Fraser River
• The Fraser River is named after the first European to paddle the river to the sea, Simon Fraser, in the early 1800s.

Pitt Meadows
• Pitt Lake is the only freshwater tidal lake in North America.

Harrison Hot Springs
• Harrison Hot Springs has been a popular resort since the 1860s when gold miners discovered its mineral hot springs.
• This lakeside village is home to an annual world-class sandcastle competition, in the fall.

Hope
• Nobody really knows how Hope came by its name. Some believe that the name came from the expression of hope, while some believe it is from an old English word Hope, which meant "a small enclosed valley.”
• The chainsaw carvings started in 1991 when a large tree in Hope was diagnosed with root rot. A local artist, Pete Ryan, suggested leaving a 12 foot stump behind that he would carve into a bald eagle with a salmon in its talons. Locals loved it and the idea caught on. There are now more than 20 carvings on display around Hope.

Yale
• Gold once made Yale the largest town west of Chicago and north of San Francisco. Times have changed and the town of 250 still retains much of the gold rush history.
• Yale is home to St. John the Divine Church, thought to be the oldest church in BC.

Alexandra Bridge
• In 1863, the bridge opened with the increasing traffic of prospectors.
• In 1884 most of the bridge was washed away, and not rebuilt as people thought that trains would do away with roads. By 1926 the need for the bridge became clear as cars grew in popularity, and the second Alexandra Bridge was built.

Hell’s Gate
• In 1808 Simon Fraser was the first European to see this canyon. He thought it resembled the “Gates of Hell”. He and his men had to climb on hands and knees and use bark ladders built by aboriginals to make their way through Hell’s Gate.
• At high water level over 200 million gallons of water, per minute, flow through the gorge – twice the volume of Niagara Falls.
• The International Pacific Fisheries Commission, formed by Canada and the US, built the Hell’s Gate fishways to assist the spawning salmon through the difficult sections of the Fraser River.

Lytton
• In 1808, when Simon Fraser was the first European to “tour” the Fraser, he was met by 1000 people who gathered near Lytton.

Spuzzum
• China Bar Tunnel is one of North America's longest vehicle tunnels. It lies between Spuzzum and Boston Bar, and measures 610 metres (2,031feet) long. The tunnel is named after a gold bearing sandbar in the Fraser River below. Here the hardworking Chinese gleaned a fortune by reworking a supposedly exhausted area after others moved on to newer creeks.
• There are 7 such tunnels along Hwy 1.

Coquihalla Gorge
• The tunnels were used as scenery for the films Rambo: First Blood and Shoot to Kill.
• The Othello - Quintette Tunnels, within the Coquitlam Canyon Recreation Area, are abandoned railway tunnels built from 1911-1916. It was an engineering feat to bring the railway through these mountains.

Chilliwack
• Steamboats laden with supplies would travel up the Fraser River and land at Chilliwack. Chilliwack was a critical supply centre for fortune hunters headed to Yale and, later, further north.
• Chilliwack means “people of the river”.
• Over 900 farms are scattered throughout the area.

Abbotsford
• The “City in the Country”, Abbotsford is the business and shopping center for the Fraser Valley.
• Agriculture here includes: berries, tulips, kiwi, llama, ostrich, and poultry and dairy farms.
• The Abbotsford International Airshow has been held here since 1962.

Greater Langley
• Fort Langley is a National Historic Site.
• Built in 1839, Fort Langley was originally a Hudson's Bay trading post.
• Langley was originally called “Innes Corners”, after 2 brothers who came from Ontario with the intent of freighting to the Cariboo goldfields.
• Lions, tigers and bears can be seen at the Greater Vancouver Zoo.
• Wine tours are available at a number of vineyards in Fort Langley.

Read commentary on the Sea to Sky Country region if you are doing a Coast Mountain Circle Tour.