Last weekend, we decided to something a little off the wall,
but appropriate for this kind of blog. So, in the spirit of Backyard
Adventures, we set off for the South Chilcotin.
I had heard about a ranch outside of Gold Bridge, BC, 2
hours west of Lillooet. From Vancouver, we have a choice of 3 ways to get
there. The first way is to drive up the TransCanada Hwy (route 1) to Lytton,
then west on the 12 to Lillooet. From there we go west on route 40, a rough
back road highway that runs along Bridge River and Carpenter Lake. The second
route goes from Vancouver up to Pemberton on the Sea to Sky Hwy (route 99), and
continue to Lillooet, then follow route 40. The third, and likely the most
interesting of the 3, is the Hurley River Rd Forestry Service Road. This route
is not for the light-hearted, occasional traveler. FSRs are affected by
weather, floods, slides, and washouts. They are rough gravel trails, at best.
These are not the roads you drive a car on. So we didn’t. Next time?
On the way up, we took the TransCanada Hwy. Along the way,
we decides to stop at a couple of geocaches. Nothing major in numbers, but just
something to break the monotony of the drive. As it happened, we chose a few
roadside stops that had waterfalls.
The drive up to Lytton was pretty much uneventful, but the
road between Lytton and Lillooet? That was another story. Not a bad one; just a
really long one. We hadn’t driven this highway since before we were married –
that’s over 26 years! – and I must say, I did not remember much of it at all,
and even wondered if maybe we went the wrong way? It is a narrow road, winding
around the hills, with some especially narrow corners that only one car can
safely navigate. To make it even more fun, we got stuck behind a student driver
… in a semi with trailer! There were corners that did not register on our speedometer,
and there were no safe places to pass. Finally, a safe place made itself shown,
and a few of us roared past, hoping that no one was coming around the next
corner!
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| From Lillooet News |
Lillooet has grown considerably in the last 2 decades. I
remember it being a depressing little village, full of sad faces, no employment
opportunities, and everyone was leaving the town and not coming back. Now, it
is “guaranteed rugged”, advertising eco- and adventure tours mountain biking,
river rafting, and winter sports. There are a number of cute shops on Main St
that have a historic flair to them, including a couple of restaurant and
hotels.
From Lillooet, Route 20 took us winding through a few
passes, down some great switchbacks through Moha, a small community along
Bridge River, and down to the dam at the east end of Carpenter Lake. From there
it is due west along the lake to enjoy some beautiful scenery; huge mountains
sloping sharply down to the lake, and a road that seems to be literally cut
into the slide area of the mountainside. As the driver, I had to watch for
rocks on the road, but what worried me more was the chance of seeing rocks
coming down the mountain! We were fortunate, and we managed to miss all the big
ones!
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| Wildlife? |
Carpenter Lake was created by the completion of the Terzaghi
Dam in 1960[1].
The dam itself doesn’t create power, but the water is diverted through a tunnel
in the mountain to the Seton Lake dam. What to dam does create is a 50km long
lake with water in various shades of greens and blues, stunning vistas and
reflections of mountains and skies, and beautiful waterfalls and creeks,
perfect for wildlife viewing. We saw none. Typical. Well, we saw some people in
a tent.
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| Tyax Lodge |
The turnoff to our eventual destination came sooner than we
thought it would. The Tyaughton Lake Road leads to Tyaughton Lake, and to Tyax
Lodge, a year round getaway for city folk that want to hunt, fish, ride horses,
and just sit in the spa for up to thousands of dollars a day. The road also
leads to Gun Creek Road, and up a windy mountain trail to Chilcotin Holidays,
an adventure tourism wilderness ranch. This was our destination. (to be
continued!)
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