Reconnaissance Trip to the Junction

We drove out to the sheep reserve at the junction of the Chilcotin and Fraser Rivers yesterday to see if the balsam root flowers were blooming yet.

First we made the obligatory stop at the Sheep Creek Bridge over the Fraser River

to check out the water level.

It hasn't come up yet.

We got a little lost trying to find the fields of flowers since the ranch owners have pushed in a new logging road across the track, and we wound up following the new road back to the Farwell Canyon road.

Next we drove in past the kiosk toward the Junction, but then somehow missed the turnoff and wound up all the way to the Fraser again.

Still, not a bad day to be lost on the Chilcotin Plateau

On our way back we found a herd of cattle at intersection, they must have obscured the sign and the track when we came by the first time.

So we drove in

No flowers yet!

only to the beginning of the flowers as we could see they were just starting to bloom.

But they'll probably be perfect for a Mother's Day outing this Sunday if the warm weather keeps up as forecasted.

There were large flocks of horned larks flying up before our truck as we drove along.  Coincidentally, there was an email request when we got home from a biologist studying nesting horned larks in the Smithers area.  He was asking for sightings of banded birds to see if they migrate through the Chilcotin.

We didn't see any banded birds though.