Bridge Lake PP , 108 Mile House, Kamloops and Kalamalka Lake Aug 26 2013

 A nice drive south from Williams Lake – lots of big farms with grazing cattle. Lac La Hache is indeed a very long lake, but it didn’t look its best under a grey sky. I pulled in at 108 Mile Ranch Heritage Site for a break and I am glad I did because it is certainly worth a visit. The original 108 Mile Hotel was built in the 1860's and torn down in 1892; it was a rest stop on the Cariboo Wagon Trail for prospectors and other travelers. 

According to the 100 Mile & District Historical Society, it was unfortunately the scene of dozens of murders, over a ten year span starting in 1875 of men, and young women - all carried out by the family who owned the hotel. Agnus MacVee, a Scotswoman, her husband, Jim and son-in-law Al Riley. In the end Agnus murdered Jim, and she and Al were arrested by the Northwest Mounted Police. Agnus escaped the hangman's noose by taking poison, but Al, even though he confessed everything in hopes for a lighter sentence was hanged.  It is rumoured that there is a lot of gold missing from the prospectors who were killed,and that it is buried in the ground around the original hotel site. 

There are some neat old farm buildings to see, one of which is the largest standing Clydesdale barn, but unfortunately it was closed due to vandalism. After a good tour I found a nice walking path that goes all around 108 Mile Lake, according to a retired school teacher I met, who was picking Saskatoon berries. We had a great chat and the berries were delicious!

It all looks like its waiting for the owners to come home

108 Mile Lake

On the road again - through 100 Mile House and I saw nothing to stop for except gas so I turned east on Horse Lake Road. It’s a nice quiet drive along the lake and through to Bridge Lake PP. The only problem with it, like a lot of roads, is there is so much growth along the side of the road you can’t see much of the lake. There were lots of “for sale” signs, and lots of lakes.  No one in the park except me and there was only one camping spot by the lake, so I was happy to snag it. It’s a very small park, but nice to be on the lake, and there’s a good little trail up the hillside.  

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The reason I had come this way was to see  Lac des Roches, because it is so beautiful that it is one of the most photographed lakes in the country, but because of the grey sky and drizzle, it didn’t show at its best. When I got up this morning I was considering going to Wells Gray PP but the weather changed my mind – I will leave that beautiful park for another trip. So with that decision made, I headed south to Little Fort instead of north to Clearwater.

It wasn’t many more miles before I came to an 8 km hill with a posted 8% grade. When I passed the first emergency runaway lane that headed straight up the hillside, I thought about the poor buggers that would have to make the decision to head for that with lost brakes. And just as that thought was going through, my brakes started to shudder. Holy shit I thought, what do I do now? So I put on my flashing hazard lights and slowed right down.

The brakes got worse so I pulled to the side of the road and thought – no mechanic within miles of me. How long would it take to get a tow truck out here? I made the decision to keep going and luckily enough made it down with clenched teeth and white knuckles to Little Fort where I called GMC in Kamloops and they said to head right in. I asked a guy what the road ahead was like to Kamloops, and he said no problem, it follows the North Thompson River and is mostly flat, no big hills.  And he was absolutely right, I had no problems, and to top it off, the river was flat calm, and it was a beautiful silty green.

There was a big area around Barriere that had been through a forest fire, both sides of the hills. I don’ t know how the buildings in that valley survived.

                                The modern way to transport hay

Through Louis Creek, McLure, Black Pines, and finally I made it into Kamloops. $700 for new rotors and brake pads, and by 4:30 I was feeling tired, but happy to be on my way again, heading to Vernon. I had a dream since I was a kid, to stop and swim in Kalamalka Lake, and I was on my way.

Kalamalka Lake

Grande Prairie (Alta) to Barkerville BC August 19 2013

Grande Prairie to Barkerville

I headed west on Highway 43, passing through the little towns of Hythe, and Pouce Coupe, and then stopped in Dawson Creek at the Tourist Info site which has a nice big parking lot and lots of information. It’s Mile “0” for the Alaska Highway and I was tempted to head north to Alaska but I checked the weather, and the gas prices of the towns in that direction (up to $1.79 per litre) and I decided to give it a miss this time. Gas has risen from $1.19 per litre in Alberta to $1.42 in this area – it always hurts to fill up the tank.

I went through Chetwynd where I had planned to take the turnoff North 24 km to stay at a provincial park but changed my mind due to the grey sky and after looking at the map, set my GPS for Pine Le Moray Provincial Park (PP). When the GPS said I had arrived, there was no park entrance by that name that I could see, so I kept driving. I pulled into Tudya Lake PP thinking I could stay there but the rain was pounding down and it looked very lonely, there was only one very old motor home parked there. I also saw a black bear feeding on berries right in the camp so I decided to leave.

Whiskers Point PP – August 19

Even though I was really tired, the map indicated that it was only 20km further to Whiskers Point PP which is on McLeod Lake and has 67 sites. That turned out to be a good decision because it is one of the nicest campgrounds I have stayed at. A lovely lake, large private camp sites, super clean, and I found a double site, #57-58, with steps down to the beach, all for $16.00 per night. No power or water, but they have flush toilets. I enjoyed the nature trail that wanders up the hillside and found it to be really nice and quiet.

Mcleod Lake

Ten Mile Lake – August 20

Down Highway #97 with a stop in Prince George for gas and a visit to their very nice information centre – a beautiful building. Then back on the road and through the towns of Red Rock, Stoner, Hixan, Strathnaver, and then into Ten Mile Lake PP. They charge $5.00 to dump tanks there and the campground fee is $21.00 per night – no services. I got lucky again and got a site facing the lake in the lower camping area, #9. They have a nice dog beach here which is great. There are also huge parking lots so it must be a pretty busy place in the summer. It would be nice to have  a boat here.

Barkerville – August 21

A late start with Barkerville as my destination.  Barkerville, established in 1862 when Billy Barker discovered gold, was a ghost town at one point, but it’s been restored as a living museum and is a national historic site. First stop though was Quesnel, and as I drove past the box stores at the top of the hill and down into the town, I saw a couple of big mills belching out steam – a destination for all of the logging trucks that I had passed on the road.

Once downtown I stopped at the always important info centre and then the Reid St. Bakery for a delicious latte and carrot cake. I turned onto 26E to Barkerville – it’s quite the road, very little traffic while I was on it, and lots of steep up and downs without curves, just straight up and down.

I got into Barkerville early enough to see 3 shows. The “Cornish Wheel/Goldfields Discourse” was really funny. It was a “scheme” put on by the mine’s owner, (slimy) and the “chief engineer” (too much booze) to lure the audience into making an investment in their mine. In between the funny parts, we learned about the geology of the area and how gold was created. Hugely entertaining!

Next I saw Ben Zhou play various traditional Chinese musical instruments, which were lovely, some of them thousands of years old. The final show was “Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie – the Hanging Judge” reminiscing about early justice, and giving an example of his legendary admonitions to the jury.

At the schoolhouse I learned to paint Chinese symbols with a brush

Horse and buggy rides

Main street, Barkerville

All these heavy machine parts - so hard to get here, and now just junk

The grounds closed down soon after that, and I headed out to the closest campground to find a site but I didn’t like them, they were too small and perched on the hillside. The next one, Lowhee CG, was very nice and there was tons of space so I found a site facing the evening sun and it even had a little pond behind it with a duck floating on it. The road from Barkerville runs right along the cg and it was noisy for a while but it soon quieted down. I was thinking as I sat outside that night eating fresh corn on the cob  how good it feels to be outside, hearing birds, feeling the fresh air on my cheeks, and seeing the sun set over different hills – lovely!

Bowron Lake to Wells and Willams Lake August 25 2013

Bowron Lake – to Wells and Williams Lake August 25^th   (217 km)

It rained hard all night at Bowron Lake so I packed up and headed out, very thankful that I wasn’t portaging canoes. I drove for 24 super muddy km on the Bowron Lake Park Road before I stopped to take photos in Wells which was established in 1930 as a gold mining town.

The road from Bowron to Wells was not very pretty, not a lot to see and lots of dying trees

The coffee shop I found in Wells downtown was tiny, and there were 4 white haired ladies having a great old chat, and no one paid the slightest attention to my arrival.  I wasn’t sure how to order a coffee, so I sat and listened until there was a momentary pause in who was doing what to whom, and I asked if there was coffee. Sure they said, and all four turned to stare at me. Did I look like a drowned rat? I had to eventually ask, “How do I go about getting a coffee?” “Oh,” one of them said, “I’ll get it for you.” 

They didn’t invite me to join in the conversation at their little round table, so I sat at the remaining table, and was joined by an older fellow who jumpstarted the conversation –asking me where I was from. He responded that he too had lived on Vancouver Island, and although he liked Wells, well enough, he missed the long summers on the island. Then he launched into a detailed account of what was not the same anymore, and needed fixing. I snagged a muffin off the counter during this discourse,and the label on the package said they were from Costco; that’s a pretty efficient way to save dishes and soap. When I was ready to leave, my new friend told me that he had enjoyed our talk so much I didn’t have to pay anything, and that it was his wife that ran the shop. When I asked her how much I owed, she told me it was $3.70.


Where's the Easter Bunny?

I think I could get a good deal on this one.

I like the truck!

After Wells, I was back on the long windy, hilly, 80 km Barkerville Highway back to Quesnel.    I turned South onto the Cariboo Highway, 97S, for the 117km trip to Williams Lake. The road curved along the Fraser River, and there were lots of cattle and hay ranches in the valley. I saw the turn off to the east for Likely and Horsefly, where it all began with the discovery of gold in 1859.

Heading south along the Fraser River

Interesting People
I pulled over at a rest stop to take some photos and while there, talked to a woman who was weed eating around the garbage can. She told me that she is 68 and covers a work territory of 450km so she does a lot of driving on the highway. In winter she drives a snow plow. Before this she drove cement trucks for 18 years and said there wasn’t a lot of ethics in that business but sometimes a woman has to take any kind of job just to survive and pay the bills. She owns a ranch, has four dogs, two cats, and two guns. She has had to shoot bears and really watches out for cougars. Sometimes she said they will hunt in pairs, one going up a tree to attract a dog, and then the other one will come up and grab the dog from behind. Retirement soon? Nah, a few more years left yet.

I reached Williams Lake around 3, and one of the first things to do was to find a big enough car wash to fit my trailer and truck because they were so caked with mud from the lake road. Also, I didn’t know where to camp. I found out at the golden arches that the Williams Lake Stampede Grounds had a campground (Really I don’t go there for the burgers!) 

Once I was set up I saw horses arriving in trailers so I wandered over there and watched several women warming up their horses, some of them smoking while trotting around. I thought that was pretty casual, both my hands would have been wrapped around the reins and ready to grab the pommel. Apparently they are the riders who start the stampede, and they were having a practice session with their coach. Loud sexy western music was broadcast over the arena, and the riders whooshed up the dust as they circled and did their turns. It looked like a lot of fun, and it was pretty amazing to see these brave ladies so at ease on these powerful horses.

I found a good place for dinner – fantastic pizza from the Red Tomato.  Nothing like pizza to follow up on a burger!

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.

1st Portage - mostly all uphill

A tasty thimbleberry

Amazing... a family with young kids heading out to do the circuit

Colourful cabins at a lakeside resort

So pretty but edible?

Bowron Lake after the storm

Bowron River