Wilderness Adventures - May Week Two
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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!
| 20/05/2005
10:44 PM
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Showcasing Stewart's Lodge and Camps
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Stewart's Lodge is located on Nimpo Lake and operates
a floatplane charter service. Tweedsmuir Air is invaluable
to the area since many of the remote resorts and lodges
can only be accessed by floatplane. In spring, the fly-in
lodges rely on floatplanes for all their supplies, and
then as a means for ferrying their clients back and forth.
Duncan and Rhonda Stewart have operated Stewart's for
many years, taking over for Bob Stewart who was one of
the first to build a fishing resort on Nimpo Lake. The
Stewarts can provide very nice cabin accommodations with
or without meals at Nimpo or can fly you into other lakes.
They have boats and motors at over 25 locations where
you can choose to lake, stream, or river fish for rainbow
trout, Cutthroat and Dolly Varden. As they state, the
stillwaters, rivers and creeks are so numerous in the
West Chilcotin that anglers can fish to their heart's
content and never have to cast over the same water twice!
If you would like to know more about Stewart's and Tweedsmuir
Air, go to their web site at Stewart's
Lodge .
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| 19/05/2005
2:02
PM |
Canoeing, Bike Riding, Four Wheeling, and Hiking
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Activities available besides fishing in the Nimpo Lake
and Anahim Lake area of British Columbia. British Columbia
is the top rated destination for mountain bike riding
in North America. We're blessed with the ideal country
from rough and rugged to endless backcountry trails for
bikes. If you like your trail riding to be motorized,
this is also a popular locale for four wheeling. We would
ask people to stick to trails if possible, however, because
the soil in the region is so delicate, and fourwheeler
tracks will stay imbedded for years. Canoeing is very
popular in the region because of the numerous lakes, rivers
and streams, many of which interconnect. The Turner Lake
chain is a favorite, and you can spend days camping and
canoeing, and getting some great photographs of the wildlife
and magnificent country! Check out the other pages, particularly
the Photo
Gallery to see what a treat you're
in for. Just click on your subject of interest in the
photo gallery to go to that page and rollover the images
to get informaion on each.
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| 05/18/2005
1:57
PM |
Provincial Election in British Columbia
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Well, we had our provincial election last night. Woop-de-doo.
I shouldn't say that, because having a democratic government,
and the right to vote for it is very important. I guess
it's just kind of boring when you already know who is
going to get in, and that they're going to get in with
a majority government for the next four years. If I was
in favor of Cambell's Liberal government, I would probably
be very happy with the consistency and stability that
eight years of the same government in Parliament can provide.
And I have been happy with some of what the provincial
Liberals have done. But for the most part, I have been
very unhappy with the broken promises, of which there
have been many, and the direction that the government
has taken on many issues. Apparently I'm not the only
unhappy one. The NDP is up from two seats last election
where they were nearly shut out as an opposition party,
to 33 seats last I saw last night. And I'm definitely
not an NDP'er. In fact, I'm not Liberal either. It seems
ironic that BC doesn't even have a 'Conservative' party
in the running. We go from left with the Liberals, to
further left with the NDP, and further left yet with the
Green Party, God forbid. Anyway, now we get to listen
to that egotistical, phony smiling Cambell for another
4 years. And if you thought he had a mega ego before,
just see what the next few years bring! Not that NDP is
much better. They usually swing to the opposite extreme.
It's worthy to note that most people in British Columbia
don't vote government in. They usually vote it out. This
is the exception, but hey, people have very tiny little
brains and very, very short memories, which is exactly
what Cambell was hoping for. Take away for the first three
years, then lambast all the voters with lots of goodies
and handouts the last year before election. Every crafty
politician knows this, and the sheep still haven't figured
it out!
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| 5/17/2005
10:05
AM |
Hiking in The West Chilcotin
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You may
be here for the fantastic fishing, but there's
lots of other things to do too! Hiking is
something that might interest many just because this is
the perfect country for it. You have such a tremendous
variety here, from comfortable walking trails in Tweedsmuir
Park kept up by park officials and volunteers,
to high rolling alpine and vigorous mountain walks that
can take days to accomplish. Hike the Rainbow, Octopus,
Capoose or Crystal Lake Trails. Or for the conditioned
hiker, take on the 480 km Alexander Mackenzie
Heritage Trail, an ancient trade route followed
by natives from the Pacific Ocean to the
inland Plateau who carried trade goods to the coast and
returned with Ooligans, a small oily fish.
The fish was used extensively by the natives for food,
lamp oil and softening hides and is extremely greasy.
Hence the nicknames Ooligan and Grease Trail for the Alexander
Mackenzie Trail. For those who would just like a short
day hike, there's the Kettle Pond and Burnt Bridge
trails.
Hunlen Falls is named for the Indian Trapper,
Hana-Lin is at the northern end of the Turner Lake chain
and can be reached by hiking 10 miles on the Hunlen Trail.
It starts at the bottom of the Bella Coola
hill at the Atnarko 'tote' road and climbs over 6000 feet.
If you would like to hike glaciers or snow fields, we
have them, or check out the incredible array of rare alpine
flowers found at altitudes of 6000 feet and up. If you
would just like to go for a nice, scenic walk after supper,
there are numerous trails near every accommodation in
the Anahim Lake and Nimpo Lake
area. Many of these are actually old roads or horseback
trails used by natives, and later the settlers in the
area. If you'd like to see lots more pictures of the country
for hiking go to the Hiking
photo gallery.
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| 5/16/05
6:57
PM |
Fly-fishing on Remote Lakes in British Columbia
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Trolling
and fly-fishing aren't just popular on local
lakes in the West Chilcotin of BC. Remote
wilderness lakes are also favorites to fly into for
some great fly fishing or trolling
gear behind a boat that has been taken into the lakes
by floatplane in the spring. While Anahim Lake
and Nimpo Lake offer great rainbow trout fishing
up to 6 pounds, other lakes and streams offer a variety
of species besides trout, such as Cutthroat, Bull
trout and Dolly Varden. And if you're really
lucky, you have to fly in by floatplane to get to them!
Nimpo Lake is considered the 'Floatplane Capital of
BC' so companies based on the lake offer charter flights
out for day fishing, overnight camping and fishing,
sightseeing, or the whole package. Your hosts
at any resort, lodge, B&B or other accommodation
in the area can make arrangements with the charter service
for you. In addition, many of your hosts can
provide a guide or information about the best gear to
use on any particular lake. And get this, whether you
fly out or fish locally, lakes and streams in the region
are so numerous that you'll never have to fish the same
waterway twice! If you do choose to fly in to a lake
for some fishing, even if just for the day, maybe throw
a little more money into the kitty and ask for an extended
sightseeing tour along the way. There's so much to see,
and best seen from the air are the Monarch Icefields,
Rainbow Mountains and Hunlen Falls, the third
longest fall in Canada. If there are several
of you going out, the fee is minimal as it's shared
between passengers on the floatplane. If you think you'd
be interested in seeing a little more from the air go
to the Flightseeing
page or to the Flying
photo gallery.
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| 5/15/05
7:38
PM |
Fly Fishing in the Anahim and Nimpo Lake Region
of British Columbia
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Fly fishing is a popular pastime in Nimpo
Lake as well as the Anahim Lake
area, especially on the Dean River. Nimpo Lake was chosen
to host the Commonwealth Fly-Fishing Championships in
1993, which included John Denver as the celebrity angler.
Local lakes and streams teem with our wild native
rainbow trout, known for the ferocious fight they'll give
any angler trying to land them. Nearby streams
and lakes also offer cutthroat and Dolly
Varden. Much of the water in the area is deep
and cold so fish are fat and firm should you want a few
for the frying pan. The Dean River starts
out from Nimpo Lake as a placid stream, deep in places
where it narrows up between grassy banks. Once past Anahim
Lake, it turns into quite the river. In some spots it
widens out and shallows out enough to stand in the middle
with fly fishing gear and do some casting
into some of the sheltered pools for trout. But there
are many spots where the country gets steeper and the
river gets narrow and rugged. You can fish for steelhead
further down river, or drop down to the 'Valley'
and get in some of the best fly fishing in the world.
The Atnarko and Bella Coola Rivers offer Coho, Chinook,
Chum and Pink Salmon runs at different times of the year.
You can choose to use heavy salmon gear or flyfishing
gear, but the latter can be a real challenge because some
of those fish are big! A few years ago, probably about
'89 or early '90s a young fellow got an 87 pound salmon
on an 8 pound leader. It took him the whole day of running
up and down the river to keep that fish on and not break
his light line but he did it! I hear he was pretty exhausted
but I think he held a world record for a short time, until
someone else did the same thing up in Alaska. If you would
like to know more about freshwater fishing
in the area, go to the Fishing
page. I'll get back to the wildlife in the area with more
pictures soon.
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| 5/14/05
1:01
PM |
More Big Game Animals in The West Chilcotin
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Aside from Alaska, British Columbia is
blessed with the largest Grizzly bear population
in North America. The majority of BC is wilderness and
inaccessible by the general population, which suits the
grizzly just fine. Much of central and northern BC consists
of mountains, alpine, dense forest, and rivers teeming
with fish, exactly the type of habitat preferred by this
species. Grizzly like feeding on salmon and trout,
berries, meadow plants, grubs, ants and small mammals.
They're also quick to scavenge dead carcasses such as
deer, moose, caribou and elk from other predators. The
grizzly's size and weight usually precludes him from being
able to take down the large game himself, but he will
go after their young, including a rancher's calves. Again
because of their size and weight, and the length of their
enormous claws, this species can't climb trees the way
Black bears can. After fattening up in
the lowlands, their preferred place to hibernate for the
winter is high alpine. I've never read any
evidence for it, but I personally believe that denning
at higher altitudes makes it less likely for them to wake
up in the dead of winter when there is no food or water.
It is far more common for a grizzly to be seen in the
middle of winter during a warm spell than a black bear,
and I think on those occasions, the animal has denned
at too low an altitude. Scientists do say that Grizzlys
don't 'sleep' as hard and are more likely to wake up in
winter than Blacks. So there you go, unproven, but my
theory nonetheless. Bella Coola, on the coast of BC and
just west of Anahim Lake has one of the highest concentrations
of grizzly bear in the world. The reason? The Atnarko
and Bella Coola Rivers are teeming with spawning salmon
for over half the year. The Bella Coola region is mostly
dense rainforest at the lower levels, rich with berries
and other food for the bears and providing excellent cover.
The Tweedsmuir Park officials do an excellent
job of protecting both the safety of the bears as well
as the people who like to camp, hike and fish there. If
you would like to photograph Grizzly bears, there are
bear watching guides available.
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| 5/13/05
5:23
PM |
The Remarkable Wildlife in the West Chilcotin
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Big game abounds in the West Chilcotin,
and the area is a treasure trove for photo enthusiasts.
Spring is an especially good time to get pictures of animal
moms, and their offspring. Use caution, however, as the
ladies are generally very protective.
One of the oddest big game animals we have in the region
are moose. Much larger than a saddle horse,
they have a long head, ears, and jaw, and tremendously
long legs. Moose in British Columbia are
generally a rich dark brown or black with beige or grey
markings and a hump between their shoulder blades. Their
long legs are invaluable for wading deep water where they
like to feed on water plants. It's probably also why they
evolved with such long ears. One assumes that they like
to keep those above water to hear predators. The long
legs are also very useful in winter in deep snow. Although
an extremely ungainly looking creature that I have never
seen run, they have an unbelievable ground eating trot
and can lunge over fences and banks with ease. Moose have
really poor eyesight but make up for it with extraordinary
hearing and although a curious animal, they are very wary
of anything out of place in their surroundings. The only
time they are really, really dumb, is during mating season.
The bulls will stop at nothing to find a cow, and are
easily called in during hunting season as a result.
Cows usually only have one calf per year, but twins are
seen on occasion and it isn't unknown for the cow to have
triplets. The third calf rarely survives, however. The
cows are generally expected to have between eleven and
twelve calf producing years, but can live much longer
after they have stopped reproducing.
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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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