Bull Canyon Caves, BC. Canada

Early morning on the 24th of September 2009 we decided we wanted to back track and go back and climb up to the caves at Bull Canyon Provincial Park (123 ha). The park is 9km west of Alexis Creek.

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We left the Chilcotin Lodge and drove for about an hour west on high way 20. The park itself was closed, otherwise we would have stayed there the night before. The caves are high up above the park and highway in what is called the Bull Canyon Mountain. It is a steep hike to get up there. A lot of loose rocks, gravel etc. make it pretty though in places. Caution must be taken.

Bull Canyon Mountain is part of a Volcanic Plateau called the Chilcotin Group. More on the Chilcotin Group at Wikipedia.

Climbing down from the caves is at times not that easy, but it makes for a challenging and fun hike.

These caves are considered sacred by the local First Nations People. This should be respected when visiting. Archaeological sites exist throughout the park and are protected under the Heritage Conservation Act. Please do not disturb these sites.

Bull Canyon is also the site of an historic battle between the Tsilhoqot'in and Secwepemc First Nations people.

If you are enjoying the countryside around Bull Canyon Provincial Park, please remember this is Bear Country. Try to avoid the rivers during heavy salmon spawning times (probably why the park is closed from the 15th of September till spring) unless you feel comfortable with bears around, and please take the usual precautions.... that means pepper spray on your hips and the bear bells ringing, and hoping that the bears are friendly that day. There are also the possibilities of encounters with wolves or cougars so please play it safe.  Here is a video of the caves.



After the hike we headed back to the Chilcotin Lodge and hooked the trailer up, and then we drove east to Williams Lake. There we stocked up on some supplies, food, fuel and a part for the 5th wheel trailer. After that, we headed south on Highway 97 then east on Highway 24 to Cariboo Bonanza Resort on Horse Lake


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More on Horse Lake and Cariboo Bonanza Resort in our next blog.

Cheers,

Liz and Anders

Junction Sheep Range in Chilcotin, BC. Canada

1st October 2009

23rd September 2009. We left Nimpo Lake and Vagabond RV Park. We stopped at the office and said by to Cora and Sid and picked up a latte. We headed east and pulled in to Puntzie Lake and stopped at Howdy's Resort and RV Park.


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It is on the south side of the lake and it is very pretty. When we were there it was very dry and windy. Hardly any rain all summer.

Next day the 24th of September, we started off east again and stopped and had lunch at Easter Restaurant in Alexis Creek, 

 

 

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great food and the desert was fantastic. Liz had buffalo burger with home made fries and I had also a buffalo burger and soup. The soup was enough for a whole meal. But since I pig out, I ate it all and had the lemon cake for desert. The owner is German, rest assured the food is wonderful and the dessert is to die for.

We had planned to stop in Bull Canyon Provincial park, but it was closed :(   It looked wonderful right on the Chilcotin River. Just above the park is some caves that the natives use to live in and we wanted to climb them, but it will have to wait till next time.

We ended up stopping for two nights at Chilcotin Lodge that is run by a Dutch lady and the lodge looks really nice but rustic. 


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The RV park is OK but you can only dump your gray water. The view is fantastic over the hills that Cilcotin is know for. We drove around the country a bit before "Happy Hour" and then BBQ some sausages with a bottle of 2007 Malbec from Casa La Joya in Chile. Great wine.

On the morning of the 25th we headed down south from Hwy 20 on Farwell Canyon Road to the Junction Sheep Range Provincial Park, 14-15 km drive. Here is some history about the Junction Sheep Range from the Chilcotin Coast Tourism:

"The Junction Sheep Range Provincial Park (JSRP) was originally designated as a Wildlife Management Area in 1975 to protect critical California Bighorn Sheep habitat. In 1995 the Junction Sheep Range was legislated as a Class A Provincial Park. This park is representative of a nationally significant grassland ecosystem. The grasslands of BC cover less then 2% of landmass, yet hold nearly 40% of BC's species at risk!

The "Junction" referred to in the Parks name is the joining of the Chilcotin and Fraser Rivers. In late Pliocene time (around 2 million years ago), an uplift of the erosion surface caused increased energy within the streams and rivers. The result of this was the plateau on which the JSRP now sits was formed as the Fraser River on the east and Chilcotin River on the west cut  down into the layers of hard lava, forming the steep-sided valleys they no flow through. Below these grasslands topsoil lies 90 metres of volcanic rock. These layers are visible where exposed in the ravines that cut across the plains. These same ravines provide travel corridors for the historic resident California bighorn sheep.

The Junction's California bighorn sheep make up the areas most significant wildlife species, and have probably inhabited the area after migrating north along the North American west cost as the ice of the glaciers melted, some 10,000 or more years ago!

This herd that roams the terraces and ravines of the JSRP were instrumental in replenishing all the other herds in North America. IN spring the bighorn ewes (females) travel in groups together, separate from the rams, and give birth to their lambs on the flats near the steep slopes of the rivers banks. Here the can escape from predators less sure footed. 

 

Fall is a time when the rams and ewes come together for breeding. The 'rut' is characterized by the bighorn sheep ram's fight fro dominance of the herd. These rams often bang heads up to 40 times a day at combined speeds of up to 80km per hour. Now listed on BC's Blue List (a species of concern due to sensitivities to human activities and /or natural events), the herd's survival depends on our success at preserving the grasses that sustain them.

Other species residing within the JSRP grasslands on BC's 'at risk' list are the: Sharp-tailed Grouse, Long-billed Curlew, Western Small-footed Myotis, Spotted bat, Townsend big-eared and Fringed Myotis bats, Flammulated owl, White throated Swift, and Rubber Boa (all blue listed) The Park is working to enhance and restore these grasslands as conservation of this area is a prime concern for the preservation of all these species.

Grasslands are very fragile and lasting damage occurs when they are driven on. If planning to visit the Park JSRP, realize the road in to the Park runs through privately owned ranch land. Drive only on designated land. Drive only on the designated roads, and realize this is a very rough, road suited to 4 wheel drives or hikers! There are many steep hills that become impassable in the rain. Check your vehicle's tires for possible weeds picked up from other areas. Noxious weeds are often spread this way and destroy grasslands! Respect the wildlife and cattle, view from a distance, as many are sensitive to loud noises and intrusion.

BC Parks on the the Internet: http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/bcparks

For a map and travel details on the JSRP, visit the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society's website at www.ccconserv.org, under Projects, JSRP click on 'Brochure'."

Now our opinion of this wonderful park. It is the most wonderful park we have ever visited. It is a rough ride in and you need a 4 wheel drive with lots of clearance. Do not go if it is wet, you will be stuck in the mud for a while.

The 10 km (give or take) drive in takes a good hour and the same out, but it is worth it.  Next time we do this trip (and we will) we will try to start the drive in around 8am, drive as far in as you can (just keep right all the way in) to the monument then put on the hiking boots and hike down to the bottom of the park where the Fraser and Chilcotin meets. I think that hike would take about 1-1.5 hrs down and 2-3 hours back up. Pack a lunch and lots of water. This will be one of the best hikes you have ever done, guaranteed. (Judy and Charlie, this will give Cliff Peak a run for the money. Inside joke)

We walked down for about 20 minutes or so and then back up.... once on top, sweating buckets, we had lunch, the most wonderful lunch, all we could hear was the sound of the wind. After lunch we shot another 100 pictures and then headed back. No signs of any sheep yet but as we came over a meadow and down in a bit of marsh Liz's spotted a small heard of about 8 sheep. It was fantastic to see them roaming. After another 100 pictures and several movie clips we started back again. Liz got her first training in 4x4 driving in the bush. She did fantastic, she is such a good driver.

 

We got back out on Farwell Canyon Road and continued south towards the Chilcotin River. The road make several switch backs but is well maintained and the river has carved out hoodoos over the past several 1000's of years, it is so beautiful. I you have seen the badlands in Alberta this has similarities but twice or three times as big and with rolling hills. The river is turquoise blue and full of Salmon this time of year. We watched the Natives scooping the salmon up out of the fast flowing river with a net..... incredible. We have it on video.




We crossed the river and drove for about a half hour and decided to turn around and go back. Coming back a large black bear crossed the road, but to fast for our cameras. We got back to the Chilcotin Lodge and RV Park at about 5 pm. The shower sure felt good, I think I had half a kg of sand in my hair. Liz cooked up a wonderful stir fry and we cracked a bottle of 2006 Chateau de Montfancon from Rodolph de Pins in Cotes du Rhone, France (Thanks Bill and Sarah). What a way to end the day :)

1949 Beaver - Hunlen Falls

Nimpo Lake, 22nd September 2009

1949 Beaver

Another beautiful day in paradise and not a cloud in the sky greeted us this morning and we decide to go flying. We go up to the office and order a latte and a one hour flight of Hunlen Falls and the Monarch Ice field.

We meet the pilot "Sid" at the dock 20 minutes later, a nice young man.

The plane we board was a 1949 Beaver, made in England. The motor is Canadian made 450 hp, 9 cylinder Pratt & Whitney and it is pretty loud as it takes of. Actually you have to have ear plugs on the whole time.

 

This old plane just fly like a dream, with just Liz, me and the pilot, only 70% throttle is needed to takes off the lake. The production of Beavers ceased in 1967. A total of 1,657 DHC-2 Beavers had been built at that time. The Beaver was designed for flight in rugged and remote areas of the world. Its short takeoff and landing capability made it ideal for areas normally only accessible by canoe or foot.

Take off is as smooth as can be and we are headed for Hunlen Fall located in the southern part of Tweedsmuir Park.

Hunlen Fall is the 3rd highest water fall in Canada, dropping more then 1000 feet from Turner Lake in to Lonesome Lake. The fall is only accessible by foot, 6.5 hr hike in Grizzly Country or by float plane, we thought float plane would be a good idea after seeing the Grizzly bear move yesterday.

Turner lake is also know from the "Turner Lake Paddling Rout" a canoe route encompassing Turner Lake, Cutthroat Lake, Vista Lake, Junker Lake and Wildgeon Lake. The view is just spectacular. See our video below

After circling the Hunlen fall a few times shooting 257 pictures :)

we check in with Liz, she gives us the thumbs up and we are flying to the Monarch Ice fields and Monarch Mountain at 3533 m or 11,000 feet give or take.

The Monarch Ice fields are outside Tweedsmuir park to the south west. I'm not sure how many thousands of hectares the ice fields cover but it totally blew us away, it is massive.

 

From there we can see further to the south east, another even larger Glacier, the Kunaklini Glacier that is about twice as large as the Monarch Ice fields. Further to the south east is the Franklin Glacier and to the south east of it is the Homatbko Ice fields.

In the Franklin Glacier is the highest mountain in BC (where the whole mountain is in BC) Mt. Waddington at 4016 meters or around 13,000 feet. As we turn back toward Nimpo Lake the wind comes up a bit and we get bounced around pretty good. Once we are out of the high mountains and back over the plateau it smooths out, we fly over Charlotte lake, a very large lake and then in for a smooth landing at Nimpo Lake. What a fantastic flight. Don't miss it if you are out this way or anyway close.

The rest of the day we hanged around the camp ground, cooked up the rainbow trout for lunch, poached in tinfoil on the BBQ, stuffed with onions, lemon, tarragon, salt and pepper.

Added some water and white wine for poaching. It was fantastic. We later hanged around and talked to all the other campers, had an ice cream, and watched the sunset.

Tomorrow, depending weather we might stay another day or head to ????? Have to check the weather and we'll let you know.

Hugs and Love,

Anders and Liz

The Freedom Road to Bella Cola

21st September 2009

We left Vagabond Campground, Nimpo Lake at 8:30 am to head out for Bella Coola.

We left the trailer behind and just went with the truck. Nimpo Lake is on a high plateau at 3500 feet above sea level. After Anahim Lake, 15 Km from Nimpo Lake the gravel road started. It was in pretty good condition with some construction.

We drove and stopped and took lots of pictures as we were going along. We had an easy and gradual climb in to Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, the second largest park in BC next to Muskwa-Kechika Special Management Area in northern BC. Tweedsmuir Park is 994,246 hectares and the larges CONTINUOUS tract of parkland in the province of BC. The park was established in 1938, and named for Baron Tweedsmuir of Elsfield, then Governor-General of Canada.

We arrived at the summit of Hickman Pass, 5000 feet above sea level. There we stoped for some more pictures and a drink of water before descending "The Hill". On one side of the road at the summit the forest fire had just finished it devastating rage. It's black....

"The Hill", not a road for speed demons, drops 4200 ft in about 19Km and it is gravel all the way with lots of switch backs.

 

 

This part of highway #20 is called the freedom highway and was completed in 1953, not by the government but by the locals themselves. Tired of waiting for the government to complete the highway they took matters in their own hands and got things done. This is fantastic accomplishment and there is a plaque marking the spot where the two bulldozers met - one from the east and one from the west to complete the last link. I guess the saying "Never underestimate what a small group of determined people can accomplish" is true. We have lots of pictures and videos to be posted as we have better Internet access, so check back.

When we got to the bottom of "The Hill" we stopped and walked around for a bit. Liz's knuckles now started to come back to normal colour. I have to say the exhaust break on the truck is very nice when it comes to hills like this, one does not have to use the truck breaks much, saving on the break pads.

We continued now on paved road west going through the Bella Coola Valley, absolutely fantastic, it is really beautiful. Not to be missed in my opinion. We passed through Hagensborg. Hagensborg is a non native settlement of Bella Coola which began here in 1894, when Norwegians, attracted by the familiar settings of the fjords, moved here from their first settlement in Minnesota.

Hagensborg, is a very quaint little town and everything is very well tended to. There are several RV parks and lots of B & B's

Onward to Bella Coola the end of highway 20. Bella Coola is a mostly native town that is situated in a fantastic spot at the end of the North Bentinck Arm which leads out to Burke Channel, to Hugh Sound to the open ocean.

We walked around the harbour, and there is ferry service in the summer with BC Ferries.

 

We had lunch at the local restaurant, walked through some shops and then started back to Nimpo lake.

Back in the Tweedsmuir Park we stopped by the Bella Coola River and watched the salmon run,


 
Pink, Coho and sockeye jumping and swimming in the water.

 

We were told that over by Tweedsmuir Lodge there has been bear sightings today...... were off to Tweedsmuir Lodge pepper spray in hand, and sure enough when we sneak down to the river, there swimming is a large male Grizzly bear forging on salmon while swimming around. We will have a video here soon showing it all. It was spectacular!!! Liz's camera battery just gave up.



After the adrenalin levels dropped a bit, we headed for "The Hill" again. It was a bit easier going up then coming down, however going up, you drive on the outside edge and I think Liz's knuckles were almost white. Shaky videos of the trip up will be arriving soon.



We made it back to Nipon lake and as we are having "happy hour" one of our neighbours come over with a wonderful Rainbow Trout..... Got to love it, Rainbow Trout for lunch tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will go flying if the weather is good.

Love and hugs,

Anders & Liz