Rev. 9/10/01

Alaska & beyond - continued 9/08 - 9/11
Vanderhoof to Williams Lake to Bella Coola

Looking at the map of BC, I saw the road to Bella Coola.  I'd always been interested in seeing that part of Canada -- I've got the time so let's do it!  

Bella Colla is about as isolated as you can get -- there aren't roads within two hundred miles north or south, and its over a two hundred mile drive into it.  Saw a Landsat photo of the area. -- what it shows is a very narrow green strip along all the rivers, with huge white ice fields in between.  The operative word is -- Isolated.

Drove down to Williams Lake.  It was evening when I got there.  The only RV camp in the whole area is inside the fair grounds, the "Home of the Famous Williams Lake Stampede."  And this is "Stampede" weekend.

So here I am, surrounded by millions of horses -- large, medium and small -- and additional millions of bawling cows -- Stampede's in full swing -- horses in front of me, horses behind me.

The Hawaii plate on the RT started a conversation with a number of men, there in the camp ground, as it frequently does.  And then, naturally, the conversation turned to horses.  They said there would be a big auction on Sunday.  One said he bought two horses a couple of years back for a "song."  He had shown both today, and had won prizes.

Two deer cross the road ahead of me.  They were coming up from a morning drink at the river, headed for the hills during the day.  Too far away to get a picture, but fun to watch.

Along the way I ran into a stretch where they had used a different kind of fence next to the road.  I've never seen a fence like this.  The closest thing to it, was down in the canyon country of central Utah, years ago.  There they built a similar fence to keep deer out of their gardens. 

Pavement ended.  Finally reached the boundary of Tweedsmuir Prov. Park.  At this point the elevation is close to five-thousand feet.

The mountains to the south are smoothed and rounded, indicating they were under the glacier during the Ice Age.  The mountains to the west, the coastal range, are still sharp and rugged, they were sticking up above the glacier.  But not too far up, their sides have been smoothed by glacier action.

Just a couple of miles into the park the road crosses Heckman Pass, 1524 meters high, exactly 5,000 feet.

This is where the road really starts down -- locally its call "The Hill."  This time the sign, saying "steep mountain road," really is correct -- it is a very narrow, single track, dirt road, with only turn outs for passing.  Most of it is 18% grade, and it drops from five thousand feet elevation, to about a thousand feet at the bottom.  I've driven many roads like this, but never one as long!  All you can do is put it in first gear and let it grind -- down, and down, and down -- slow, but safe.

Near the bottom the road is facing a large cross in the snow, way up on a mountain.  Spectacular!

Finally the road is at river level.  I spotted an eagle sitting on a stump near the river edge.  As soon as I stopped and got out of the RT, he flew away.  Saw a second one across the river, high in a tree.  Got one picture, but he was gone before I could take another -- they sure are spooky.

Wound my way down though the narrow river valley -- I'm going to try fishing it.  Finally came to the Indian village of Bella Coola at the mouth of the river.

The Bella Coola Indians make good use of their art, from totem poles to painting.  Many businesses in the village are decorated with it -- I like it.

What I've read about the Bella Coola art, is, isolated to some extent, by the long fiord reaching so far inland, they developed similar, but slightly different, art style from their neighbors.  They specialized more in house painting, not as much emphasis on large totem pole carving.

The house entrance pole is appropriate to what I've read.  It is an interesting pole.

All in all, their use of art, shows they have great pride in it, and they fit it into their everyday modern life.

Beyond the town, the road narrows and continues several miles more down the fiord to the harbor.

There is an old cannery out on a wharf.  And the Canadian Ferry system has a wharf  there.  A small fleet of fishing boats are also moored.

There appears to be a dirt logging road, continuing on down the fiord, but I didn't follow it -- too late in the day.  I need to find a camp for the night and get something to eat.

The, almost normal and natural, refuse of a harbor, provides grist for an interesting picture.

Next morning I got to thinking, why not take the ferry from Bella Coola up to Prince Rupert, instead of the long drive back -- new experience.  Drove to the ferry terminal.  No one there -- went into town and asked about the ferry schedule.  "The last ferry for the year left this morning.  If you really want to go by ferry, you'll have to wait until next spring.  If you want to get out this year, you only have one choice, that's 'The Hill'."  Not the answer I wanted but ..........

Yesterday the RV camp owner suggested I might like to drive up to Odegaard Falls, way up on a side road.  He gave my a sheet with direction.  It was about eighteen - twenty miles back in mountains to the south, up on a logging road.

About half way there I came to a clear spot in the road which gave a good view of one of the many glaciers hanging up in the mountains.

Then, as I kept climbing and neared where the falls were -- there they were.  They just pour right off the top of a ridge.  Even from this distance I could see the spray and mist blown from them as the water tumbled down.  Impressive!  Well worth the drive.

Odegaard Stream flows into the Nusatsum River, which the road followed up.  When ever it crossed the river, I stopped to see if I could see salmon in it.  Apparently it is still a bit early for that river.

Came back and drove across the Bella Coola River on a side road, and went down stream about four miles or so.  There the road crossed a small river, the Saloompt.  I stopped, it was loaded with Pinks moving up to spawn.

At this point, just a few hundred feet from the river's entrance into the Bella Coola, I had a good chance to observe how the migrating fish behave.  The main body gathered  on the slow water side of the seam between the main central flow and slower flow, almost an eddy.  A small group gathered very close to the bank on the other side, as they moved up the river.  Further upstream, there was pool where a short rapid came in from above.  They were packed in the pool, a dense mass, waiting to go up through the rapid.  

Took a side road that followed the Saloompt River up about five miles -- lots of Pinks up there, many spawning.  The area they were digging redds in was over to the side, out of the heavy flow, in shallower but moving water.  Those still moving on upstream appeared to group in the shelter behind large rocks and again, along the dividing seam next to the main flow.   What a sight to watch.

Went back to the Bella Coola to watch the fish move there.  The river is milky from very fine glacier silt.  I could see maybe three feet into it.  On the north side of the river, at the bridge abutment, there is a sheer cliff going into the water.  There was a fast current going along this bank.  Standing there, looking down at the water, every few seconds a fish would appear out of the milky water,coming close to the surface, not more than a few inches to a foot from the rock shore, and dart upstream.  There was a steady flow of fish moving up here, in this manner.

Across, on the other shore, was a gently slopping gravel bank.  I could see fish, not more than ten - fifteen feet out.  Many would swirl to the surface in the milky flow.  There didn't seem to be any fish out in the central, main flow.

Now, can I apply these observation to steelhead?  We'll find out.

Maps

• 9/08/01 - 9/09/01 Vanderhoof to Williams Lake to Bella Colla

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