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Wilderness Adventures - September Week 2
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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!
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.
| 15/09/2005
9:09
PM |
Cowboy Architecture
|
Our
cowboys of old managed to add flare even to old
cattle chutes. Wood was something that was abundant in
the West Chilcotin, while metal was heavy
and awkward to cart over rutted wheel tracks from Williams
Lake to to points west. As a result, you'll see a lot
of old buildings made of logs that didn't require nails
to hold them together, nor did they require sawmilling.
An axe sufficed to flatten the sides and carve the ends
so that one log could sit flush on another to form a reasonably
weathertight building. Fences, round pens and chutes were
made much the same way. Where metal was required to attach
one log to another, more often than not, wire was used
because it went a lot further for its weight than nails
and didn't require carrying a hammer. The Russell
or Buckfence on the right uses wire to suspend
the poles under the teepee like supports, but I have seen
fences similarly styled in this country that require no
nails or wire that are still standing to this day. The
same goes for the Snake fence. The one in
the photo to the right is similar but not exactly like
the snake because it requires wire or a small pole to
hold the tops and bottoms of the support together, while
a true snake fence is one log piled on top of the next
like a log house, alternating at the corners and is angled
from side to side, hence its name. This kind of fence
requires no nails or wire, can make use of huge logs and
can last for years. Something else that you still
see here and there and many over a hundred years old,
are sod houses. First settlers to the area with
winter coming on fast found it easiest to dig into a dirt
bank, line the sides, top and face with logs, and build
a roof of dirt overtop. Though usually tiny, the sod house
proved to be windproof, predator proof, reasonably warm
with even a small amount of heat and was called home by
many for the first few winters. Even though living in
this region could be a day to day struggle for survival,
early settlers still found time to take pride in their
architecture and add a whimsical twist wherever possible.
|
| 14/09/2005
4:49
PM |
Fall
|
Autumn
has definitely arrived with a bang. Aspen that
were green only a few days ago are bright yellow, red
and orange. The shrubs and low growing kinnickinick or
bearberry are turning color and sporting bright red berries.
Birds of all sorts are flitting among the grasses collecting
seeds. There's lots of feed for birds and wildlife
this year. The rainy summer has given a real boost
to everything. It's not every year that you see cattle
and horses belly deep in wild grass and the coats that
I've seen on bears in the last few weeks are shiny and
healthy looking. A lot of the ranchers are haying now,
hoping and praying it won't rain on their crops. And no
wonder. I don't think I've ever seen greener or thicker
piles of hay in my life! Normally a time of bounty in
other parts of the country, summer is winding down
for us and we're deep into fall. Unless we get
a long Indian Summer, which is more than possible, we
could see snow on the ground any day now. I look every
day to see if there's snow on the mountains yet. Over
the past few weeks there's been fresh snow on and off
on the Rainbow Mountains and the Ulkatcho/Itcha Mountains.
There was even a dusting on Kappan and Razorback the other
morning. Fishing in the area is excellent and anglers
have been doing really well for rainbow trout in Nimpo
Lake. Abundant feed from the rains this year has
made the trout really thick and fat. The salmon
fishing has been excellent as well and I have
a mouthwatering Coho in my freezer that I can't wait to
cook up. Lots of camouflage gear walking around indicates
that the hunters are in for moose, caribou, deer
and bear. One would like to think this is the
season that you take a deep breath and relax after a busy
summer. But no, it's time to get in the winter's wood
and meat supply, get non-winterzed cabins shut down, water
lines drained and everything cleaned up before the snow
flies and the ground freezes. Then it's winter recreation
time! Snowmobiling, cross country skiing, or skating
on the lake ice. Check out our Winter
Activities and come join us for a winter
wonderland vacation!
|
| 13/09/2005
12:32
PM |
New Property for Sale Listing
|
I
have a new property listing for you to check
out if you're in the market for waterfront property. The
property is 6.7 acres located on the long arm of Nimpo
Lake with 340' of lake frontage and a spectacular
view of the Coastal Mountain range. The
house is built into the hill overlooking the lakeshore
with extra glass facing the lake, upper and lower Patios,
custom made contoured plank doors, 2 bedrooms and a den/bedroom
upstairs. There is a small workshop, laundry room, pantry,
and large family room downstairs. The house is equipped
with an economical woodstove and a Propane Furnace. The
basement walls are double 2x6 walls (12" thick). The Master
Bedroom has phone, TV and a walk-in closet. The kitchen
has an in-counter mixmaster. The house has a Central Vacuum
System. The downstairs Patio has 220v wiring for a Hot
Tub and extra lights. There are rock facings in the living
room and downstairs patio wall. The house has both Starchoice
and C Band Satellite dishes. The cabin is fully equipped
with complete kitchen & bathroom facilities and insulated
for winter. It measures about 530 Sq. Ft. The log two-car
garage has a workbench and two lofts for storage. It has
a cement floor and some electrical. The log workshop is
fully insulated and has a separate car space that is double
insulated and drywalled for dustcontrol. The attic is
used for storage. the workshop has a woodstove for heating.
The electrical power supply is 220v. The drywall side
of the workshop has a cement floor and the workshop side
has both insulated wood and polished cement flooring.
Both have double pane glass. Workshop side has an insulated
sliding door and the other has an insulated roll-up door.
The property has all the grounds cleared and fully treed
with up to 24" trees. There are two options to purchase
this property;
1. Buy complete, including furnishings $420,000
2. Buy half the property - House, workshop, corrals, 2car
garage for $320,000
or buy the Cabin side for $160,000
Owner will do the subdividing at his cost and the survey
has already been completed. For more information and pictures
go to the Properties
for Sale Page.
|
| 11/09/2005
3:19
PM |
Moose Hunting
|
Something
not approved of by everyone, but a necessity for
many in the Chilcotin. It isn't a subject I will
bring up much simply because so many urbanites have a
lack of understanding or sympathy for the roots of hunting
for meat. However, across many of the provinces of Canada
and north to the territories and Alaska, hunting is often
one of necessity. Here in the Chilcotin, many families,
both aboriginal and otherwise would be going without meat
of any kind if they were unable to hunt for it
because it just isn't affordable for them at the grocery
stores. The same applies to me. There are many years in
my past where I would have had no meat on the table at
all had I been unable to hunt. Although I can afford to
buy meat now, hunting for it is a tradition that I enjoy,
I like the taste and health benefits of wild meat,
and it still helps out the grocery budget. We're blessed
with an abundance of big game animals here
and a very strict limited entry hunting policy in the
region designed to maintain healthy game populations.
Yesterday was the first day of hunting for me because
I have a limited entry tag for bull moose
for September. The cool part is that it is for the local
area; my old stomping grounds before limited entry hunting
was brought in for the region, and an area that I know
well for hunting. Well, did. That was many years ago so
I spent a few hours yesterday trying to find old trails
that I used to walk into to reach the meadows that moose
like to hang out in. Fifteen years makes a lot of
difference to how much a trail has grown over
and to my memory. We did see a nice black bear
and her two cubs cross the road in front of us
though. Unfortunately, by the time I could get the camera
out and take a picture, she was deep in the woods. You
can just see the black of the mother in the picture on
the right. She is behind the trees to the right where
she has stopped to put her cubs between her and us. They're
the little bit of black you can see in the left side of
the picture. Totally unlike the bears underneath that
were on the side of the highway in the Bella Coola
Valley last Sunday. Those bears are very
accustomed to people stopping and taking their pictures.
I've started a new week, so if you would like to see all
the great animal pics from last week you'll find it here
at September
1 .
|
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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