for a long day - or days - in the wilderness of Garibaldi Provincial Park. The trail to the alpine Garibaldi Lake (at least three hours each way) and onto the high meadows and volcanic plug of Black Tusk is one of the best. Park information: 604-898-3678.

Stay the night at Whistler where there are dozens of hotels and restaurants to choose among. In summer, there are music festivals and sightseeing rides on the ski lifts plus golf, mountain biking and horse-riding. Whistler Information: phone 800-944-7853. Web: www.whistler-blackcomb.com

For Highway 99 road conditions, phone 604-932-5090. The B.C. highways ministry has a good Web site with reports on conditions (for Highway 99 and other roads in the Coast Mountain loop tour): www.th.gov.bc.ca/bchighways/

From Whistler to Harrison Hot Springs

Next morning continue north and count on a full day's drive before the second night's stop well around the loop route. (Harrison Hot Springs is where I like to end up, soaking in the natural hot springs of the lakeside resort.)

From Whistler, Highway 99 heads north to Pemberton, a small logging and farming community in a serene valley that's turning into a Whistler bedroom community thanks to lower housing prices.

From Pemberton to Lillooet is a 60-mile stretch along Highway 99 (known locally as the Duffey Lake Road). Once a logging road, it was paved in the early 1990s. It passes through the rural Mount Currie Indian reservation on the outskirts of Pemberton, then twists through a wilderness of glacier-draped mountains and alpine lakes.

There's nothing along the highway except scenery - so take snacks and make sure you get gas in Whistler or Pemberton.

The road climbs to 4,300 feet then drops down to Lillooet, a drowsy town of 2,000 people on the Fraser River.

In the 1860s, however, Lillooet was one of B.C.'s busiest spots; it was the transportation and supply hub for thousands of miners streaming to the Cariboo gold fields in central B.C.

There's a little museum, plain motels and restaurants.

If you want to shorten your drive by about 60 miles, cut south from Lillooet to Lytton on Highway 12. Otherwise, to get a glimpse of B.C.'s high-country ranch land, stay on Highway 99 as it continues northeast toward Cache Creek.

This is the start of the Cariboo, B.C.'s cowboy country that contains some of North America's biggest cattle ranches. The coastal mountains catch the precipitation; here it's so dry that sagebrush flourishes.

Taking this route is worth it for Historic Hat Creek Ranch, a heritage site about 6 miles north of Cache Creek with 20 historic buildings including cabins, barns and a blacksmith shop from the 1860s. It's run by the B.C. government's heritage branch; buildings are open to visitors from mid-May until September. Information: 800-782-0922. Web: www.heritage.gov.bc.ca

The town of Cache Creek has little to draw visitors so keep on going south toward Lytton on Highway 1 (the Trans-Canada). Part of the highway runs along the Thompson River (so close you can hear the white-water rafters squealing) which joins the Fraser River near Lytton.

The whistlestop town of Lytton, tucked in the steep-walled Fraser River Canyon, has the distinction of sometimes being the hottest place in Canada, topping 100 degrees in summer. It's becoming a small-scale recreation center, with several rafting companies offering raft trips on the Fraser and Thompson.

For those looking for outdoor adventure, one of B.C.'s newest parks (created in 1995) is the Stein Valley, a wilderness preserve across the Fraser from Lytton. A free two-car ferry takes visitors across.

More than 100 miles of rugged hiking trails wind through old-growth forest and climb to alpine lakes and peaks.

Native heritage sites (including rock paintings) are still used and safeguarded by an Indian band based in Lytton, which co-manages the park with the provincial government. Park information: 250-851-3000.

From Lytton south, the highway crowds into the narrow river-carved canyon along with railroad tracks and rumbling freight trains. The newer, faster Coquihalla Highway (a toll road) has supplanted this stretch of the Trans Canada, but this older highway has more interesting views and stops.

In the 19th century, the Cariboo Wagon Road was pushed through the Fraser canyon to take thousands of miners and adventurers north to the gold fields. It was a fearful, rough road clinging to rock ledges. Today's road is two- or four-lane and an easy drive, apart from slowgoing trucks and RVs.

Take a break at Hell's Gate where the Fraser surges through a gorge just over 100 feet wide. In the 1940s, concrete fishways of a pioneering design were built to help the salmon move upriver to their spawning grounds and were instrumental in preserving the runs.

The Hell's Gate aerial tram (located 6 miles south of the community of Boston Bar, phone 604-867-9277) takes visitors swooping hundreds of feet down to the riverside where there are displays, shops, a restaurant and closeup views of the river.

Farther south in the canyon, little towns such as Yale bustled with miners, saloons and stores and almost 20,000 people during the 19th-century gold rush. Now Yale is home to only about 200 people and a small local-history museum (604-863-2324).

Continuing south, the town of Hope is at the southern end of the canyon and has long been a transportation hub where roads and rivers meet.

Hope has an old-fashioned downtown of small cafes and shops and roadside motels. I prefer to stay at Harrison Hot Springs, about a half-hour drive west of Hope on the shores of Harrison Lake. After a long day of driving and sightseeing, the hot-springs pools of the Harrison Hotel (604-796-2244) and a lakeside stroll are a welcome break from driving and sightseeing.

Next day, extend your trip by visiting Vancouver, about 1 1/2 hours to the west. Or head home, crossing the border at Sumas or Lynden instead of Blaine to beat the crowds on their way south.