Chilcotin Lodge and Farwell Canyon

 September 8, 2021

 

We left Bull Canyon for the last time and headed toward Williams Lake for a stop at the Chilko Lodge.  The Lodge was built in the 1940s as a hunting lodge and has been restored and offers both a restaurant and bar.  We parked our rigs in the yet to be updated RV section and enjoyed full amenity hookups.

 

The lodge is also a great jumping-off point for a trip to Farwell Canyon and its great views of the Chilcotin River and vistas of the water-carved limestone and sandstone hoodoos and rolling sand dunes.  Farwell is also the site of a former indigenous village and we were witness to the indigenous dip net fishery.

 

After an afternoon of exploring in Doug’s truck, we enjoyed Happy Hour in the retreating sunshine sitting on the lodge’s front lawn overlooking the rugged Chilcotin country.

 

The current owners, Kurt and Brenda Van Ember, were once residents of our hometown of Abbotsford and we enjoyed hearing how they gave up their hectic lower mainland rat race for their downshifted Chilcotin life.  Not that they are less busy catering to guests and constantly improving the lodge but just different in a more relaxing way.

 

After a few refreshments, Gordon brought out his bagpipes and entertained the guests and owners alike.  It was a grand way to bring the tour to an end.

 

The next morning we unhooked the rigs and made our way to Williams Lake for one last gas up before turning for home.

 

All in all, it was a great tour and I thank Deborah for agreeing to an RV road trip.  We can now check off the “Chilcotin” on our lists of travel destinations and hopefully, there will be another “RV” trip in our future.  I was encouraged when I heard my reluctant partner venture a guess as to “what we might pack and do a little different next time!”

Nemaiah Valley and Chilko

 September 6, 2021

 

After another leisurely breakfast and one more walk around our scenic Tatlayoko campground, we packed up and made the 35 km drive back to Highway 20.  We did make one stop at a ranch house to buy some homemade beef jerky from a kindly pioneer resident.  It proved to be some of the best jerkies any of us had experienced.

 

Once we reached the highway we continued to the east toward the Bull Canyon Provincial Park once again.  The scenery consisted of kilometers of rolling hills of bunch grass and meadows populated by beef cattle.  Cattle have roamed these hills since the start of ranching back in the 1850s.

 

We made a slight detour to explore Puntzi Lake just 8 km off the highway.  From the 1950s until the mid-1960s the government maintained an airbase and weather station here originally built by the US Air force as a part of the North American defensive system during the cold war with the USSR.  Puntzi is a high plateau lake and famous for its fishing of kokanee and rainbow trout.  While the fish and cabins surrounding the lake are still intact, forest fires have decimated the nearby forests.  We made a fairly quick turnaround, returned to the highway, and proceeded toward Riske Creek and our Bull Canyon camp.

 

After a night’s camping, with one eye open on the lookout due to a “bear in the area” warning, we all piled into Gordon’s truck for a day trip exploring the Nemaiah Valley and Chilko Lake.

 

We left the highway and turned south just before reaching Alexis Creek.  After passing through some cattle ranches we climbed the benchlands and entered the lands of the Xeni Gwet'in band of the Tsilhqot'in people.  There were signs that asked people not to enter due to COVID concerns but the control gate was unmanned and appeared to be open.

 

The Nemaiah Valley is known for being home to one of Canada’s few remaining wild horse populations.  The DNA of these horses has been traced back to those used by the original Spanish explorers and traders, likely brought to the area across the historical indigenous trade routes between the Chilcotin and the coast.  We kept our eyes peeled to the forests and horizons but didn’t see any of the estimated 800 horses still in the area.

 

We continued our 130 km gravel road discovery tour to Chilko Lake.  The Chilko is a long aquamarine lake stretching 65 km south from the head of the Chilko River.  The area encompasses Ts’ilʔos Provincial Park wilderness area.

 

Chilko was a “must-see” for me after watching the Discovery Channels, “Alone”.  Season 8 took place on Chilko.  The show centers around 10 individuals dropped at various isolated points around the lake and left there to survive with only a satellite phone to “tap out” when they could no longer survive in the wilderness.  Each participant could select 10 items to aid them in surviving and a camera to record their own activities.  The individual footage makes up the finished show.  When I watched the Chilko season the landscape captured my imagination and I had to see it for myself.  It didn’t disappoint.

 

We ended our day retracing our tracks and spent another night at Bull Canyon.

Tatlayoko Lake

September 4, 2021  

After another leisurely night on the shores of Anahim Lake and after our first RV Sanidump Experience (thankfully without any drama), we set out on an eastern, return drive on Highway 20.  Just after the tiny community of Tatla Lake, we turned south on Tatlayoko Late Road and after a 35 km drive, we arrived at the Tatlayoko Lake Recreational site.  This was to be our home for the next two nights.

 

The campsite is located at the north end of the aquamarine glacial lake and was the former site of a large sawmill.  There isn’t much evidence of the mill but a large, old conveyor belt has been repurposed as a walkway around the site.  There is a cairn located in the park commemorating the pioneers who came to the valley to carve out a living ranching and farming.  Reading the plaques takes you back to a remote and simpler time.

 

The valley itself is very scenic with the lush green land and lake protected by the craggy peaks of the mountains. 

 

We soon discovered why folks come to this out-of-the-way place.  Each morning we saw fishermen dotting the lake in their boats but by mid-morning, the boats were safely ashore and the windsurfers were out taking advantage of the howling winds that sweep from the high peaks and across the lake. We met windsurfers from Kamloops that have been coming to the Tatlayoko for many years and the consistent winds never disappoint.

 

While we didn’t bring out bicycles, there are trails that can be ridden on bikes or on horseback.  We were told there were outfitters in the valley that can take you to the top of the Potato Mountains to the east and from the top of the ridge a person can look at Tatlayoko on one side and the much larger Chilko Lake on the other.  Perhaps another time.

 

Our first night was a bit of a challenge as the locals had gathered in large numbers to celebrate the life of a pioneer that had passed.  The party was very loud and as one participant commented, “the music ends with the window passes out”.  Thankfully I had my earplugs with me.  Apparently, the window had a high tolerance for alcohol and a lot of stamina.

 

Our second day was one of leisure around the campsite and a drive on an old logging road to the southern end of the lake.  It really struck us how truly driven the local pioneers must have been to carve such a life from the wilderness.

Bull Canyon to Anahim Lake

September 2, 2021

Bull Canyon to Alexis Creek to Redston, to Tatla Lake to Kleena Klene, to Nimpo Lake to Anahim Lake, before setting up camp at the Escott RV resort just outside of Anahim Lake.

This was a driving/enjoying the scenery day.  Our three-vehicle RV parade left our campsite after a leisurely breakfast and cruised through open cattle country enjoying the vistas while watching (and avoiding) cattle grazing on or near the highway.  We had the road nearly to ourselves.  We were completely off the grid without satellite radio, cell service, or commercial radio.

The enjoyment was equal parts seeing green rolling rangelands complete with old homestead buildings, and the jagged peaks of the Coast & Chilcotin Mountain ranges in the distance to the west and southwest.  In addition, there was the simple joy and wonder for both of us as we entered an area we had never been before and knew little about.

The communities we passed through were very small and for the most part, populated by local indigenous people.  (We will add a separate entry dedicated to the indigenous story central to the history of this area).

The ranches and homesteads we passed have their histories tied to the pack-train trail/wagon road that was established from the Bella Coola Valley through Tsilhqot'in indigenous territory, to the developing gold centers to the eastern Cariboo area.  Shortly after, settlers began to establish farms and ranches west of the Fraser River. 

My personal connection to the area started as a young man reading books about Ralph and Ethel Edwards of Lonesome Lake (located southeast of Bella Coola, nestled in the Atnarko River and Kliniklini Valleys, and flanked by B.C.’s highest peak, on Mt Waddington).  

The Edwards left the Lower mainland in 1912 to homestead at Lonesome Lake long before the area became part of Tweedsmuir Provincial Park.  Ralph Edwards left civilization and vanished into a remote section of British Columbia.  He had to make his own tools and learn the hard way, by trial and error to survive in the hostile environment with deep snow, bitter cold, and wild animals. Along with the stories of existing alone in the wilderness, the Edwards story was central to the saving of the trumpeter Swans from extinction in B.C. back in the 1920, 30’s and 40s.

Most British Columbians have not traveled the Chilcotin.  Unlike the Cariboo, the Chilcotin was never invaded by swarms of gold-crazed prospectors, so developed much differently. It’s a world of few roads, little industry, and pockets of people, the majority being First Nation. It had an impressive diversity of wildlife, including Canada’s largest population of bighorn sheep, rare white pelicans, trumpeter swans, bears, lynx, wolves, mountain caribou, and hundreds of wild horses. Unfortunately, the wildfires of 2017, 2019, and 2021 have devastated much of the land and locals told us most of the wildlife has been driven further north to escape the destruction.  They also said there were some signs that the wildlife will/has returned.

Indigenous People Of The Chilcotin

September 1, 2021

When traveling the Chilcotin it is very evident you are guests on predominantly

indigenous land.  This entry will try to give a little context to the lives of indigenous

people in this part of the world.

Most of the following information was taken from the Canadian Encyclopedia website: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chilcotintsilhqotin.

The Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin) live between the Fraser River and the Coast Mountains in west-central British Columbia. In the 2016 census, 2,805 people of the Indigenous population reported Tsilhqot’in ancestry.  Traditionally Dene (Athabascan) speaking, their name means "people of the red river" and also refers to the Chilcotin Plateau region. 

Through most of the 19th century, the Tsilhqot’in were organized into autonomous bands. However, through much of the year, families moved about independently hunting, fishing, and gathering roots and berries. There were leaders, some of whom were forceful, but the society was basically egalitarian and individuals and their families valued their autonomy. In late summer, most families gathered along the rivers to fish the salmon runs. In mid-winter, they moved to sheltered locations, usually near lakes suitable for ice fishing, where they lived in shed-roofed homes or pit houses. 

 

The Tsilhqot'in traditional culture is similar to that of other Northern Dene peoples. Drumming, storytelling, and community celebrations feature prominently in Tsilhqot’in cultural life.  Protection of the environment and of nature is also important to Tsilhqot’in culture.

   

In 1864 the Tsilhqot’in resisted the European intrusion into the area via the pack-train trail established from the Bella Coola Valley through Tsilhqot'in territory to the developing gold mine centres to the east. A small group of Tsilhqot'in killed several European workers on this road in what is known as the Chilcotin War of 1864. Six Tsilhqot'in were eventually tried and executed for these killings. On 26 March 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau exonerated the Tsilhqot'in chiefs of any wrongdoing, and on 2 November 2018, Trudeau formally apologized.

The Tsilhqot’in National Government is a tribal council established in 1989 that represents the six-member First Nations of the Chilcotin Plateau. In 2014, the Tsilhqot’in people won a Supreme Court of Canada case that focused on the issue of Aboriginal title. The Court agreed that the land had been both continually occupied and defended for the exclusive use of the Tsilhqot’in.  The ruling gives the Tsilhqot’in exclusive right to use and enjoy the land, as well as any benefits and profits derived therefrom. Any economic development on the land will require the consent of the Tsilhqot’in Nation.

As you explore the area you cannot help but notice the impressive new tribal offices, schools, and businesses.

  

Anahim to Bella Coola

September 3, 2021

We enjoyed a quick tour of Anahim Lake.  It doesn’t take long.  It is not a large place but as one resident told me, there are two flights a week to Vancouver so you’re not completely in the wild in Anahim.  He also reminded me that the name is pronounced “An-a-him”.  “You’re not in Disneyland’s An-a-heim!”  The town is also home to Canada’s Winter Olympic gold medal-winning hockey goalie Carey Price.  He is revered and has been known to compete at the local rodeo in the off-season.  His family still keeps a home in the area.

After a quiet night on the shores of Anahim Lake at the Escott RV Resort, we took the trip to Bella Coola.  The drive to Bella Coola on Highway 20 is one of BC's most treacherous and scenic roads.  It is 135 kilometers of all-season gravel.  Tourists are not advised to take their recreational vehicles due to steep inclines.  While we did see others hauling trailers, we decided the most prudent action was to leave the RVs behind and ride together in Doug’s truck.

The road includes 11km of switchbacks on the way to Heckman Pass, at 1.524m above sea level. The road descends 43 km of steep, narrow road with sharp hairpin turns and two major switchbacks to the Bella Coola Valley. The descent includes a 9 km section with grades of up to 18%. It was reported to us that tourists who have driven to Bella Coola from Williams Lake have been known to refuse to drive back and have had to be taken out by boat or floatplane.

Until 1953, the road from Williams Lake ended at Anahim Lake, 135 km short of Bella Coola because the provincial government refused to extend it – claiming the mountainous terrain was too difficult. Local volunteers working from opposite ends with two bulldozers and supplies purchased on credit finished the job. The rustic road was not really considered a highway when first completed, but it was enough to convince the government to take over maintenance and improvements in 1955.  We were told to look for the marker where the two dozers met but I think we missed it.

Our drive proved to be spectacular in terms of scenery but thankfully devoid of any on-road dramas.

We descended the pass into the lush green coastal vegetation of the Bella Coola Valley.  The valley has many older homes and farms first established by Norwegian immigrants from Minnesota, USA.  Bella Coola is situated on the ocean but far inland at the head of the North Bentinck Channel.  The ocean water is quite green with a glacial water hint.  It is regularly served by BC Ferries from Port Hardy.  

The town itself is quite small but has a large, well-stocked general store and a few small restaurants.  We enjoyed our lunch and poked around the harbour and the “run of the river” power plant.  Unfortunately, the local museum was closed due to COVID concerns.

Other than Doug’s white truck changing colour to a brown, mud textured finish, we had an equally non-dramatic ride home and got to enjoy most of the same scenery but from a different perspective.

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