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!
If
you would like to see pictures of wildlife, mountains, lakes,
exciting snowmobiling, events and more, and read stories like
'Lake Monsters' - just go into Archives on the lower left side
of this page.
Rolling over an image will give you its description.
Check out the Picture
of the Day.
22/02/20088:11 PM
Making Movies In The Chilcotin
Happy
Friday Folks! Floyd Vaughan sent a great article
about making movies in the Chilcotin that I'll post for
the weekend. You wouldn't really think of the
Chilcotin as a place cosmpolitan enough for the Hollywood
moguls to want to make movies, but then perhaps that's
precisely its appeal. You want true wilderness for your
movie? We've got it! However, I should think that eventually
the Hollywood types would realize that making a movie
in the real wilderness could get cost prohibitive because
there are so few roads. That means flying everything in,
and that can get expensive.
Here's Floyd's story. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
" - MAKING MOVIES IN THE CHILCOTIN
Over the years I was involved in the making of four movies,
although two were short CBC documentaries and one a 30
second advertisement for Canada Dry.
The first was a documentary about guiding, and starred
Lester Dorsey as the main person to show the dudes how
it was done. After I flew all the equipment and camp in
we were all in shock as to how much gear it took for the
crew to camp in the bush for a couple of days. Lester
already had his camp set up, and was peeling spuds in
a pan of water for supper. When the three CBC guys seen
Lester's camp, and the potatoes which were blacker after
they were peeled than they were with the skins on it reminded
me of the stampede that happens when the bartender calls
TIME in an Irish pub. Anyway I don't think they ate anything
that Lester cooked, but just ate some of the canned stuff
that they had brought. I don't think they ever got over
the culture shock, but in the end they got all their pictures,
and seemed satisfied.
When the camera was running Lester would put on a good
show for them, and gave them an education in the process.
Most of the time they would tell Lester he couldn't use
those words on camera, and have him do it over. Usually
it would come out worse the next time, but they seemed
to have lots of patience, and after a couple of days they
said they had enough footage so we packed everything up
and I flew them back out to Nimpo. On the way back they
were doing a lot of whispering to each other. I know Lester
kind of liked doing this although he let on that he didn't.
The next time I was involved in something like this I
was called into Williams Lake to transport two people
around to find a place to make a movie for the Walt Disney
Company. They wanted wilderness settings with snow capped
mountains, and lakes for the background of their production
which was to be called The Bears and I.
After I flew them around in Tweedsmuir Park they decided
that Chilko Lake at the end of Neamiah Valley was the
best place because of the mountains and blue lake for
a background. I tried to explain to them that Chilko Lake
was much too rough for float plane operations most of
the time. The area seemed perfect for them as there was
a road to transport all the tons of equipment and caged
animals plus the camp for up to 80 people. Of the two
people from Hollywood that came to scout this out one
was a woman from Ireland. I think Disney sent her to appeal
to the English side of our government, but they couldn't
have made a worse choice, because she hated the English
with a passion. At the time I didn't know about the hate
between the Irish and the English until we were in Williams
Lake one night when at the Legion they played 'God Save
The Queen'. The occasion was to thank them for spending
all that money making the movie. When she didn't stand
up for 'God Save The Queen' her companion told her she
was supposed to stand, and she said in a loud clear voice
that almost everyone heard (AND SURE SHE'S NOT MY FOOGIN
QUEEN!).
Anyway they moved all these vans to Chilko Lake and started
shooting the movie. They built a dock down on the lake
that the wind broke up about every other day, so we kept
the airplane on a lake just east of where they were shooting.
They built a small town, and about ten acres of pens for
the animals they were using in the movie.
One time when they were shooting a crew putting out a
forest fire, which was pipe and propane, one of the fire
trucks rolled down the hill after everyone jumped out
to fight the fire. It rolled down through the fire, and
into the pens holding the animals, letting most of them
escape.
There were bears, coyotes, deer, badgers, skunks, bobcats,
and a cougar all running loose in Neamiah Valley. They
called some of the Indians to round them up with horses,
but when the cowboys showed up with rifles the animal
trainers threw a fit. I'll tell you it was some funny
listening to the trainers try to talk the Indians into
catching them without their rifles.
Later that winter I took a crew back in to film the winter
shots. They had these stuffed bears that were to ride
this runaway sled down the mountain while the hero chased
them. The stuffed bears were on springs so they looked
kind of real except that about every ten or twenty feet
the sled would tip over or run into a tree.
While we were there the pineapple express hit, (extremely
warm, above freezing temperatures.) and my airplane
was sinking into Konnie Lake so I told them we had to
get out of there. I had fixed penetration skis that were
almost useless in snow or anything else. With three inches
of water that was on the ice I couldn't get off, so after
about three tries I took the skies off and got off on
wheels in a shower of water.
The whole movie looked so phony to me that I thought it
would never make it. I saw the movie about two years later
and couldn't believe how real the shots looked that I
thought were the worst.
The next time I was involved with these kind of people
was the C.B.C. again filming Tweedsmuir Park. They wanted
to show people canoeing, and fishing so they talked Don
and Phyllis Irwin into doing the acting. I did the flying
this time with the helicopter so we could get some shots
up in the glaciers. Anyway they wanted bigger fish than
they could catch in the Turner Lake chain so they caught
some Nimpo Lake fish, and I hauled them to Turner Lake.
We put them on Don and Phyllis's line and they landed
them after quite a fight.
John Edwards had built some cabins at the west end of
Turner Lake, and they wanted to interview him on how to
build cabins in the wilderness. When they had their cameras
set up John was doing his best educational instruction,
and stuck the end of the tape in a log then ran it up
to where he wanted it marked to cut it off, then swung
the axe and cut the tape causing it to make a zinging
sound and fly all over the place. When the tape was cut
it rewound into the case and John looked at the camera,
and said, "Can I do that again?" After I saw
the picture a year or so later they had left that part
out.
They wanted to get a picture of the helicopter hovering
down the face of Hunlen Falls so talked me into doing
it. Another hard lesson I lern't because as I hovered
down the falls every thing went well until near the bottom,
and as the spray was fogging up the windscreen the turbulence
got so bad I almost lost control of the helicopter. Anyway
we finished up the shooting, and I guess it all turned
out OK because I saw the documentary later and it looked
good.
A few years later I was contacted to do some flying for
Canada Dry for an advertisement they were doing to be
used only in Europe. Again they wanted to use Chilko Lake
as a background because of the scenery, and blue water.
I took the Beaver to Chilko, and found an old abandoned
cabin about half way up the lake which they thought would
be perfect. They had to put a new roof on the cabin, and
do a lot of clean up so I got Waco Aviation to help haul
some of the equipment. Even with two Beavers there it
took us four trips each to get all the equipment in.
The next day it took all day to shoot the 30 second ad
so when we were starting to fly everything back out the
wind had come up. Chilko Lake is not a good float plane
lake if there is any wind, but we were kind of behind
a point, so we were protected somewhat from the rough
water. On the takeoff run with these big loads we couldn't
quite get off before rounding the point and getting in
the rough water. On the third trip Waco's pilot decided
to takeoff down wind so he would be going with the waves.
I don't know who told him that this would work, but this
a NO NO , and should never be attempted. I watched his
takeoff run in disbelief as it seemed like he went forever
and at times you couldn't see the airplane because of
the water spray. When he did get off one of his floats
was torn off, and hanging below the airplane flopping
around in the wind. I took off and got him on the radio
so we could try and decide where to attempt to land the
airplane. He only had one passenger and the rest of the
load was freight so I suggested that he land at the east
end of Tsunya Lake because it was only about three feet
deep with a mud bottom so the airplane couldn't sink very
far. He was having trouble controlling the airplane so
he decided to land at the lodge at the north end of Chilko.
The bay there was only about ten feet deep, and he would
have help getting to shore after sinking. The landing
went well only ripping one wing off, and sinking up to
the wind screen of the Beaver. Everyone got out OK and
made it to shore how be it a bit wet. I flew the rest
of the equipment out, and that night this pilot was bragging
how he had brought the aircraft in and saved himself and
his passenger. I thought he was a complete idiot for screwing
up in the first place. " - Thanks Floyd! That ought to keep foks busy reading
for a day or two. Have a good weekend everyone!
21/02/200811:09
AM
Catching Up
I
know it's been a long, dry spell folks, and I thank you
for your patience. Sadly, the remainder of February and
possibly the first part of March will probably be much
the same until I get this job done.
I finally did manage to get out snowmachining
on Monday for the first time since before Christmas, I
think.
Yep. Didn't even turn on the computer that morning. Just
walked away from it and suited up for a ride on a beautiful
day, and I'm still paying for it with some
very sore muscles.
It was a gorgeous day with snow conditions by noon that
was soft on top and once you broke through the crust,
bottomless sugar. You guessed it.... that meant being
stuck a lot! In fact I don't think I've been stuck that
much in one day in years, partly because I was just plain
exhausted and made dumb mistakes, but most of us took
turns getting stuck. We also had some people fairly new
to riding with us and they were on machines that didn't
have adequate tracks for mountain snow, nor were they
experienced enough for the trails we took them over. That
wasn't their fault. That was the fault of who
ever happened to be leading the pack at the time and didn't
stop and think about conditions. As a result, we were
all pretty tired by the end of the day. We only put on
about 70 miles but slogging through deep snow to help
get people unstuck, pulling on skis or pushing on the
back all day wipes you out pretty good. I'll bet everyone
slept well that night! It was really warm up there and that was actually
another problem. I usually put on several layers
because I don't like being cold, and I always figure in
the case of an emergency, more clothes are better. But
it doesn't work very well when the air temperature is
+7C or 45F degrees at the top of the mountain and you're
dressed for -15C or 5F. Throw in some serious exertion
from so many stucks, and you end up overheating pretty
badly, which can be exhausting in itself. We did have
a lot of fun though. We got to the top of Trumpeter
and it was just one of those fantastic spring days that
you don't often get up there. It was clear, there
was no wind or blowing snow or fog as there often is that
obscures the view, and it was really warm. I could have
lounged up there all day and just studied the mountains,
an opportunity the weather rarely offers. But, everyone
wanted to continue on, so away we went. Before we left
we heard the sound of an aircraft and although most weren't
sure where the sound was coming from, Andy and I knew
to look below us. Suddenly, Terry B's Supercub popped
up from just below the crest of Trumpeter Mountain and
roared over us. He made a few passes but didn't
land this time because he'd studied the hard packed,
drifted snow enough to know it wasn't worth damaging his
plane. He gave me lots of opportunities for some great
pictures though and I only wished I'd had my big camera
instead of the little one.
Even with over ten days of warm weather there's still
loads of snow up on the mountains, so sledding will be
good for a while yet, provided you can get there. We're
starting to get a lot of overflow on Nimpo Lake now from
the warm weather, and in one spot in front of our dock
the ice deteriorated completely about a week ago. It took
a couple of cold nights before about three inches of ice
formed over the open water again. The caribou have come back onto Nimpo again in the
last few days, and quite a few people have been
seeing them. Andy drove down a couple of days ago and
got some pictures for a web site I'm building while Terry
B said he snowmobiled past them yesterday to within 100
yards. Remarkably, we're not seeing a lot of animals around
this year compared to last year, but we are seeing lots
of tracks higher up, so the snow hasn't driven them
down here yet. Mind you, we don't have nearly
the snow cover we did last year. And it won't be a real
worry predator wise unless it gets cold again and forms
a hard crust on top of the snow. That's really bad for
the big game because then the wolves and coyotes can run
on top, while the hoofed animals punch through into deep
snow, which slows them down. The Children's 139 Fund Raiser on Saturday night
did fairly well as I understand it. The tally isn't in
yet until all the bills are paid but Katherine, the fund
raiser organizer, thinks we may have netted about $10,000
from the night. Not as good as years past when the mill
was running full out and we had a lot more people here,
but still not bad for our tiny population.
Thanks to everyone that donated items to the fund raiser
as well as those that bought them. Thanks also to everyone
that bought, prepared, and brought the food for the dinner,
and to everyone who volunteered their time to put the
event on. Special thanks goes out to Katherine,
who took over the reins from Claudette this year, and
did a remarkable job of nearly single handedly putting
the event together. She did great! Claudette has done
the organizing for years and one year, at $19,000, our
fund raiser beat out everywhere in British Columbia on
a per capita basis. She's been forced to move to town
for work and so is retiring her position as organizer,
even though she was out this past weekend and she looked
pretty involved to me! So thanks, Claudette, for
all the years past, and thanks Katherine, for all the
years in the future!
I would also like to give a nod to our local RCMP Members,
many of who attended the event in civvies and out
of uniform, at least until they had to go home and change
for work after dinner. We all really appreciate their
effort and participation in a community event as community
members. It all just helps to make the world go round.
Hey, did anyone see that eclipse last night? A complete
lunar eclipse starting at 10:00 pm Eastern or in our case,
7:00 pm. We had a crystal clear night so it was really
something to see. The shadow was hazy and almost smoky
blood red going in, but there was a crisp and definite
line coming out. It took about three hours overall and
apparently, we won't see another in the Northern Hemisphere
until 2010. We've been very fortunate with our night skies
this February, because we also got to watch the
Shuttle go over on its way up a couple weeks ago
and if we're lucky, we'll get to see some of the debris
burn up at night from that satellite they shot down today.
Okay, I think that's pretty much it for an update. Our
weather is still really pretty with warm temperatures
and sunshine during the day and cold at night. Although
it looks like there's some high haze and some dirty cloud
moving over the mountains so we may have a change in weather
coming. I've got a great article from Floyd about some of
the Chilcotin movie making projects he's been involved
in over past years but since it's long, I'll save
it for tomorrow.
This is the start of a new week so if you would like to
read stories about the 'old' days or the Tatla Lake Poker
Run, you'll find them at February
Week 2 .
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!
![[Valid RSS]](rssimages/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}
