Around the Next Bend: Bowron Lake Provincial Park Aug. 22-25

This 1,216,000 hectare wilderness park is located in BC's Cariboo Mountains, to get there you travel 90 km east of Quesnel, and then between the towns of Wells and Barkerville, you take a turn off that goes into the park, for a further 28 km on a lonely, but well maintained gravel road. The park is famous for its 116 km canoe or kayak circuit over six major lakes, and I thought about taking on the challenge but luckily only for a moment. Images flashed through my mind of 11 km of wet slogging root filled portages, the weight of the canoe, myriad bags filled with clothes for wet weather, for hot weather, for cold nights, a thick warm sleeping bag, four pillows – for the shoulders and knees - a different book for every night, and just in case of delay, one extra, my computer, camera, spare flashlights, food and water and cooking utensils for seven days, and where pray tell would I get fresh doughnuts? And ice cubes for the root beer? And the stove and fuel for my coffee with cream and sugar? Oh yes, and a tent that I could stand up in to change, and an inflatable mattress, and a pump. Good grief, how do they do it? But most importantly – why do they do it?

I asked two paddlers this very question, men slightly older than me, when they were having a break from carrying their canoe and all of their gear up from the lake. They had been through two days of rain, and then four days of sun, so a good end weather wise they said. No, they hadn’t seen any bears feeding on salmon, and no moose either. Yes, some of the portages had been a bit rough. Hmmmm.

After setting up my trailer – only two of the 25 sites in the campground were taken, I hiked the nice little one kilometer Osprey Nature Trail which goes through forest and down to the lake. Later I biked down the road and found a place to rent a kayak for $15.00 an hour. At first I felt tippy in the kayak, but with shallow strokes I soon got my balance, and enjoyed paddling along the Bowen River. Looking down I could see spawning salmon hanging around the bottom. Then I was swept up in the current near the mouth of the river. It was really moving fast and I paddled hard but could hardly make any headway. I was pushed sideways in the flow. I had to dig in and fight my way through it. Finally I was clear and after paddling for a while I relaxed and enjoyed the peace and beauty of the lake and surrounding hills.

I decided an hour was enough for the first day of paddling and headed back to shore. I had noticed dark thunderclouds moving in over the lake, and I was only home for a few minutes before I could hear thunder and then the rain came down. Shucks I thought, dinner was going to be served late tonight. So I sat and read my book using my head lamp. I don’t use the trailer lights to save the battery power. If I run out of power, then my fridge thaws out. I was doing fine until there was a blinding flash of light that filled the trailer and then a huge crack of thunder right above my head. I jerked up from my seat, dropping my book, and Baloo reacted with five minutes of loud barking. I agreed with him, it was pretty scary.

Just before dark, the rain finally let up, and I rushed outside to get on my bike and take my cell phone to the lodge so that I could send Happy Birthday wishes to my son Len. Even thought I had turned the phone off, it was dead, so I plugged it in to my inverter and sat for an anxious 15 minutes watching the woods get darker by the minute. With only a basic amount of charge I took off down the gravel road biking as fast as I could through the wet gravel and new puddles. I climbed the office stairs where I had heard a signal was available while watching my phone and once I got a signal I looked up to see a young woman sitting in the dusk four feet away from me. It was lucky that I didn’t sit down on her by mistake.

I was thankful that the birthday message went out, and then I hurried to my bike, made sure the lights were on, and then rushed back up the road, going at that speed where I didn’t think I would crash in the gravel, but as fast as possible because the forest on both sides of the road felt very close and looked so dark. Naturally when I got back to the campground I had to walk the dog. He started to get his hair all on edge after four campsites, so that was enough for me. I rushed him back to the trailer, and ensured the door was locked behind us. I was sure glad I wasn’t staying out in a tent.

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This morning it’s beginning to dry out a bit after last night’s storm and I hiked the first canoe portage, a 2 ½ km hike in from the registration area to Kibbee lake and discovered that it is almost all uphill. My camera felt heavy after the first kilometer,and my bear spray kept knocking against my hip. But it’s a pretty trail through the forest passing over a couple of small creeks and I enjoyed eating some thimble berries. I saw only one squirrel, nothing else.

At the lake I met a couple from Kelowna who were just getting ready to push off. The woman couldn’t lift her end of the canoe so her husband changed places and then he just dragged the full canoe into the water; after all it’s a rental! As they paddled off, they gradually disappeared into the tall golden grass, until only their heads were visible before they rounded the corner. I could hear him giving her lessons on how to paddle. I looked up at the heavy grey clouds – 6-10 days - this could be a really long trip for them…

You can just see their heads above the lake grass as they paddle away - center right

As I turned to go I met two young couples from Victoria, they were talking fast, and unpacking quickly, clearly very excited to be reaching the first lake. Further down the path I met two young men who were actually able to run along the path; a family with three young boys; and near the end, two lonely canoes, and four abandoned packsacks. I surmised that these people wanted to get going right away, but they had to sit through a Park safety orientation, so they took their gear part way up the path and then headed back.

I looked around and seeing no one, I leaned over and tried to pick up a pack to see how heavy it was. It didn’t move, not an inch. And here I had been busy lifting my eight pound weights only yesterday! As a result,I felt strong and virtuous today. I set my feet better and tried it again. Nada. I shook my head and walked home to my comfy trailer for a hot coffee and an energy bar. I better up my weight by a couple of pounds I thought – exercise weights that is.