This Week's Walks - Fox Mountain

 

We've hiked along the ridge on Fox Mountain a couple of times this week, enjoying the views down across the lake.

This Week's Walks - Scout Island

 Took our usual walks around town.  At Scout Island Leo got a few good photos of birds on their migration south.

Savannah Sparrow

I like this moody photo of a young clay-coloured sparrow

Heron hiding in the reeds

Osprey fishing in the lake

Still lots of cedar waxwings about 

Starting to see some colour in the foliage.

First trip on the Horsefly River of the Year

 

Wow! It's the first time we made it out to the Horsefly this year and it's already late August.  But the Horsefly was at flood levels into July (our friend Glen's daughter flipped his raft at Fast Eddy in July) and later we were travelling and busy. 

But Leo sold one of his kayaks to our friend's son so that spurred us on to get on the water.

The water was at a perfect level, still high for August.

Leo and Kelly had a blast trying to surf the wave at Fast Eddy in our inflatable.

And even went for a swim.

Paddling back upstream after capsizing

We had such a good time we're going again this week and have talked a few more people into joining us.

So Long SweetTopaz

 

Leo pretty much sold our travel trailer without letting me know. We've discussed buying a newer trailer, and it's had its issues but before I knew it, he'd put an ad on Kijiji and we got a ton of replies.  The first person who came to look at this morning bought it.  I guess we should have priced it higher.

Lots of memories in that trailer.  I'm sorry to see it go.

Back Home Again

 And back to the usual routine.

Leo at Otter Point, Scout Island

We walked around Scout Island one evening.  You can see many of the shrubs have been damaged by long term flooding.  The water levels have finally dropped enough so we could cross the bridge to the far island for the first time since early spring.  The gnats were really bad, not biting but getting in our noses and mouths.

We went for a paddle on the lake with Wolfred and his newly purchased kayak.

Camera foggy, not the weather

And our regular Sunday walk in the creek valley.  

The levels in the William's Lake River are finally starting to drop but Leo was still able to paddle it this week.  Usually the level is too low by the end of May.

A Few Days in Smithers

 

We spent two days at my mother's house in Smithers.  One afternoon we went paddling on Lake Kathleen with Syb and Dave.

We explored the creek that drains the lake.  It's always fun sneaking down a narrow creek.

Stole this one off Sybille's Facebook.

If you test drive a boat from Aquabatics, the local kayak dealer, you can launch from a small dock on the creek near the shop and paddle up the creek to the lake.

We came across some loons.

Boya Lake to Smithers

 

The next two days were driving days. On our drive from Boya Lake to Meziadin Lake Provincial Park we saw 8 bears along the side of the highways, mostly mama's and Cubs feasting on clover.  There was some concern about gassing up with a trailer in tow and most of the first nations communities closed to visitors, but in the end it was no problem getting to Dease Lake and then to Bell II.  It turned out the Iskut gas station was open even though there were barriers on the roads leading off from the highway.

Meziadin Lake where we camped was busy but not full, we found a spot for the 3 of us together at the very top, furthest away from the lake.

The next day we saw 3 more bears and a coyote.  We stopped in New Hazelton to use the sanidump at the info centre and picked up bread and pastries at the excellent Skeena Bakery, where they train people with disabilities.

We stopped one more time at Moricetown (oops, they're called Witset now) for a group photo before we parted ways.

In the background they are betting salmon at the falls

A Day on the Dease

 

We wanted to do a day paddle on the Dease River.  We found out from the parks operator that there's a road that leads from Boya Lake to the Dease River.  Mark and Leah decided not to paddle so they drove us to the Putin.

Getting ready to put in.

And we're off.

We paddled 46 km to the next takeout at French Creek Recreation Site.  It took us 5-1/2 hours.

Spent the day catching up to the Davidsons in our pokey inflateable

The river was mostly flat and uneventful, but it was great to be back on the river.

We didn't see much wildlife, 2 otters, an eagle, kingfishers, spotted sandpiper and swallows.

Lunch on a gravel bar.  Glen is checking his GPS not his cellphone. No coverage here.

Mark and Leah picked us up at French Creek.  We hadn't checked the takeout ahead of time so there's always a worry you'll float by without seeing it, but it was obvious.

We were all feeling our age.  We were exhausted after a full day of paddling.

Cassiar and Boya Lake Paddle

Started off the day with a woman yelling bear in the campsite.  Leah looked out of her trailer and saw a big cinnamon bear ambling down the road, but people yelling and dogs barking scared ot off.

It's about a half hour drive from Boya Lake to Cassiar, the former asbestos mine.  Glen used to work in the mining industry so he was keen to check out the mine site.  

We drove in on  the road til it deadended

on the set of the Disccovery Channel reality show Jade Fever.  And sure enough two of the show's stars, Scrappy Larry and his partner Susan, came over and were eager to talk.  I recognized them from watching their show when I was visiting my mother in Smithers this June. They told us the mine and town site were gated so we turned around.

Glen was able to access the giant mountain of tailings and pick up a few pieces of jade and asbestos.

A view of the tailings pile from our lunch spot

The Indian paintbrushes were at their peak along the roadside:

Next we drove a little further to Jade City itself and checked out the store.

They were actually filming the next season of the show.

So if you happen across the show sometime, check to see if we're in it!

There's big hunks of jade on display,

This looks like there's asbestos fibres in this sample

This boulder has been carved into a fish.

They are taking Covid-19 seriously at Jade City. 

You can't go into the store without a mask on.  But the locals were all sitting outside together, maskless (no judgement, so were we).  And the Boss, Claudia, wasn't wearing one while filming either.

When we got back to Boya

we went for a paddle around the lake, saw a beaver, and swam off the boat ramp when we returned.  This way we able to stay out of the mud.

Muncho to Boya Lake

 A long driving day. We weren't on the road for long when we came upon a herd of wood bison.

We stopped for reasonably priced gas at Toad River Lodge but when we asked about filling our tank with water they said they'd charge us the daily rate for camping ($45).  So we passed.  But these traditional Alaska Highway lodges are suffering and many of them have closed.

The hotsprings at Liard Hotsprings Provincial Park are closed due to the pandemic (though you can still camp there) so we'll have to visit again some other time.  We stopped in looking for a sanidump, but they told us that none of the parks up here have sanidumps.

After Liard the highway dekes into the Yukon and we stopped again at Contact Creek Lodge because they have cheap gas.  

A quintessential Alaska Highway lodge

Just before Watson Lake we were stopped by the border patrol, asking for contact information and where we were going. (British Columbians are welcome to vacation in the Yukon, but Alaskans  must drive right through). We explained we were just passing through to the Stewart-Cassiar Highway and were soon on our way.

We stopped at Watson Lake to use their Free sanidump, had lunch in their lakeside park, picked up groceries (recommend their apple fritters) and fill with fresh water at the tourist information.  👍👍for Watson Lake!

It was 30 degrees when we arrived at Boya Lake Provincial Park.  The place was hopping but we found 3 sites together, set up and then hurried down for a swim.  We were surprised to find we sank down to our knees in the silty bottom.   Quicksand! Once we got in it was the warmest lake yet and we actually stayed in for some time.  Coming out we got all muddy and had to hose off back at camp.

Foolishly, Leo, Mark and I went for a 3 km hike afterwards and got all hot and sticky again.  We took a trail to an impressively large beaver dam

built by an impressively large beaver.

Daily bear count:  Seven seen along the highway on our route!