Walhachin and Wildfire Tourism Part 1

View of Thompson River from Walhachin

 On our second day at Juniper Beach we took a driving tour of the area. We'd never been to Walhachin, a semi ghost town on the other side of the Thompson River.  It was settled by British colonists who tried to turn it into an Orchard and farming community but it was mostly abandoned after most of the men enlisted in the First World War and the irrigation flume was damaged.  Now there are about 25 people living there.  

There's a good spot for birding right before the Walhachin bridge.  We forgot to take any pictures of the town which is a mix of nicely kept up homes and junky rural hoarder hovels.

The wildfires came just up to the top of the hills behind the townsite.  We tried to drive up to get a look but the Forest Service road was closed for safety reasons.  (All the wildfires were out after rains in late August/early September.)

There's more people living on the highway side of the bridge now on recently developed properties.  We checked them out too.  There's even a vineyard down by the river that we could see from the old townsite side.

Next we used the facilities at Steelhead Provincial Park in Savona.  This campsite was also almost full. 

Then we drove to Tunkwa Lake Park to see the wildfire there.  The park was closed but we drove in anyway.

Scofflaw

The park is burnt right to the roads and the lake, but all the campsites and infrastructure were spared.  

When we drove further towards Logan Lake the fire had burned very hot.  A few structures were lost but most were saved though the rest of their properties we burned.

The fire burned very hot here. You can see the ghosts of where the fallen trees burnt to ash.

Logan Lake was not affected by the fire though they were all evacuated. We meant to have lunch there but Leo forgot his wallet and his vaccine pass and there are no takeout places in this small mining town.