When you come driving into Kamloops, the first thing you notice is that it's extremely hilly. The main highway seems to be one huge ass hill that you climb up for miles & miles. The highway then separates into Hwy 5 (Coq) and the Trans Canada (Hwy 1). Hwy 5 is a better choice as it is 4 lanes right through to Hope. At one time it was a toll road, but once it was paid for, the government of BC nixed the tolls (cool if you ask me).
As you head out past Kamloops, it seems like you are either going up a very large hill or down a very large hill. It's not mountainous per se, but this rolling type of land. I have no idea of the elevation, but I got the feeling I was on top of a very high plateau. Many times through this area I experienced some pretty kick ass winds & some snow. Luckily the highway is rather wide & rarely if ever busy
Some 60ish km's past Kamloops, you start going downhill into the Nicola Valley. I took a photo of the sign and yes..it's all downhill for 19kms. It's pretty cool to roll down the hill & the view is quite spectacular. Like the area just east of Kamloops, this area looks to be deforested. It's mostly grass with some trees & looks to be heavily farmed.
At the bottom of the hill is Merritt, BC, a small town built around logging. Merritt is just a few thousand people but the last stop before you press through the next ridge of mountains. There are two off ramps to Merritt and take the FIRST one. The second one sends you on a short country drive winding your way into downtown. Merritt is a good place to fuel up, eat or grab a hotel as the next part of the trip is the Coquihalla.
Merritt is apparently used as a place for filming movies & TV shows. I can't explain why, but I always felt "on edge" when I was there. I have no reason to feel that way & experienced nothing bad there, but I just felt on edge. Don't let that stop you from stopping.
Once you leave Merritt, you start climbing up a hill into the Cascade Mountains into an area known the the Coquihalla. (coke key halla). The highway & region are known by locals as the "Coke" or "Coq".
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