At first the road cuts through the Fraser River delta, flat lands and suburbs zooming by and easily dismissed. But soon the valley takes shape and mountains appear to move in from a distant horizon. They begin to encase the scenery into high granite walls, on the left and the right, their summits still snow-capped and majestic.

Chilliwack is left behind and after two hours on the road, there is Hope. Hope, B.C., is a small town, voluntarily circumnavigated and quickly forgotten. But some fifty kilometers beyond, when Hope has faded away, appears Hell’s Gate.

None of it makes sense. It should be the other way around. So after descending to Hell’s Gate on the Airtram and spending some time overlooking the river at its narrowest and deepest point (120 feet deep when the pictures was taken, can get to 170 feet deep!), one must turn around and drive back towards civilization, leaving Hell’s Gate behind, gaining on Hope, and finding that it leads to Vancouver.