Day 8........Quesnel to Smithers

Another travelling day of six hours straight. Woke up in dense fog, had breakfast, bought some birch syrup at the local home industry shop and cruise controlled through Stoner, Prince George, Vanderhoof, Burns Lake, Houston and then to Smithers. 

The landscape is just trees and lakes forever. Here and there are very neat farms with hay rolled for the Winter. We wondered as we went along what people do in these remote places and came to the conclusion not very much. It's very important to shop with a detailed list because if you forget the toilet paper or the coffee life will get pretty rough. What is interesting is to see the cycle of nature replacing the pine trees with deciduous forest ........birch and poplar move in pretty fast as the pine beetle kills off the pines relentlessly. This forest death is the boreal forest's equivalent of the Amazon Rainforest destruction, it's like having lung cancer for the planet.

The pine beetle has infested these older forests for a number of reasons. They usually only attack trees older than 80 years weeding them out for young growth but a combination of fire fighting and dryer and warmer years for the last decade has lead to the normal Winter die off of the larva to jump from 90% to only 10%.This coupled with the fact that most of the trees are over 90 years old has lead to this devastation.

So here we are in Smithers. The Bulkley Valley in which Smithers is located was first inhabited by the Wet'suwet'en, an indigenou Carrier people whose native tongue is of the Athabaskan language family. This group are very different to the Coast Salish natives and are from Parie origin.

Smithers was founded in 1913 as the headquarters of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Today it's population is about 5500 who like to be known as Smithereens. These folk are very eco minded and extremely friendly and helpful. The town has an old core of quaint Western style buildings and an overlying Alpine feeling. Swiss Apenhorns feature on statues around town. Right above town is a ski mountain and I could imagine the ski vibe here in Winter.

So at this stage Mum is outdoing me since I am now on a course of antibiotics and my cold has just broken allowing me to cough up my lungs freely instead of just feel them dissolving in my chest. This had better clear because tomorrow we are off to Stewart to see the bears and glaciers. If the accomodation is good I think we will stay for three days and have a holiday before setting off again. 

Day 7.........Nimpo Lake to Quesnel

All I can say is that sometimes the Gods of Olympus are not with you and our planned flight over the Rainbow Range, the Tatla Falls and the Anhim Glacier Fields was saboutaged by the inclement weather.....nuff said that I am very seriously pissed about this but as they say...swa ha! 

Ok.................so these long drives need to be done.

Early morning wake up and hoofing it along through the Chilcotin to Williams Lake.

This drive is quite beautiful if you want it to be and don't have a longing for the wet valley of the Bella Coola. The first part of the drive is through flatish open range country with horses and cattle hanging round the road. The forests are devastaed

by the pine beetle and the recent fires. At Alexis Creek there is a canyon where a big fire raged recently and just after that we came across a roadside cemetry overlooking a pretty lake. My mind has been dwelling on death and the effect of walking through the tinder gravesites got me thinking and contemplating the infinity of complex energy....maybe life?

We came across real cowboys herding their cattle

looking very dapper with their handsome horses

and very bright dogs.

Then we drove through to Williams Lake via the very steep hill down into the Fraser River Valley and across a high bridge where obviously Mum was freaking out again. Luck would have it that good planning made us miss out on staying at Williams Lake and hoof it further to Quesnel.

Travelling up the Fraser River Valley we saw references to paddle steamers and I realised that in the 1920's during the gold rush at Barkersville there must have been a very active world of commerce and exploration up here. We got to Quesnel and lo and behold there was a hotel that resembled a paddle steamer with a casino inside. This was a sign from above and it was sent to Mum so we booked in and here we are at Billy Barker Casino Hotel where once again Mum had sole for supper and gambled till she won $30 .........now it's time to go to bed and wake up early and rush as far North as possible.....probably Smithers if we're lucky. At this stage it would seem we may even get up to Telegraph Creek as I first planned.............but that's for another post.

Day 6......Nimpo lake and the Montarko Canyon

Nimpo Lake has turned out to be just the place we needed for a bit of R&R. We both slept in and after breakfast Mum's pulse started to get irregular and she needed to sleep and rest for the day. My head cold got steadly worse as the day progressed.

Yesterday when we were at the "have everything store" the lady asked me if we had anything to do and gave me a map of how to get to their own "mini" grand canyon......she said with an odd smile.

So while Mum slept I drove back to Anhim and followed the map. The road went off into the forest and after about 15 minutes I realised that if anything were to happen out here that no one would find me for days.There was no human habitation or sign of human around. I passed a herd of wild horses running through the forest and watched as they settled down to graze and let the baby sleep. Then on to the canyon. The map said go to the 19km marker and of course there was none so I drove back and measured out the distance from the 17th marker. A small "road" led off to the left and became progressively worse until it ended at a gate (for what reason a gate I have no idea). By this stage I had the creepy willies and looked around only to see through the trees a rocky canyon. Since there was no one anywhere to help I got out my trusty bear spray and camera stuff and walked through the trees to the canyon rim. The silence was total and I could hear the blood rushing through my ears. The smell was sweet with dusty Pine and Juniper..which grows all over the ground. This canyon must have formed as the ice sheets melted across the Canadian Shield after the last ice age since the river that runs through it now wouldn't have a hope of creating it in a million years (I suppose). There were no birds or sounds of any life until a little striped squirrel scurried past me. There was a waterfall on the left that must be pretty big in the Spring runoff. I sat at the canyon for about an hour feeling the aloneness of the Chilcotin wilderness hoping that at least a cougar would come by. 

The trip back was less eerie since by now I was a seasoned outdoorsman and unafraid of the wilds. I decided to stop back in at Anhim to fill up at Grandma's petrol station where I got to chatting to the girl about the weather and her very cute Blueheeler cross Border Collie that was very bright and already herding yearlings ......she hoped he would help her round the ranch when he got bigger. These people live such a different life from most other folks.

This place gives you the sense of the hugeness that is Canada/ British Columbia. Trees, lakes and mountains just go on forever with a tiny smattering of people only here and there hugging the road.

I got back to Nimpo and Mum had recovered so we made a fire and chatted about things that are going on in my life right now. As the afternoon went on the light outside got warmer reflecting off the clouds onto the lake and it was time to take the quintessential Canadian wilderness pictures of lakes and trees and small boats.

We made a nice pasta with garlic and olive oil and a salad and went to bed early.

      

Day 5.....Bella Coola to Nimpo Lake

Today the weather was with us. The prediction was for rain and mixed snow and rain up in the Chilcotin. We woke up to sun and clouds making everything look very pretty. After a Popeye Bennie at the Inn we started off up the Bella Coola Valley and made the bottom of the Freedom Road at about midday.

....."The "HILL" (380km) through Heckman's Pass in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park is known for its 18% grade into the Bella Coola Valley. Provincial authorities did not believe that a road should be built over the Coast Mountains. The locals then decided to build one themselves. With only two bulldozers, working from opposite ends, supplies bought on credit and a work force that often had only the promise of being paid, they finally ended Bella Coola’s isolation in 1953 by completing the "Freedom Road" up out of the Bella Coola Valley to the plateau. Heckman’s Pass, the highest point on Highway 20 (elevation 1524 meters or 5000 feet) is the beginning of the 30km / 20mi. descent on a narrow and winding gravel hill to the Bella Coola Valley. The hill consists of a 9km / 6mi. stretch of switchbacks with a grade up to 18%."

The dirt road certainly had some breathtaking moments and I was very happy no big trucks came down since most of the way there was barely enough space for us to feel secure. Needless to say Mum was freaking out thinking she was going to have a heart attack or faint or something.

Rising from the lush valley floor up the mountainside the vegetation changes to very dry pine forest and as we got to the Heckman Summit at 1524mts the full devastation of the pine beetle infestation was quite midblowing. This beetle has over the last ten years destroyed almost 65% of this Province's forests. A huge fire had just weeks ago taken out a large swath of the trees on either side of the road so at times it was like driving through a martian landscape.

After Heckman Summit the road flattened out to a rolling, bog-lake type of smaller tree look. From here it was dirt road until we got to Anhim Lake. Our next stop was Nimpo Lake where we have a log cabin for two nights. This is a very pretty spot that is right on the water with Loons and Beavers under the deck. The rain set in and we went back to Anhim to get food supplies since this all self catering and there are no restaurants open anywhere round here till the Spring .....they (well it) closed today for the Winter. The store has the motto on the front that says "If we don't have it you don't need it." I really needed a vegeburger and they didn't have any so there!

Of course I was looking for some "Hill" momento and at the back of the store found a "I survived the Hill" tee shirt for Mum to brag about when she gets home.

Tomorrow we will try and get a flight over the Hunlen falls, Rainbow Range and the glacial icefields of Tweedsmuir so here's hoping the weather clears up and that my sore throat does the same. 

......some time for R&R from the go go of the road.   

Day 4....Bella Coola and the Tweedsmuir Atnarko River Bears

Bella Coola is a town of about 900 people located at the head of the North Bentinck Arm about 100kms from the outer Pacific in the Bella Coola Valley that extends to the East to the start of the Tweedsmuir Park. It was in this valley that Alexander Mackenzie encountered the Kwakiutl Indians a linguistically isolated group of Salishian Indians in 1793 when he was trying to make contact with fur traders on the Pacific Coast. Today this group make up about 60% of the town. The town is very quiet with very basic amenities.

We started off by checking out the flood plain and then travelled up the valley through Hagensberg to the Tweedsmuir Park. Hagensberg was established by Norwegian settlers and the very pretty and well tended farmsteads make you think you are in a fjord in Norway.

On the way we saw hanging glaciers in the high mountains on either side of the valley. We entered the park about 45 minutes after leaving town and spent about 5 hours scouring the river banks for brown bears. A group of Canada Fisheries people were netting salmon, killing the females and extracting their eggs to be fertisiled with male sperm and then redeposited in streams for restocking. At 4pm a bear viewing site is opened by Parks Canada where you can view bears from the safety of a river bank protected by an electric enclosure and a warden with spray, a hooter and a gun. this where we saw three bears meandering up stream. It was very rewarding to see these so close and as they ambled off we thought that was it. We decided to go back home since it was getting late but on the way spotted a sow with two babies feasting on salmon..............luckily we were the only ones on the river bank and I got some great video of this.

That was very exciting and we got back to the hotel and grabbed a bite at the Bella Coola Inn (the only restaurant in town!!). 

Tomorrow it's off to Nimpo Lake up "The Hill."    

Day 3....Port Hardy to Bella Coola

This morning was an early one since we had to be at the BC Ferries terminal at Bear Cove two hours before time to catch the Queen of Cilliwack at 10.15am. The pic above is of the passage out of the bay where we are headed.

Bear Cove is the oldest known settlement on Vancouver Island, having been occupied for over 8000years. The Queen of Chilliwack is an older ferry that runs this route in the Summer for mainly tourists and links the northern tip of Vancouver Island with the Central British Columbia coast. The ferry trip is 13 hours, first crossing the Charlotte Strait and then passing into Smith Sound, up into Burke Channel and then up North Bentinick Arm to Bella Coola. The trip over was foggy at first and once we got into the sound opened up to higher clouds with drizzle. We saw Humpback whales breaching and Pacific White Sided dolphins dashing across our bow. The views of the steep sides of the channel are breathtaking and to realise that no one lives here for as far as the eye can see  makes one appreciate the pristine nature. On the left of Burke Channel is King Island a massive island that is totally uninhabited and local legend has it that it is the home of the Northwest Pacific Sasquatch.

We arrived late at about 11.45pm and made our way to the Cumbrian Hotel downtown ....a very clean and well run place, in fact the opposite of our previous accomodations.....and fell into bed.   

Day 2.....Campbell River to Port Hardy

Today the weather was great...starting at about 14C and rising to about 17C during the trip. We got onto the road at about 10am and ambled through to Port Hardy which we got to at about 2pm. Most of the way was through thickly treed rugged terrain with clear rivers and rocky canyons. Not much happens up here apart from logging and some recreational stuff. We stopped in at Port McNeill since they touted it as an Orca watching capital of the world. Maybe if you catch a boat out to the sea that is the case but otherwise it is a fairly depressing place with too many churches and not enough mirth.We did however marvel at the World's largest cedar burl before scurrying off to Port Hardy. The setting for this town is very lovely with inlets and small rugged hills that remind me of Mayne Island back home. The problem is that it must be hell to live here. There is quite obviously nothing to do but hang around the Thunderbird Mall and shop for chips and pop at the local Overwaitee Store or browse the Dollar Store for bargains. The main street could be quaint and vibey but it certainly ain't. All the hotels were full since today is a big ferry day where bus loads of people pour into town going to and coming from the Haida Gwaai, Prince Rupert and Bella Coola so we  had to scavenge and make do with a rather depressing 70's block (The Port Hardy Inn) with the expected furnishing for more money that we paid last night. This is the price you pay when the last town on the Northern tip of the Island has you by the short and curlies......and they know it.

Tomorrow we are off early to be two hours ahead of sailing for the Queen of Chilliwack to take us off to Bella Coola.........I can't wait since even though the place will be smaller it can only be more uplifting than here. I think this will have to be a pizza and lots of beer evening or maybe Mum and I can just become crack addicts instead.

That said and looking beyond the development and the general first impression this is a very pretty location that really deserves better.