Wilderness Adventures in Nimpo Lake and Anahim Lake with articles for the second 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!

4/15/05 9:05 PM

Caribou Chilcotin Coast AGM

Reasonably successful meeting for the tourism association this weekend. Covered several areas of concern. BC Ferries say they're definitely going to be sticking around for a while. The CCCTA has received a two million dollar largesse from the government for future projects, more talk on cooperation between tourism operators and areas of operation to reduce duplication and marketing/advertising costs and the Williams Lake rep spent some time discussing what they're doing and mountain bike trails in their area, which really is of no interest to either myself, or others from this region, I'm sure. Didn't seem to generate much interest in the graphics or web building business, although most of the attendees were either speakers or reps of some sort so they naturally wouldn't be clients. Some attendees that might have, are already my clients. The turnout was actually disappointing to me, but with a little more networking, I may be able to make more contacts. Otherwise, the food Friday night definitely wasn't worth the entry fee of 200$. We'll see about Saturday's. Also of great disappointment was that the native drummers and dancers from Bella Coola didn't show up. Their reliability hasn't improved at all, which is why it is very difficult for operators to be persuaded to work with the aboriginals to promote their culture and heritage to the tourists for split tourism dollars. That's all well and good, but as an operator, do you want to prebook your entire summer's clientale, selling them these cultural events, of which half will never occur for some lame reason or another? In their place, I don't think I would be willing to risk the reputation of my business on that. I know how disappointed I was that the event didn't go off as I had hoped for Friday night's entertainment. And I only paid 200$. How would a tourist who came a long distance, paying several thousand dollars expecting to see an event he booked months ago feel? I wouldn't risk my business on that feeling at all! So, sorry folks, no cultural event pictures to post for you this time. And I even remembered my camera.

4/15/05 9:12 PM

Showcasing Anahim Lake Inn

Anahim Lake Inn is the last motel before the Bella Coola Hill. Simba is the proprietoress and that's what she says so it must be true! The Anahim Lake Inn is conveniently located in 'downtown' Anahim Lake. It is within easy walking distance of the airport, restaurants, groceries and liquor stores. Newly renovated rooms are comfortable and roomy. I know, because I've seen them, and they are very nice. Kitchen units and double occupancy units also available. One brand new suite is extremely private, separate bedroom area, with large kitchen and living area. Call ahead for reservations as this Inn is booked up quickly in the summer time. And yes, it really is the last motel before the Bella Coola Hill. It isn't all that rare for Simba to be called out at night to open a room for guest that can't go on down to the valley because of a road closure. Happens sometimes. Check out hers and other motels on the Motels & RV Sites page. She doesn't have a web site yet, but since she's inquiring about one, it will probably come to pass. Well, I'm off to the Caribou Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association meeting today and tomorrow. Isn't that a mouthful? I will do my level best to write Saturday, but an outside Western style Bar-b-que dinner networking with potential clients sounds like a way more fun thing to be doing!

4/14/05 8:57 PM

Redwinged Blackbirds by the Dozen

Back to showcasing resorts tomorrow, today we're onto the blackbirds! The last two days, my front window has been full of redwinged blackbirds. This normally super shy flock found the new birdfeeder on the deck railing yesterday, and spent most of the day sneaking up on it. The bounty just seemed too good to be true and they just weren't trusting the freebee seed. The whole bunch acted like there must be a catch all yesterday and part of this morning. By this afternoon, they were giving me hell if I went out onto the deck, because this was their feeding station, and that by golly was just all there was to it! They got to the point that so many would try to land on the tiny platform of the feeder that they were falling off it and they sure weren't leaving much room for the chickadees or juncos. I started moving about every once in a while to scare them off the feeder just so the little guys had a chance to eat. This seems to be a mostly immature flock, because the markings vary in visibility, but none of the shoulder patches are as wide at rest as on full grown males. Most of these young males still had some spotted brown patches on their backs as well. There were a few females that showed up to feed, but since they're traditionally even more cautious and shy than the males, they didn't come in as often. Although that was changing by this afternoon. Unfortunately, taking a picture from inside a dark house, of blackbirds with a bright background behind them, just didn't show up very well, and certainly not their shoulder patches. So use your imagination! :)

4/13/05 5:32 PM

The Dean on Nimpo Lake

Showcasing The Dean on Nimpo today. The Dean has recently renovated their resort on Nimpo Lake, and it's very upscale. They have also added a very classy restaurant and a lounge called Pilot's Bar & Grill. They overlook Nimpo Lake and the Coastal Mountain range and have been doing some extensive landscaping that includes a large brick patio off the restaurant. They are a year round destination with outdoor activities in all seasons from snowmobiling in winter to fishing, hiking, canoeing, flightseeing and more in summer. Their accommodations range from luxurious, with jacuzzis and private fireplaces in the lodge to log cabins on the lake. The lodge also features a lovely gift shop that features specialty candles, sweatshirts and tee-shirts about the area and some really fun knick knacks and pottery. In future, they would like to branch out and start providing a luxury spa experience that includes massages and therapies. If you would like to know more, check out the Resorts and Lodges page or go directly to The Dean on Nimpo.

4/11/05 3:35 PM

Crazy Bear Lake Lodge

Today I'm profiling Crazy Bear ... And there's a reason for that name. As Frank Naumann describes his resort area, it's a valley of six lakes where the river runs through, all teeming with rainbow trout. Of course the grizzly bears like the area as well, and he has some interesting stories to tell. The lake is floatplane access only, so if you would like a remote, serene, quiet area to fish and enjoy your vacation, this is the place for you. It's only populated by wild animals and the occasional angler amidst breathtaking scenery. There are comfortable log cabins, hearty meals served, exceptional wildlife viewing, power boats, canoes, kayaks and float tubes on most lakes. Frank describes the area as a hiker's dream and he offers some unique amenities such as Tee-Pee camping. There are also numerous sandy beaches in the vicinity if you would like to pull your boat up for a campfire lunch or just while the day away on the beach watching bald eagles and the spectacular view. If you would like to know more about this lodge, check out the resorts page Resorts and Lodges or go directly to his site at Crazy Bear Lake Lodge.

4/10/05 10:13 PM

Welcome To Everyone on Resorts BC

Each new client of the site will be introduced to you as time goes on. Today, I would like you to check out Eliguk Lake Lodge , a remote fishing lodge located 50 roadless miles from Nimpo Lake. Pick up a floatplane at Nimpo, and fly into a resort amid some of North America's finest scenery and trout waters. You can also fly out from there to any number of other lakes and streams for rainbow trout fishing. Your hosts, Moe and Jeanette Schiller have been in the business for 25 years and are well known for their brand of hospitality. Located at the eastern edge of Tweedsmuir Park, on the high plateau of the West Chilcotin, British Columbia, Eliguk Lake Lodge consists of just six clean, snug lakeside cabins, staff quarters, and the main lodge where they serve three hearty gourmet meals, family style, daily, and where you can gather around the fireplace before dinner for happy hour to swap fishing tales. Because the camp is small, you receive as much personal attention or privacy as you want. Fish leisurely from the door step of your private cabin, or grab a boat that is provided, and troll down the lake. Enjoy the country as you fish and don't forget to take your camera!

4/9/05 11:23 AM

Fast Frost Coming Up

Roads around here are breaking up at a phenomenal rate because the frost is coming out of the ground very suddenly. As a result, everyone is finding their driveway to be fine when they go to work in the morning, and impassible by the time they come home. Our neighbour's road is this close to being flooded. It is surrounded on both sides with a mini lake so he carefully plants a tire on each side of the road and hopes he doesn't slide off into the water. Since his road is built up quite a bit above the (what in normal years would be a meadow) water, sliding off would create an ugly job getting back on the road again and would probably require a piece of heavier equipment to help. Many of the roads in Anahim, including paved pieces, that have been fine for 20 years are breaking up in huge chunks of pavement that are tall enough to be scraped by the underbody of vehicles. Whole sections of road are going to have to be peeled up and replaced with gravel this spring. I hope the government has lots of money to spend on roads this year. But that largesse will only last until after the election.

4/8/05 8:12 PM

Benefits of High Speed Hook-up

You can't begin to name the benefits to small, remote communities of a hi-speed Internet connection. Education is the first thing that comes to mind. The nearest town from us is 200 miles away. The nearest university is nearly another 200 miles to the north, or 350 miles to the south. Our schools only go to grade 9 and then the kids have to bus into Williams Lake every Sunday night to the dorm, and bus back out every Friday night to be with their families for half a weekend before going back to school. I think a high speed connection out here would be very good for parents that would like to home school their kids, especially the highschool grades. Business owners are another group that would benefit highly, and I'll use myself as an example. I build web sites among other things and often need to do research on the net, as well as constantly updating myself on the newest SEO practices. But doing any research on the net is a long and painful process, and as I mentioned in the previous story, a great way to play a lot of solitaire! Most homes are running about 21,000 kb dialup to the Internet. I'm within 2 miles of a Telus terminus antenna that fibre optics comes to, so I am quite often hooked up at 44,000 kb which is way faster than most but still ever so long to accomplish anything. I've figured out that I can save 80% of the time I'm on the Internet trying to achieve some end if I had hi-speed dial up. And time is money!

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!

Wilderness Adventures - April Week Two