VANCOUVER TO KAMLOOPS
We had another early start this morning when the Rocky Mountaineer coach collected us from our hotel and took us to their station to catch the train.   Lots of other passengers joining the train.  Once seated we were given breakfast.  Smoked salmon bagel - why not?  For most of the day we have followed the Fraser River up through the rugged rocky mountains. For hundreds of years the salmon have swum upstream to spawn in the still waters.  When the railways (there are now two tracks) were built they narrowed the rocky cliffs which created very fast rapids at Hells Gate.  This meant that a large percentage of salmon died with exhaustion so in recent times small 'ladders' have been created in the rock face for the salmon to help them negotiate the strong current and rapids.

The scenery has been spectacular.   Some of the mountains are covered in trees, others bare, with magnificent colours from whites, purples, yellows, blacks. 

We crossed the river many times and changed sides with the many freight trains we saw along the way.  These belong to Canadian National and we were on the Canadian Pacific line (we think it is this way around).

Kamloops is a big town (80,000) and we caught a great sunset along the river tonight after checking into the hotel.  We have been so well feed during the day dinner has been a glass of red and a few biscuits and some fruit.