The transition from Jasper to British Columbia was like night-and-day. We went from protected forest to areas with extensive clear-cuts and replantings. You could tell the areas that had been replanted with pine, as they were rectangular and largely dead, the likely victim of beetles. The mountains no longer looked healthy, although in fairness we also saw beetle damage in Jasper.
As we turned south and west in British Columbia below Clearwater the area began to look like parts of dry California. There had been fires, and it was hard at times telling fire damage from beetle damage. I think the train approaching the tunnel is known as the Rocky Mountain Mountaineer.
Most of us drove along Hwy 5 and TCH-1, our route paralleling the Thompson River, the Frazier River and Frazier Canyon. As we drove west re-entering mountains the forests improved.
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