Chilcotin BC Holiday

[westyss]

Here's the start to our Chilcotin , BC holiday trip report that was recently completed.


Allright, here we go,,

Left work a bit early on Friday and we got on the road a little after five thirty with Fountain lake as our first destination to visit with some friends that live there. Uneventfully arriving as it was getting dark.

Next morning.

We had a slow get up but eventually got outside and sat around for a bit, while sitting at the edge of the lake this duck strolls up to us, preens itself for five minutes then curls up next to us for a nap?? This type of animal behavior was to be the theme for our trip.

We did our visiting and while we were thinking about if we were going to stay another night a bunch of loud mouth shnooks from the city set up next to us so that made our decision easy....leave!

On our way out of Fountain valley we spotted this cool headstone in an indian cemetary.

Then just around the corner we ran into mom and her two cubs on the road, here they are running away but the little ones were tumbling and rolling trying to keep up with mom, very entertaining.

From there we travelled north, needed to wait for this guy to get onto the track, slick.

Passing Kelly Lake and Provincial Park.

And parralelling the Marble Range on the way.

At the turn off for the Big Bar ferry they had a fire fighting camp set up with security people all over the place including stopping folks from going towards Big Bar and its surroundings, that way was a no go for us

so we wandered into Little Big Bar lake rec site, stuff I read stated that it could be accessed by a rough road, this was not the case as the road was real good.

Little Big Bar lake.

Officially starting our holiday with a margarita!!

 

[westyss]

We stayed at Little Big bar for three nights.

And keeping with the theme of the trip, this little guy was all over us, around our chairs, in, on under the truck and just around the whole time, we must of been in his personnal space or something?

The site was very quiet, only another couple about 500 feet away and they had been there for ten days already.

Cutting some wood with the standard issue safety items like crocs and a pair of shorts.....dont do this at home kids!

We did a few bike rides, one to Big Bar Provincial park, about 20 kilometers.

And to some other lakes for a swim as the weather was perfect.

Mooove cow!

It was a very relaxing start to our holiday but due to being unorganised in general we needed to get to some civilization for resupply, we also needed to make some northerly headway so unfortunatly we headed out of the area and hit a highway to Williams Lake.

With a little stop along the way at a fire lookout. Here is the Marble Range from the lookout.

360 degree view.

A few of the many four leaf clovers my wife finds all the time.

After doing all of our running around it was starting to get late so another rec site not far off the number 20 highway that takes you to Bella Coola was our next destination.

Along the way I spotted another bear.

Arriving at MacIntyre Lake rec site, another quiet place with nobody around.

Except this guy, who saw us arrive, and promptly climbed the bank and came right up to us and just stood there?? If I went around the other side of the truck he would do the same? It was kinda awkward!

We setted in for the night here, tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

 

[Ray Hyland]

Awesome, looking forward to more.

 

[westyss]

Next day we got up early, well, early for us that is, and guess who shows up as soon as we go outside ......

that's right, awkward duck following me around, we packed up and got going!


Hung a left at Riske Creek and headed for Sheep Junction Provincial Park

Found a cache at the junction to the park.

I cant tell you much about this place other than its a protected area for California Mountain Sheep and isnt often visited, it states that its a four wheel drive only.

The trail starts out in the trees

and after a few kilometers turns into rolling grasslands.

It felt like we were on a safari!

Never did see any sheep in this park, but saw this snake.

And glad I didn't see whatever made these prints

We hung out for a while and were glad we ventured out here, its about 12-15 kilometers (8-9 miles) one way, saw no one the whole time and an easy road to drive .

Some off camber , steep parts and mud are all you will see.

Next off to Farwell Canyon.

 

[Overland Hadley]

:lurk:

 

[Ford Prefect]

:lurk:

 

[westyss]

Farwell canyon; I saw the place in my mapbook and it showed some hoodoo's and petryglyphs and it was on the Chilcotin river, so it looked like a good spot to go to, little did I know that it was to be the highlight of our trip and we ended up hanging around there for several days.

here in no particular order are the pics.

Hoodoo overlooking the Chilcotin River.

Hoodoo's

Deserted homestead.

Our camp spot

And some of what we did.

there are many California Big Horn Sheep in the area and they are a skitish bunch, very cautious,

My wife saw this one a long ways off and when I pulled the camera out he took off even though he was a kilometer away?

We did several little side trips.

Don't get close to the edge.

Yeah right!

We explored many little off shoot roads that went no where.

Also did a hike out to the sand dunes, wasn't far as the crow flies but to get there I had to go deep into the ravines then back out again.

Dunes are in the middle of this pic and overlook the river.

Truck is a speck in the left middle of this pic.

At the dunes looking down on the Chilcotin river.

And a view of the hoodoo's

Wierd place for sand dunes.

Looking down on camp.

SNAKE!!

Local folk dip netting salmon.

Glyph's, we did find a few cache's here too.

Our camp spot showing the remains of a past camp site where the locals smoked and cured their salmon, these camps were all over the place and dip netting was seen all along the Fraser River.

We had a fire every night and cooked every dinner on an open fire, here is a gourmet sausages and a can of beans!!

We sure were reluctant to leave but did any way, slowly working our way closer to home, from here we took the back roads to Churn Creek.

 

[gm13]

Looks like a great trip in a sweet rig. Don't see much from that area, great wildlife sightings too. Thanks for posting

 

[Clem]

Looks like a great trip. Thanks for sharing!

Clem

 

[Ford Prefect]

Wow, that is just great. Thanks a lot for sharing... Beautiful place that you live.

 

[westyss]

On the road for Gang Ranch and Churn creek, the road was a mix of forest and opened up to rolling grassland.

Black bear on the way.

Down into a valley and over Gaspard Creek.

And to Gang Ranch, at one time the biggest ranch in North America.

Hoodoo along the way.

To Churn Creek, another protected grassland.

We found a nice sandy spot on the banks of the Fraser River for the night.

With a view of the rugged eroded banks.

The sun going down a little earlier in the Fraser Canyon.

Churn Creek.

We had another fire at night and kept the streak going for all dinners made over an open fire for the trip, we a good night.




Next day,
We weren't in too much of a hurry to get going as today we were leaving the trails and working our way towards home, just one more night.

Crossing the Fraser river.

Don't jump!

After crossing the river we started our climb out the canyon and had a view of last nights camp area on the far side of the river.

Another hoodoo.

We started to notice the change in climate and of active farming as we travelled.

Cruising along I noticed this big rock crack, notice also the power lines,, nearing civilization.

Finally hitting the pavement after five hours of dirt and heading south for our last camp site closer to home.

Didn't beat the train at the crossing so had to wait ten minutes for the train to pass.

Nearing our next camp stop we spotted a herd of sheep with some little ones tagging along.

Arriving at one of our usual favorite on route camp sites.

Went for a little walk and saw this osprey nest, we watched the parent trying to teach its youngen how to fish and fly.

And pulled the cactus from out of our flip flops, nasty stuff!!

Had our last fire, and kept the streak alive, another good night but its always sad when the trip nears the end.


Next day we hung out all day, had dinner and blasted home in time for bed and work the next day, boo!



We took the canoe but never put it in the water, I had a very loose travel plan and might have gone to Nasco Lakes for a few days but never got there, we find that if a place is nice, quiet and interesting we stay, why leave until we are ready. No itinerary , just a day that I need to be home for work.

We kept track of
Animals seen: - momma bear and her two cubs
- four other bears
- many mountain sheep
- humongous toad
- two owls
- beaver
- four snakes
- biggest caterpillar I have ever seen, about the size of a mans thumb
- several grouse and pheasant
-lost count at thirty two dear
- marmots
-turkey vulture
- eagles and osprey herons etc.
- big eared coyote

thanks for reading.

 

[Billhilly]

thanks for reading.

Thanks for taking the time to post up the pic's and words! What a great set up, and you certainly live in a Province with massive opportunity for exploration. Have you ever been out to Bella Coola in the truck?
Where I lived up Highway 33 there were roads all the way north (on the eastern side of the lake) to Vernon. In fact we went logging once down the 401 which funnily enough was called the 401 cause it was 401 k's long. It ran from some where east of Oliver (?) all the way north to right near the Big White turn off on 33. So you could basically drive from the border to Vernon, on the eastern side of the valley with only a few k's of seal. And quite a few sights in between. Looking forward to the next report!

 

[redthies]

Hoodoo you love? Lots of pics man! You must be a Hoodoo Guru by know! Looks like a great trip.

What is the story on your rig? Is it a custom body? I've seen the Aussie built Fuso campers, but never with hard side pop up. I want one! How does the Fuso rate for long days driving? I drive one for work (4x4, but still duals on the rear), and the front suspension is really harsh.

 

[westyss]

Thanks for taking the time to post up the pic's and words! What a great set up, and you certainly live in a Province with massive opportunity for exploration. Have you ever been out to Bella Coola in the truck?
Where I lived up Highway 33 there were roads all the way north (on the eastern side of the lake) to Vernon. In fact we went logging once down the 401 which funnily enough was called the 401 cause it was 401 k's long. It ran from some where east of Oliver (?) all the way north to right near the Big White turn off on 33. So you could basically drive from the border to Vernon, on the eastern side of the valley with only a few k's of seal. And quite a few sights in between. Looking forward to the next report!

you are welcome!
No havent been to Bella Coola yet but I will, BC is a big province with some varied terrain and forestry roads all over it.

 

[westyss]

Hoodoo you love? Lots of pics man! You must be a Hoodoo Guru by know! Looks like a great trip.

What is the story on your rig? Is it a custom body? I've seen the Aussie built Fuso campers, but never with hard side pop up. I want one! How does the Fuso rate for long days driving? I drive one for work (4x4, but still duals on the rear), and the front suspension is really harsh.

Hoodoos are great! but I like any cool geological formation's, I built my rig myself, build thread here;

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/48351-out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new

Upgraded seats, tires and suspension and now the ride is good, I drove from home from Vegas in two long days and the seats saved my butt. (National Air seats)
There are quite a few FG's around the Vancouver area now, seems like an FG hotspot!