Wilderness Adventures in Nimpo Lake and Anahim Lake for the first week of April 2005

This is about a remote area in west central British Columbia, Canada called the West Chilcotin. Surrounded by numerous glacial mountain ranges, alpine lakes teeming with wild Rainbow Trout, and full of wildlife. Living here goes from no running water or electricity to spacious log homes with all the conveniences and without the smog!

4/7/05 11:33 AM

High Speed Coming To Our Community?

We've long suffered through long games of computer solitaire waiting for our slow dialup to hook up to the Internet. Now, according to Global News, Telus has just made a deal with the BC Government for 245 million to supply all government offices, etc. with highspeed lines. In exchange, as part of the deal, Telus must provide hi-speed Internet access to every community in BC to the 'end of the road' by December 2006. I presume that means every home must have access to hi-speed, not just every community, but will be watching the news to see what more they have to say. Oh, how lovely it would be to join the rest of North America without having to wait, and wait, and wait for each web site to load up, and wait some more for the next page.

4/6/05 10:18 PM

Selling the Site

Resortsbc.com site is built, now just have to sell it. Actually, it's selling itself. The site has shown up remarkably fast in the search engines, and has placed very well for its keywords in Yahoo. I'm really pleased with the site as a whole, and so too are many of the community members I think. The area really hasn't had much representation on the 'Net other than from individuals promoting their own accommodation and fishing sites. But there hasn't been a site promoting the overall region, all the activities and amenties available from parks to grocery stores, and the highly diverse wildlife and nature here. I'm hoping that this site will be a good resource for both locals and visitors, for news, weather, local information, and a mini-catalogue of local color for the tourists. Anyway, the site received an excellent reception today and every business owner that I approached wanted to advertise not just in the listing for their particular offering, but both side and header banner. Let's hope it goes as well tomorrow!

4/5/05 4:40 PM

The Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association will have their conference in Anahim Lake

This is a real feather in our cap to finally have the Association have their AGM here and an opportunity to show some real West Chilcotin hospitality. It also gives us an opportunity to showcase our area since the Association is talking about more cooperative marketing between the members of the CCCTA. It looks like there are lots of great lectures on the agenda and I look forward to attending some of the informational meetings. It will also give me a chance to market my abilities as a graphic designer and web designer, especially since I specialize in resorts and lodges, more by accident than by intention. The conference starts on April 14 through April 16 ending with a Bar-B-Que at Escott Bay Resort on Saturday night, mmmm....good. I am particularily interested in Friday night when native drumming and story telling will be held at the Ukatcho Community Hall. Maybe I can get you all some pictures!

4/4/05 10:47 AM

Sunshine Lollipops!

Amazing how you want to sing that tune when the sun finally shines. Or at least I want to. We've had typical April weather so far....as typical as you can get in this country anyway. Blustery, fast moving systems and a pretty cold wind. The same is supposed to happen tomorrow, but for today? Nice, nice, nice so far. The lake is still growling and muttering and would have broke up long before this had we not gotten that cold spell and six inches of fresh snow a little while back. As it stands though, it probably won't break up any sooner than any other year. The record is the 23rd of April. First week of May is standard, usually around the 7th. The locals usually a have a pool and the winner usually gets it on the first week. That's when it gets cold again, at least if you live on the lake, because the water is just barely above freezing and breezes coming in over the mountains from the west and south carry that cold air right at you. Takes a few weeks for the surface of the water to warm up enough to make a difference. It's the opposite in fall when the water still has a lot of warmth and temps down near the lake are much higher than at Anahim. Put up a bird feeder a few days ago, and only just now getting some small finches and chickadees checking it out. I've been hesitant the last few years because of being the 'proud' owner of three cats that are bird hunting machines. I don't exactly want to be the unintentional provider of the daily buffet, even though they do have collars with bells....sometimes. It's hard to keep collars on them, as any cat owner will tell you. But I do really enjoy watching birds come to a feeder, especially in winter, and I'm really curious as to what kind will start arriving in the next year here. For those birdwatchers out there, I'll keep you posted. For those of you who aren't?... I imagine you would find this feed a fairly boring one anyway. After all, you can't see moose and caribou every day! Sorry, low blow, but I've been working really hard to get this site finished before true spring hits and I can get outside, so I don't have a lot of time to write.

4/2/05 7:25 PM

Spring Forward One Hour?

I am reminded that you move your clock forward in spring by using the 'spring forward' and 'fall back' ditty. The only problem with that analogy is that it helps to have a spring. Right now, with a cold, blustery wind, low cloud and that feeling that snow is going to start driving in sideways any time now just doesn't give you that warm, fuzzy, spring feeling. More like...lets get the rifles out Barney, and go huntin'!! In any case, you must turn your clocks forward tonite and lose an hour's sleep, unless of course, you live in Arizona or Saskatchewan. I lived in Saskatchewan from 1996 until 2001 and when I first moved there, was afraid I would hate not having daylight saving time. After all, you can't beat still having that light at 11:30 or 12:00 at night in summer, can you? Well actually, you'll find that if you're working hard outside, you're pretty glad to see it getting dark at 10:30 or 11:00 at night because it means you can quit working and go in the house and sit down with a glass of wine...finally. The blessing of no time change that I found outweighed all else, was the later, light hours in winter. Wow, was that cool! You could still see at 5:00 at night to feed horses or not worry about being out cross country skiing past 4:00 in the middle of winter, versus it turning dusk here by 3:30 in the afternoon. They say the point of daylight savings time is so the kids have light to go to school in the mornings. Most mornings it's still dark anyway, and quite often it's dark when they go home, so it sounds like bull to me. Anyway, you are talking to the fully converted. I've always pushed daylight savings time harder than anyone, but now I push the other way. I really prefer not having to turn my clock forward in the fall. Besides, your body and your brain really appreciate it. It takes me about two full weeks to fully adjust to the time change, and I really noticed how nice it was to not have to change my inner clock when I lived in Saskatchewan. Of course, I was born in Arizona, where there is also no Daylight savings time. Do you suppose that had anything to do with it? :)

4/1/05 12:07 PM

Happy April Fool's Day

Last night was comedy night and today the first day of April roars in like the proverbial lion. We don't get entertainment here very often from the outside, especially in winter, but Cindy up at Chilcotin's Gate Restaurant makes it a point to celebrate special occasions and bring in comedians at least once every winter. So, last night was comedy night! Dave Copeland was actually pretty good, and a nice change from many in that at least he makes an effort to learn a little about the area before getting on the stage. When you get someone cracking jokes about the ice road, it's because they at least took the time to find out that we do drive on the lake in winter, or when they talk about driving down the 'Hill' to Bella Coola, it's because they've just come back up from there. So the man succeeded in getting a lot of laughs, especially since he interacted with the audience quite well. The opposite of that is way more common. As hard as Cindy tries to 'pre-vet' these guys, you'll still end up with someone from the Coast who hates being away from the city, likes to make cracks about drugs and how great it is to get high, and swears a lot on the stage because swearing is supposed to be funny, and Richard Pryor did it, right? Not. When you're out of your environment, putting down everything and everyone not of your lifestyle doesn't make you a comedian. It just gets you a lot of cold stares....
Anyway, not the case last night. The prime rib dinner was fabulous, and the entertainment funny. Try getting all that for $25 in Vancouver!

The purpose of this web site is to draw attention to a remote area of west central British Columbia. It is a beautiful area that relies heavily on tourism. The search engines don't know much about the West Chilcotin, Anahim Lake, Nimpo Lake or any of the other small communities in the region and I hope to change that! Even as large as this site will eventually be, there just isn't enough room or time in the day to fully describe this incredible country but I am going to try scraping away at the tip of the iceberg, so join me!

Follow the links, and see what the West Chilcotin is really like!