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Wilderness Adventures - July Week 3
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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!
| 31/07/2005
3:39 PM
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Last Day of July
|
Already!
Tomorrow is about historical Chilcotin native graffiti
or petryglyphs as they're more commonly
known. I would like to have written on this subject today,
but I've run out of image space on this page so it will
have to be left for tomorrow's article.
We're getting rain today. Pretty much the first significant
moisture we've seen for a week or two. It keeps the fire
danger down and I for one am not sorry to see it. There
are about 50 forest fires burning around
the province right now which is unusually low. For the
last few years, 400 or more has been the number of fires
burning at this time of year. The last part of July and
first half of August is usually our warmest and driest
time of year, although September can be pretty toasty
too. Unless we get some really high temperatures and sun
from here on in, I don't think we're going to have too
much to fear from forest fires this year. There was a
pretty good one burning just north of Merritt last night
that really took off fast. It looked like they had the
main highway blocked for a short time there. It's looking
pretty good around the province. A good part of the province
seems to have been seeing the same kind of weather we
have most of the summer. Other areas are picking up a
little more sun now because we just seem to be in a belt
right on the jet stream dropping moisture on us. Normally
the jet stream would be much higher or further north this
time of year. Our weather should really pick up now. It's
supposed to be sunny with a high moving in next week and
the month of August is generally a really beautiful
month to be out fishing. So pack your bags and
come on out!
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| 30/07/2005
9:57 PM
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Bugs, Bugs, and More Bugs
|
One
by one, the neighbors are lamenting the attack on their
trees. Like Dutch Elm disease or the Tent Catepillar,
the Mountain Pine Beetle is an epidemic.
Unlike the previous two, however, there isn't a whole
lot you can do about it. Since flying last Saturday, the
beetles have spread throughout the area in droves, attacking
pine trees by the hundreds and thousands.
It will be next year before the trees all turn red and
show that they've died, and of course it's too late then.
Since there doesn't seem to be a single thing a person
can do with the infestations, the next best thing would
be to plan for the future. We'll all have to plant alder,
aspen and birch for summer cover because they're fast
growers. They'll also protect existing young evergreens
or any one goes out and digs up to bring home and replant.
Most of us have a good mix of spruce and pine
on our properties as well as on surrounding crown land,
so it's not like the region will be without evergreens.
It just won't have mature pine for a couple hundred years
or so. A person might as well look at the positive side
because it sure isn't doing any good to look at the negative.
Just think of the improved views and the wide open vistas
we'll have. More mountains and glaciers and lake
in our living room windows. More sunshine, more
sunsets, more sunrises. Even the northern lights will
be easier to see! Hope I'm still feeling this positive
when I see the sawdust at the base of all the pine trees
in the morning....
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| 29/07/2005
7:38 PM
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Natives in Germany
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Did
you know that members of the Nuxalk tribe
in Bella Coola went to Germany in 1885
as human exhibits? Apparently nine men of the tribe
left the remote Bella Coola valley to
travel 8000 miles by rail and steamship to Germany where
they stayed for a year as part of a human exhibit. In
Berlin they performed traditional native songs and dances
for Europeans at zoos, museums, halls and other venues.
Although it might seem an outrage today, in those times
it was not
Photo
taken from the Coast Mountain News
uncommon for indignous people from all over the world
such as Asia, Africa and the South Pacific to be put
on display in Europe and England. In museums in Berlin,
Hamburg and Leipzig, there are hundreds of First
Nations (Canadian Native) artifacts including
paintings, carvings, masks and a totem pole carved by
the Nuxalk tribesmen from Bella Coola
120 years ago. In addition there is documentation describing
the songs and dances performed them. A documentary is
being done now on the story about the nine men's year
long stay in Germany as they performed for their audiences.
A sub story in the documentary tells of two Nuxalk
masks carved and used by the Bella Coola group
of nine that were believed to have been destroyed in
World War II, but were actually recovered from a Soviet
museum after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. I
find it fascinating that anyone could even find tiny,
remote little Bella Coola over a hundred years
ago much less convince tribesmen to leave their
homeland for a year. But expansive and well preserved
documentation says that they were paid a salary for
their performances and that none were taken to Europe
against their will. Can you imagine the stories they
would have brought back to their homeland when they
returned? Their fellow tribesmen would never have believed
all they had to tell of their travels!
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| 28/07/2005
1:25 PM
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Great Gray Owl
|
I
think there was a Canadian movie made in
the last few years called Gray Owl about a native that
had quite a bit of influence with the tribes and it turned
out he was actually a white man. I digress. A friend of
mine across the lake is a photographer.
She's been kind enough to allow me to use a couple of
her photos on this site; most notably the cow and
calf moose standing in water and the moose
running through water. If you haven't seen them yet, go
to the Main
Home Page or Wildlife
where you'll find them intertwined with some text., they're
beauties! She sent over this picture of an owl
that she took this spring and just got the photo back
from developing. I actually cropped the image so that
you could get a close look at this ow that stands 22"
tall and has a 60" wing spanl. My field guide describes
the 'Great Gray Owl as rare and local at
high elevations in north and central Sierra Nevada and
Rockies' (they forgot Coastal Mountains),
'where it is found in pine and spruce forests. Common
only in the Far North' (capitalization is theirs, and
I guess we might qualify as far north because they are
fairly common here.) 'The only other large owl with yellow
eyes and no ear tufts is the Snowy Owl'
(now those are a beautiful owl, and rare!) 'Voice is a
deep, booming series of whoos, each lower in pitch'.
I can vouch for that. Their voice actually carries quite
a long ways through the woods at night and it isn't uncommon
to hear them talking to each other throughout winter,
especially about February, which seems to be their breeding
season. The bird in the photo on the right
doesn't look very large, but trust me they are. Especially
when you're walking through the woods around Nimpo
Lake and one glides over you and casts a pretty
large shadow. I think that there is a legend that says
if you see a gray owl in daylight, you or someone near
you will die soon. Doesn't seem to have happened yet so
that's a good thing!
|
| 27/07/2005
1:00 PM
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Close Encounter of Our Own Kind
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The
Mountain Pine Beetle arrived on our property
at Nimpo Lake last night. No bugs last night,
but one of our oldest, most magnificent pine trees was
infested with them this morning. The whole trunk is covered
with holes with sap bleeding out of them as the tree fights
for its life and there's a pile of sawdust at the base
of the tree. These things are fast! The neighbour swears
if you put your ear to the trunk of the tree, you can
hear them chewing. If we can't save the tree, we'll have
to chop it down onto the ice this winter while the larvae
are still in it and burn it there so it can't infest nearby
trees next year. It's such a shame when you consider how
many years it took this old monster to grow the size it
is. Unlike more temperate climates, it can take
250 years just to grow a tree with a 6" diameter
here, much less one of this size. Although it
may grow faster because it's near a source of water, you
can bet it's still pretty old. You can see in the picture
on the right the yellow and white sap and sawdust marks
where the tree is trying to defend itself.
The bald eagle was dive bombing the
loons again. This time a mature loon. It sure
was getting close. Water would splash up just as the loon
would dive under its talons. It kept up the attack for
several rounds hoping to force the loon out of breath.
It was hampered in it's efforts by an osprey
that must have been hunting in the area and drove the
eagle out of what it considered to be its territory. The
eagle flew off to sit in a nearby tree about the time
two immature bald eagles, one from last year, and possibly
one from this year flew from across the lake to join it.
This seems to be the last surviving loon baby on the lake
this year because of the higher bald eagle population.
I would like to see it make it until it's time to fly
south. Right now, since it is still brown, it lays flat
on the water when there is danger overhead, and quite
possibly looks just like a log to the eagles while the
mature loons try to draw the attention of
the predators. Our life seems pretty easy in comparison
to nature and what each species must go through not only
to survive, but to successfully raise young every year.
|
| 26/07/2005
1:19 PM
|
Seeing the World From 18,0000 Feet
|
That's
what cousin Maizy has been doing. Actually, she's a niece
by marriage. But I like the 'cousin Maizy' thing because
it sounds so ... 'Hollywood Hillbillyish' ... don't you
think? She has been flying a plane at 18,000
feet above sea level, which would be about 14,000 feet
above here when she went over. She's flying a GPS grid
for a mapping company that is photographing central
BC north to Fort St. John. Which on the one hand
you might consider a little boring from a pilot's point
of view flying back and forth on a strict grid. But can
you imagine what you would get to see? As she commented
on the phone last night, "You can see solid red from
pine beetle kill from the Chilcotin and
north clear to Fort St. John." Her other comment
was, "That Lonesome Lake burn sure
is big!" Yep, it was a big fire last year. Biggest
in the province. And although I flew over it in a helicopter
last year while it was burning, there's a lot you miss
because of smoke. I haven't gotten a chance to see it
from a fixed wing since, and certainly not from 18,000
feet. It would be much easier to gain a perspective from
that height when you could probably see the burn in its
entirety. I've put some pictures in on the right of the
Lonesome Lake Fire taken this day exactly
one year ago from Nimpo Lake. We sure got
some wild sunsets then. Quite a contrast to our weather
this year. It's a mix of sun and cloud this afternoon
with much cooler temps than last year.
Since we're on the topic of flying high, congratulations
to the successful blast off for the space shuttle 'Discovery'
this morning. Nice to see us back in the sky.
|
| 25/07/2005
1:13 PM
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Interesting Results on Tourism Study
|
The
British Columbia Tourism Board came back from the US with
some very interesting results. Throughout British
Columbia, tourism operators have wondered why
their industry is down in numbers this summer between
30% and up to 50%. There's no doubt that there has been
a downturn in the most recent years because Canada
has been hit with such a turn of bad luck. After 9/11
we had SARS, West Nile, bird flu, mad cow and lousy weather.
But the numbers in the tourist industry this year are
way down! Many operators have attributed it to a combination
of a variety of things such as higher fuel prices, a higher
Canadian dollar, and lousy weather. (Have you begun to
notice a common denominator here? I'll put my money on
that one!) But nope, those were not the answer to the
province's woes. The Tourist Board attended meetings in
the USA with their counterparts to find the answer to
their burning question ... where are all the people? Guess
what that answer was? The border. Apparently Americans
are fed up with Canadian Customs officials and
the long wait times. I can certainly see their point.
Usually we are passed into the US fairly quickly and politely
by the US customs officials. Coming back, however, is
another story, even though our full time residence is
in Canada. This last time, on the July long weekend was
the exception to the rule. We were questioned far more
closely, our ID checked and camper inspected by the American
side and passed through quickly and courteously by a pretty
girl on the Canadian side. So perhaps that is the reason
behind the downturn from American tourist trade. But it
doesn't explain the Canadian downturn. I
talked to an operator on Nimpo Lake yesterday
that says almost all of her business is from British
Columbia with only a small percentage from the
States. She is down by at least 50% this year, especially
for June and July. She's pretty sure that fuel prices
have had some effect but certain that the ... guess what
... lousy weather throughout BC has been the deciding
factor for many vacationers this summer. Which means if
it warms up and gets hot, August and September are going
to be extremely busy months for local tourism operators.
|
| 24/07/2005
12:31 PM
|
Awesome Sunshine
|
And
about time! Today would be an absolutely perfect day to
go canoeing or fishing on Nimpo Lake. Just
enough of a breeze to keep it cool, sunshine with a few
puffy clouds and a view that goes for miles! However,
we have cement to pour tomorrow morning for half of the
new garage floor. The rest a few days after that. Saturday
was the foundation pour for a new house for the owner
of Nimpo Lake Resort, and Friday was a basement
floor cement pour for the neighbour. The neighbour across
the lake mixed and poured by hand with a crew on Thursday
for some steps and retaining walls. Talk about making
hay while the sun shines. Summer can be notoriously short
in the West Chilcotin, although global warming
may be changing that, so outside projects are attacked
with enthusiasm and a sense of timetable driven desperation.
A building is usually pushed to completion of the shell
by fall so that the inside can be worked on in the winter
using some source of heat. You definitely don't want to
be working on something in -30 or -40F weather in the
dead of winter without heat if you can help it. So, this
will be a short article today and no fishing
either. Darn.
|
| 23/07/2005
4:23 PM
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The Mountain Pine Beetle
|
The
Pine Beetle has flown. A fellow down at
the south end of Nimpo Lake was clearing
brush on his property with friends yesterday. They decided
to go fishing after they finished up and
upon their return, all the pine trees down on the water's
edge were covered with thousands of pine beetles.
The mountain pine beetle has been a plague for British
Columbia for about the past 20 years and is at
epidemic levels now. Thousands of square miles of lodgepole
pine forest have been attacked resulting in the loss of
useable wood to the lumber industry amounting in the billions.
The pine beetle is a small black beetle that bores into
the cambiam layer of wood just under the outer bark. They
lay eggs which hatch into larvae. The larvae release a
chemical that slows the trees ability to defend itself
with sap as the larvae eats its way out of the tree. This
results in the blue stain now known as 'denim pine'
and the tree dies. All the pine needles on the tree turn
a flaming red the summer following the attack and drop
off the next year. See the pictures on the right. The
tree is highly flammable at that point in time and whole
forests of beetle-kill have caused nightmares to the BC
Forestry firefighters. The larvae exit the tree
through the bark and in mid July, adult beetle fly enmasse
looking for new trees to lay eggs in. They used to only
attack mature pine. Now there are such large numbers of
them that they attack immature pine and have been seen
in spruce as well. Sustained periods at -60F weather
in winter is needed to knock the beetle population
back. Unfortunately, we haven't seen winters like that
in a long time. Apparently, a fellow from California said
they used to have the same problem there. When asked how
they ended the problem, he said that a really wet,
rainy year stopped the spread. It makes sense
that a well watered tree would be less stressed and more
able to defend itself than trees that have been going
through drought for the last ten years. So maybe our rainy
summer is a super blessing!
|
| 22/07/2005
11:24 PM
|
Camping in Columbus, Ohio Versus Nimpo Lake?
|
Seems
there might be a difference. I was just talking to my
brother in Ohio tonite. He's just returned this spring
from a stint in Iraq and he spent a few years in Canada
when he was younger, so he has a bit more of a worldly,
and possibly cynical view than most. He was giving me
comparisons with camping in Nimpo Lake and
campers in Ohio. It was hilariously funny and just showed
what a wide gulf there can be. I'm not even sure that
anyone in one age group can bridge that gulf. It's more
about culture and background than age, I guess. When we
were children, me being the oldest at 11 down to 7, we
considered camping to be leaving home with
what we could pack on our backs for a week including tents
and a whole lot of tinned beans. I remember one time we
took friends with us, did a 7 mile hike back of our ranch
to a lake where no one was around for miles.
They didn't even last the night. I remember the first
rustle of the evening, the frogs croaking, ducks
quacking and murmurs of dusk had them out of their tent
and freaking. So in the middle of the night we
were trekking them home. 7 miles down off the mountain,
and 7 miles back to our camp in the dark through, now
that I admit, some pretty keen bear country.
It was probably foolish, but we had the supreme confidence
of little kings that knew our kingdom. As we laughed,
my brother pointed out his friends in Ohio and what their
definition of camping was. He said they considered it
to be 'roughing' it if they couldn't pick up a good signal
for the satellite tv in their 45' motor home.
Or if they forgot something like a can opener, they could
just drive to a store a few minutes away. Unlike when
we forgot a can opener once. You learn in real hurry how
to use a knife to open a can because a 14 mile round trip
hike is a long ways to go just for a can opener. And between
you and me, I've never forgotten a can opener since. My
brother was also pointing out that many people on the
east coast just don't know what the stars actually
look like. As he said, there's as many aircraft
up there moving about at night as there are stars. Well
not here. He was laughing about the one big airliner that
goes overhead here once a day to Alaska
and our local flight into Anahim Lake every
day. The stars here are unmatched at night by anything
but the moon and the northern lights! My
brother said that camping in many places
in the east is just a matter of lining up motor homes
35 deep in a row on a lake. And there's lots of rows.
I guess that differs a lot from here. For one thing, there's
no such thing as 35 deep. And for another, the camping
experience here can be anything you like. Or as he said,
unparalelled anywhere. You can camp at an RV site on the
lake but the largest I know of in the country only has
22 spots and they're all tucked in among the trees. Check
out Vagabond
RV Park and Resort for a super place to
camp. Or you can canoe, hike or fly into a remote
area where there is no one else and you can walk
land that no other human being has ever walked before
you. Ever!
|
| 21/07/2005
7:46 PM
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Big Fish ... Nice Weather
|
| Finally!
Nice weather and the fishing is great! It's been sunny
the last couple of days. Nice change! We've had a full
moon and clear skies at night, so it's still been cooling
down. There has been intermittant cloud during the day
so it really hasn't started heating up yet, but if this
weather continues, it will. There's been lots of feed
for the fish in the lakes this year with all the
rain and runoff. As a result, we're seeing some pretty
fat fish now. The one on the right is a 3 1/2 pound
Rainbow trout caught out of Nimpo Lake yesterday.
The fishing has really picked up and gotten quite good
in the past week or so. And fighters. Lots of people are
telling us of broken leaders. The size might help with
that too. I look forward to seeing some really big, deepbodied
fish come out of Nimpo Lake by this fall.
I saw a 10 pound rainbow come out of the
lake in 1992, and a 7.5 pounder in 2000, but those aren't
common sizes in drought years. A rainy summer is just
what we needed for good fishing. We've been watering using
water out of the lake and it's surprisingly warm for this
time of year with such a cool summer so far. Perhaps the
rains have helped to warm the water up. This warm weather
and less rain should cause the water levels to start dropping
in the rivers. That includes the Atnarko and Bella
Coola rivers which are popular salmon fishing
rivers. A drop in the Dean River's
water level will definitely improve the world famous fly
fishing there. Water has been too high recently
to wade the river. I'm starting on a new week now, so
the past week's entries can be found at July
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!
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