Following Two Seasons in the Magnificent North West – British Columbia

A man who keeps company with glaciers comes 

to feel tolerably insignificant by and by.

Mark Twain

Amish ladies at Salmon Glacier near Stewart, BC

Amish can use cameras to take pictures of nature

One of the very few glaciers you can drive to

And see from above…

It is whispered there are only two seasons in British Columbia: winter and road repair.  I was here during road repair season.  One cannot rush but merely enjoy slow fragmented drives in this gorgeous part of the northwest.  

Although it was also forest fire season, the smoke wasn’t too widespread.  It was here and there until, near the end of the trip when I hit the Jasper/Banff area where I couldn’t even see the mountains on either side of the highway.  Thankfully this wasn’t my first trip to Jasper/Banff and with the insane number of tourists, I was happy to swiftly leave the mayhem behind. 

In general, the atmosphere in northern BC is a bit different than anything else I have encountered to date in the USA and the rest of Canada.  The following quote seen on a roadside billboard appears to encapsulate what I have been experiencing when meeting locals. 

Our cowboys are said to combine

a Mexican vaquero’s skills, equipment and clothes,

a US frontiersman’s grit and resourcefulness,

a First Nation’s respect for nature and

a British gentleman’s manners and sense of law and order,

all topped off with a cowboy’s unique brand of humor. 

Unlike most other ranching areas in North America,

First Nations here were treated as equals

and key partners in the cattle industry. 

The same holds true today.

There is a calmer sense of life here, a greater feeling of respect for people who are not like you and for the forces of nature, probably because people depend more on one another in this less forgiving environment.  I especially appreciate this way proportional to the constant discord seen and heard in the news and experienced in the USA these days.

Steveston: All the beauty and serenity of a postcard, right in front of your eyes

The smell of saltwater fills the air as boats ebb and flow in the harbor. Bald eagles survey the waters from offshore.  I am standing by the Fraser River at the Britannia Shipyard site.  This National Historic Site is separated into two sections: one that highlights ship building / repair and another that takes you back in time to explore what life might have been like for the many workers who came from very different backgrounds.

Walking into the main ship building, you’re welcomed by an imposing boat currently under restoration. Watching ongoing repairs by shipwrights is quite fascinating. The building was originally used as a fish cannery and was converted into a shipyard and maritime repair station in 1917.  Inside, it is now part museum and part workshop.  

S.S. Master (red chimney on the left)

On the Fraser River next to key ship repair building

The S.S. Master, a fully operational steam powered tugboat, was tied to the dock. The boat is nearly 90 years old and apparently still runs. Its engine is a scaled-down version of the one found in the Titanic.

Britannia Shipyard building, 1885

Authentic representation of a once thriving community of

canneries, boatyards, residences and stores on stilts.

Chinese, Europeans, Japanese and First Nations worked together here. 

Wandering down the long boardwalk, you come upon the stilt houses that were once home to fishermen and some families. Inside, you can immediately tell the social order difference among the folks who lived here. The manager’s house is a beautiful Victorian home adorned with wallpaper and the best furnishings money could buy.  The men’s bunkhouse, on the other hand, looks like an unfinished dorm room.  

Stilt houses along the boardwalk

At the end of the boardwalk is the Chinese bunkhouse – the last in the Pacific Northwest – which was where immigrant workers were housed. Between 75–100 men would live in one home!

This was a relaxed way to step back in time and see/feel the life and working conditions of these immigrants.  The heritage of fishing and the Japanese who built the industry in Steveston are evident everywhere – the nearby Martial Arts Centre was the first ‘dojo’ house ever built outside of Japan.

The Musqueam First Nations (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm – oldest known residents of Vancouver area and descendants of the Coastal Salish) people fished the mouth of the Fraser River for thousands of years.  With salmon, halibut and herring so plentiful, they were ultimately overrun with foreign fishermen looking to make a living after depleting other fishing areas far away!  Canning started in 1871, and by 1891 there were 45 canneries along the river.  Canning provided a livelihood for Chinese, First Nations, Europeans and Japanese, who dominated the fishing industry. 

Canned salmon was sent all over the world.  The locals even called their fishing village ‘Salmonopolis’.  With automation, canneries soon disappeared but they are what made Steveston and the Fraser River is still home to the largest salmon run in North America.

Tides play a very important role here

Old idle stilts sprouting out of battleship grey water and grasses

As Canada’s largest industrial fishing port, Steveston was founded around 1870 by fishermen from Japan.  It is also one of the oldest fishing ports on the West Coast. Over the decades, residents have gone to sea to provide for their families and search for adventure and excitement. 

Reflective of the high-risk nature of the fishing industry, many of Steveston’s residents went to work on their fishing vessels and did not return to their families and community. Often deaths at sea occur without the body ever being recovered, making closure difficult for loved ones and the community. As the number of people from Steveston lost at sea grew there was increasing talk during the 1980’s about the need for a local memorial.

The proposal was that rather than the usual image of a sailor at the wheel battling waves, the Memorial should be a net mending needle.  The net mending needle symbolizes the universality of the fishing profession. Regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, gender or nationality all fishing folks around the world know about the net mending needle and how to use it.

Steveston Fisherman’s Memorial in Garry Point Park

Known as Fishermen’s Needle by Joe Bauer, 1996

26-foot-tall fishing net mending needle

Showcased in Garry Point Park, a public space built on the sand dredged up from the Fraser River is Steveston Fisherman’s Memorial, locally known as Fishermen’s Needle.  The aluminum needle is perched atop a six-foot circular plaque with carvings of waves and salmon being netted as well as the names of local fishing vessels that went down along with their crews.  The memorial rests on a compass rose which represents one of the main instruments used for navigation.

Artist (Joe Bauer) Statement: The primary factor determining the design for the Memorial was the circular format. It allowed us to gracefully portray three core concepts:

• A fluid, continuous and repeating cycles of Nature, which humans are an integral part of, suggested by a layout that had no beginning nor end,
• The magnitude of the Oceans, and how humans are humbled by its power, by making the fishing vessel relatively small in proportion the overall size of the design,
• The delicate balance of the ecosystem and the interdependence of all life forms including that of Humans, depicted by the many elements of marine life.

To Vancouver Island via Mayne Island……………………….

Mayne Island: Play for a day, Relax for a week, Spend a lifetime

Mayne Island Lighthouse – looking over Active Pass at low tide

I love having a home on this small lovely Gulf Island

Near my own backyard – the Japanese Garden on Mayne Island

Volunteers do a fabulous job of keeping this little gem sparkling

Mayne Island is in the Coastal Douglas Fir Zone

One of the smallest of the sixteen ecological zones in BC

Although less than 1% of land base, it contains more biodiversity

than nearly any other zone in the province

Victoria: Reawaken what drives you

Butchart Gardens

Over a million bedding plants of some 900 varieties

Ross Fountain at the Butchart Gardens

A former limestone quarry turned famous garden, pond, fountains

Sunken, Rose, Japanese, Italian and Mediterranean gardens 

Fireworks, music, night lights – something for everyone

Large Asian influence all over British Columbia - Butchart Gardens

Duncan: Slow down, Savor life

Indigenous lore was traditionally preserved by word of mouth. Unfortunately, many of the local Quw’utsun (Cowichan – The Warm Land) languages faded and have since been lost in time.

However, there is one record of local indigenous culture that endures to this day: hand-carved and, now colorfully painted, totem poles. Typically hewn from red cedar, these totem poles hold great cultural significance, and each tells a compelling story. And there have been many, many stories told here. 

Totem Poles of Duncan, The City of Totems

The Feast (L), Raven’s Gift (C), Pole of Wealth (R)

The City of Totems, as Duncan is known, is an ongoing project that has developed the world’s largest outdoor collection of publicly displayed totem poles with over 40 beautiful specimens to admire.  The project began in 1985 and has involved the enthusiasm and support of many talented individuals and organizations as well as cultivated cross-cultural appreciation and cooperation.  Oral histories undertaken with the carvers and their families tell the stories depicted on the poles, which are exhibited throughout the downtown core.  

The Feast Totem by Doug LaFortune.  The Quw’utsun’ people called upon Tzinquaw (Thunderbird) to help them.  The Killer Whale was eating all the Salmon in Cowichan Bay and the Salmon were not getting up the river.  Tzinquaw helped them by taking the Killer Whale out of the bay and putting it on top of Mount Tzouhalem, the mountain beside the bay, where Tzinquaw ate him.  The Spirit-Helper face in the Killer Whale represents the blowhole of the Whale.  The face in the fluke (tail) of the Whale represents a (second) Spirit Helper.  Doug explained the presence of the eagle: The story was the Thunderbird, but I made the figure into an Eagle, I wanted to show the power of it, so I did the legs muscular and strong.  

Raven’s Gift Totem by Doug LaFortune.  This one was a story about a young fellow… the Man in the middle with the adze in his hand was a carver.  He’s holding the adze, he is saying ‘Here is my gift to you’.  The Chief commissioned this pole and the Raven brought the carved pole to another village that was near the river… the Beaver helped provide the log.  I enjoyed working on the poles and I liked the people in Duncan.  I love carving; it’s been my life’s work.  I’ve been doing it almost forty years.  I just love to carve.  I strive to get better every time I do something. 

Pole of Wealth by Simon Charlie (Hwunu’metse’).  The top two figures on the pole represent the Quw’utsun’ legend of the Thunderbird and Killer Whale.  Tzinquaw (Thunderbird) is one of the more rare and powerful beings in our (Quw’utsun’) history.  A Killer Whale is an extremely important part of our culture and history…  The figure of Spe’uth (black bear) adds to the power of the story, as he is like the eldest of a generation; strong and protective.  The wealth of the pole’s owner is indicated by the copper shield that Spe’uth (black bear) is holding in his paws.  Simon’s work is textured, which was his trademark; some of the animals would look like they had fur, feathers or scales.  Another one of Simon’s trademarks was to put faces on the feet of the bear; a sad and a happy face.  Simon would say that in life there are sad times and happy times.

Cedar Man Walking out of the Log

by Richard Hunt (Gwe-la-y-gwe-la-gya-les)

Cedar Man Walking out of the Log is the world’s widest totem pole (1.8m diameter, 5’11”).  The original tree was over 750 years old when a forestry company donated it to the City of Duncan.  The indent on the back indicates that planks were removed to make First Nations houses.  The design came from the Hunt family pole that honored Mungo Martin, a Kwagu’t master carver.  The top of log was left natural so people could see the size of the log and it forms the hairline for the Cedar Man.  On the chest there is a Copper shield, which represents wealth in Kwagu’t families.  The skirt represents the traditionally worn cedar-bark skirt.  On the talking stick, the representations are all family crests: the top is the Kulus (baby thunderbird) which represents Richard dancing the tame Hamatsa (high ranking dance in Kwagu’t culture); the Killer Whale in the middle represents spirits of our Great Chiefs; and the Man on the bottom represents a Kwagu’t family member.

Owl Spirit – Totem by Tom LaFortune

Beautiful Chief face

Totem poles were never associated with religion

Chemainus: The little town that did

It seems that, in order to subsist, each small town in BC is coming up with creative ways to lure tourism after they had prospered thanks to mining, fishing, or logging.  Totem poles, murals, various types of art walks, and even painted fire hydrants (see Quesnel below), humongous pieces of jade (see Lillooet below), and chainsaw carvings (see Chetwynd below). 

Chemainus (Broken Chest – powerful chief who survived major injury to the chest), is attracting people with its many large and wonderful murals.  This old logging town where a resident is known as a ‘Chemainiac’ is recovering thanks to these beautiful outdoor paintings telling part of the local history and more.  

Native Heritage, 1983 by Paul Ygartua

One of over 60 murals in the town of Chemainus

The part that is easy to forget is the tremendous amount of work,

dedication, and care necessary for the upkeep of these murals

which are open to the elements… This one has been retouched twice…

Tofino: Embrace a sense of wonder

Tofino – hydroplanes everywhere – fast way to travel

In the ten minutes I was near this dock, I saw several planes

land and take off.

Tofino is a tiny coastal village on the far westside of Vancouver Island, bordered by water on three sides and situated on the traditional territory of the Tla-o-qui-aht (Clayoquot) First Nations. Tofino is surrounded by the vast, breathtaking stretch of the UNESCO Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Region, an area cherished for its profound biodiversity and environmental culture. 

Here, you can treasure the quiet inlets, the old growth rainforest and the rolling waves that embody a simpler life.  People mostly tread softly and have respect for everything, because here, all is connected, from the kelp of the Pacific Ocean, to the black bears of the rainforest.  Yet, as small as Tofino is, you feel even smaller amongst nature’s giants: ocean, rain, wind, fog, and forest.    

Nanaimo: One of the longest shorelines in Canada

Lobby of Nanaimo Museum / Convention Center

Untitled, 2008 by Andreas Kunert

32 feet long by 8 feet tall

While this piece is inspired by a personal experience, it is also a public piece open to everyone's interpretation. An enigma; it seems weightless, flowing, all the while being measured in tons.  Open to interpretation, this piece speaks of spirit, of fluidity, of music, of flight, of a society of mixed races and cultures, united by shared concern, living in harmony at the edge of land and sea.

Back on mainland British Columbia………….

Lillooet: Guaranteed rugged

Ribbon of water paralleling ribbon of macadam

Carved in stout mountains

Ever changing ever rugged wilderness unfolding

Lillooet Museum with Jadehenge display

Four boulders weighing upward of four tons.

Jade is harder than steel and is uniquely cool to the touch

Jade was first discovered and exploited in Lillooet five to six thousand years ago when it was used by native people to make tools and trade goods.  Jade is the toughest rock on the planet because it has tight interlocking fibers that give it exceptional qualities for making hard long-lasting tools. 

The next people to discover jade in the Lillooet area were the nineteenth century Chinese placer miners.  They found jade alongside the gold, and to them, gold was only wealth, while jade was priceless because it had soul.  To them, it represented good luck, health, and happiness.  In the 1900’s, the Chinese shipped tons of jade to China establishing BC’s global reputation as the primary source of Nephrite Jade.  Since then, jade has been made the Official Gemstone of BC.

‘When they found gold, they found wealth,

when they found jade, they found a piece of heaven.’

Ancient Chinese Proverb

The next Lillooet ‘Jade Rush’ took place in the 1950-60’s, and really took off with the discovery of the Hell Creek Mine with its famous apple green clear high-quality jade.  This mine produced for about six years and shipped 300 tons (with nice jade selling at upwards of $3,000/oz, this represents a lot of money) of some of the best jade the world had ever seen, further adding to Lillooet’s reputation as BC’s historic Jade Capital.

From the diversity of jade samples still found along the Fraser River, where each year the high water turns up new jade along its shore cobble bars, there are indications that there are still many more spectacular mines yet to be discovered up in the surrounding high country.

In the meantime, as BC’s historic Jade Capital, Lillooet has decided to honor BC’s official gemstone with a Jade Trail through town showing specimens from jade-active regions in the province.  Today, BC is believed to have the largest deposits of Nephrite Jade in the world.

Take a walk through town and discover the many faces of jade found in BC, still the premier exporter of jade in the world.  Thirty pieces of jade line the wide streets of downtown Lillooet (built wide enough for the old traders to turn their 20-oxen carts around).  The large stones have been cut and polished to reflect the different qualities each stone displays. 

Quesnel: It’s in our nature

Billy Barker Casino Hotel

Shape like old stern-wheeler boat

The Little People of Quesnel

Nearly all fire hydrants represent a personality

Can-can Girl

You will also find a banker, a cyclist, Charlie Chaplin, a nurse, an engineer, a teacher, a cook, a First Nations mother, a scout, a rodeo clown, a bandit, a carpenter, a hairdresser, a paper boy, a traveler, a judge, a blacksmith, a card dealer, a hockey player, a pilot, a goldminer…

Pinnacles Provincial Park

12-million-year-old hoodoos

Alaska Highway 97 near Muncho Lake

Huge beaver dam

Vanderhoof: Geographical Center of BC

Community Museum and Visitor Center

Old tractor in the nearby weeds

Clinton:  BC’s Guest Ranch Capital

108-Mile Ranch, Historic Site

Many handcrafted log homes in northern BC
Began as post house on Cariboo Trail in 1867,
the year of the Canadian Confederation

Horse Barn, 1908 for 200 Clydesdale horses

Home of championship line

Moricetown Canyon: Thousands of years of history along the river Bulkley

Moricetown Canyon

Witset Natives use fish ladders to catch salmon here

Hagwilget Historic Suspension Bridge (second version)

Built by natives over the Bulkley River

Photo from the Royal BC Museum archive

In Hagwilget, home of the ‘quiet people’, a cantilever bridge spanned the Bulkley River before the non-Indians arrived.  The central suspended span was built with long wooden poles lashed with cedar rope and noted as a ‘marvel of engineering’ for its days.  Later, it was cleverly reinforced with leftover telegraph wire.  It served for half a century and connected the inland First Nations communities with the coastal First Nations communities.  It was an invaluable part of important trade networks.

​Today, the present day Hagwilget Bridge is a single-lane steel suspension bridge located near Hazelton, British Columbia.

Hagwilget Bridge – today

Highest suspension bridge, 265’ high

Hazelton:  Furthest point upstream riverboats could travel from the coast

Where two of the largest rivers in BC meet, the Fraser and Skeena, have lived the Gitxsan People for about 6,000 years.  (Git: means ‘people of’ and Xsan: means ‘the River of Mist’).  The Skeena River is generally known for abundant salmon or trout, but not the year I was visiting.  I asked to purchase some salmon (frozen, dried, smoked, fresh – whatever they had) but all freezers were empty, as were the outdoor fish driers. 

The Skeena River is BC’s fastest waterway and can rise as much as 17 feet in a day or as much as 60 feet between low and high-water seasons.  For boat captains, these wide ranges changed the river so much it was very tough to navigate all her changing and powerful elements.   Prior to trains taking over, the Skeena River saw the wake of sixteen different paddle wheel steamboats between 1864 and 1912.

Passengers during these pioneer journeys did not enjoy a luxurious or relaxing trip, they were often kept busy chopping wood for the hungry boiler.  The 180-mile trip took 40 hours upstream and only 10 hours downstream.  Today Hazelton is the oldest surviving pioneer community in northwest BC.  As befits this pathfinder status the community was home to the region’s first trading post, bank, school, mining office, government agent, newspaper and hospital.  

Kispiox (Gitxsan) totem poles

From 1850 to 2010, various totem poles near river

My guide, of the Frog Clan, was hesitant recounting totem stories when other First Nations people were around.  I am not sure why.  He would continue telling stories once away from earshot.

The four Gitxsan Clans

Eagle, Wolf, Frog, and Fireweed

He recounted his village’s story but only a couple of the totem stories as he was a newly minted guide.  The most important aspect of village life determined by Clan is marriage. A Gitxsan must not marry within his/her Clan, he/she must marry a member of a different Clan. To marry in one's Clan is a serious breach of Gitxsan law. Currently, the Gitxsan have four clans: Wolf, Frog, Eagle and Fireweed.

His father knew all the totem stories, and my guide was still learning from him.  Because of the heavy rain, we huddled under the cover of a picnic area shelter to talk about the totem poles from a distance.

Can you imagine coming up-river in a 20-man canoe and seeing tall totem poles on each side of the river?  It would have been quite a sight.  I think I would’ve been in awe.  

I can see why the famous painter, Emily Carr, was inspired

by these amazing works of art (she visited here in 1928)

Christian missionaries encouraged cutting down of totem poles,

which they saw as obstacles to conversion to Christianity

Only a Native Kispiox Indians can share the story

of each totem pole

The word totem means ‘he is my relative’…

They are stories and markers

It is very rare to carve a new totem pole unless the Tribal Chief asks for one.  Each totem pole comes with an associated blanket, a name, a territory, a drum, regalia, and a potlach. 

Totem poles display rights to certain territories, songs, dances and other aspects of their culture.  There are memorial or mortuary poles, lineage poles, welcoming poles, legacy of important events poles, healing poles, shame or ridicule poles (mocking the ones who haven’t paid their debts).  The latter would stay up only until the wrong was made right so there aren’t many around to see.

Europeans over the years popularized the false idea that poles display social hierarchy, with the chief at the top and the commoners at the bottom. In fact, in some cases, the most important figure or crest is at the bottom. Totem poles do not depict a nation’s social organization in a top-down method; rather, they tell a story about a particular nation or person’s beliefs, family history and cultural identity.

Nonetheless, the most important lesson to take away is that Northwest Coast First Nations totem poles were never created to communicate hierarchy in any sense of the term. Totem poles commemorate events like potlatches, strengthen names, tell stories, signify place, document history, assert rights, communicate origins, remind descendants of their laws, and teach contemporary artists the traditional art form.

‘One must ask, why won’t ‘lowest rung on the ladder’ suffice? Doesn’t this make more sense? Ladders you actually climb; totem poles you don’t.’

Walter Harris was a very well-known totem pole carver.  Despite the fact that he could’ve lived, worked, and made a lot of money in Vancouver, he decided to stay in this little village of barely 600 souls, yet his wood or stone carvings (panels, masks, totem poles) can be found at the Canadian Embassy in Paris, the House of Commons in Ottawa, the Vancouver International Airport, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, Westar Sawmill office in Japan, Victoria Island in the Ottawa River, the Royal Bank of Canada in Vancouver, UBC’s Museum of Anthropology, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and more…

The tradition was to let the, usually red cedar wood, totems return to earth from whence they came, or about 100 years in BC weather.  Today, many decaying totems are refurbished or replicated in an effort to keep the stories that were carved into them alive.  Is that fair to the way First Nations people see totem poles?

St-Paul Church – Anglican Episcopal

In Gitwangak (people of the place of rabbit, part of Gitxsan)

Very interesting three-story wooden bell tower

Stewart: Canada’s most northerly ice-free port and region of adventurers and ambition
Hyder: The friendliest ghost town in Alaska

The mountains are so big that you can hardly find these sister-towns.  But everything in this part of the world is big… big glaciers, big legends, big bears, big mountain goats, big ice storms, big avalanches, big dreams and big problems.  

Glacier now far away from road

When road opened nearly 50 years ago, they had to cut through it

At the end of 'Avalanche' Highway 37, you find the town of Stewart/Hyder.  In 1970, when they cut the road to this area, they cut through a glacier.  It has now receded so much, it lays across a lake, far from the road.  Before that Stewart/Hyder were only accessible by water or air. 

The only reason I am writing about Hyder under the British Columbia header is that it is a very small village that is connected at the hip to Stewart and there is nothing more than that in this part of Alaska to see unless you have a boat or a hydroplane.  As the friendliest ghost town in Alaska, it only has 30-40 hardy souls living here.  The geography of the rugged country effectively cuts Hyder off from the remainder of ‘The Great Land’.  By boat it is 144 miles from the nearest Alaskan town of Ketchikan. 

Foxes, mother bears and their cubs, one lone grizzled muzzle male, meander nonchalantly along the highway.  Eagles soar above, indicating I am getting close to open water. 

Bordering Portland Canal, one of the longest fjords in the world is a large estuary filled with the sounds and flights of birds like the bluish-grey Belted Kingfisher, the red-winged Blackbird, the blue Steller’s Jay, the red American Robin, Mallard ducks, Canada geese, the Bald Eagle, the great Blue Heron, the common black Raven, and the Oregon Junco.  

They are attracted by the water, insects, and related plants found in the area:  Red Osier Dogwood, Indian Paintbrush, Northern Rice Root (Black Lily), common Burdock, Red Elderberry, Sweet Gale Myrica, Meadow Rue, Yarrow, Potentilla Anserina, and Cow Parsnip. 

Thankfully, a long boardwalk has been built so one can enjoy the views without sinking down in the mud.  

Portland Canal – looking south and west

Alaska southernmost fjord and

one of the world’s longest (90-mile, 145 km long)

Acting as natural boundary between USA and Canada

Colorful Stewart ‘Quickee Mart’

Notice the shopping carts on the roof of the grocery store

What do you call this type of vehicle?

The end of Hwy 37, one of the most scenic historic routes in BC

Boasting with colors in this often-grey weather

Dawson Creek: Mile Zero

My faithful pick-up at mile zero

A long, nearly 14,000-mile, trip over 2.5 months

On my way back to the USA

Zero Mile

Official starting point of the Great Alaska Highway

Much more on that next post about Alaska 

Chetwynd: The Little Prairie

More than 120 chainsaw carvings dot this town.  That’s a lot of varnishing to keep up with over the years.  

Tree Beard, chainsaw carving

2016 by Jordan Anderson

From Alaska

Dependence

2018 by Dan Cordell, from the UK

Tumbler Ridge:  Take it Outside!

In 2000 two local boys, Mark Turner and Daniel Helm, fell off their inner tube while descending rapids in Flatbed Creek. Walking back upstream on bedrock, they thought they saw a dinosaur trackway. They contacted paleontologist Richard McCrea, who confirmed they had found the longest known accessible dinosaur trackway in British Columbia.

Dinosaur (theropod) track in stones by river

Can only be seen when river is low

Eventually will be erased by the power of the rushing water

Footprints have now been discovered in numerous other canyons, in rock cuts and quarries, in all the regional coal mines, and in the alpine. Some of these are from an age (Turonian: +/- 90M years ago) in which no footprints had previously been found. Some show unusual features such as dew claws and skin impressions. 

The Tumbler Ridge area boasts the majority of the world’s known tyrannosaurid tracks, including the only known group of parallel tyrannosaurid trackways.  These trackways led paleontologists to re-evaluate the behavior of the species.  The presence of three sets of tracks running parallel has developed into the hypothesis that they were pack hunters.  This led to a new group-noun ‘A terror of Tyrannosaurs’ coined right here in Tumbler Ridge.

You can hike the area to see these rare in-situ tracks.  Seen at night, under low angled lantern, the tracks stand out even more.  

Kinuseo Falls, Monkman Provincial Park

Strong flow pouring over shale ledges

Tumbler Ridge is also known as the ‘Waterfall Capital of the North’ with Kinuseo (Cree for fish as the river was full of trout when discovered in early 1900) Falls, Quality Falls, Babcock Falls, Teepee Falls, Flatbed Falls, and Sukunka Falls. Kinuseo Falls in Monkman Provincial Park is particularly impressive and is regarded as one of the best waterfalls in the world. Around the Kinuseo Falls are very interesting folded S-like rock formations.

But more than dinosaurs and waterfalls, Tumbler Ridge has some of the most amazing rock scenery to see while hiking the nearby hills.  Tumbler Ridge is known as a UNESCO Global Geopark, an area recognized as having internationally significant geological heritage.  There are no such sites in the USA, and three in Canada. 

Denim pine

After the pine has been damaged by the Blue Mountain pine beetles

 a fungus enters and colors the lodgepole wood blue

Armada Ridge

Part of the Shipyard – Titanic Rock Trail

Near sliding rock on the Titanic – Bismarck in the background

Seen after a valley of enormous boulders is crossed

Nature is amazingly resilient

Colorful layers thanks to lichens

Pancake Rocks in the Boulder Gardens

A large and complex jumble of sandstone rock

formations on Mount Babcock

Jasper/Banff:  Previously Untamed Grandeur… No More

Rugged Maligne Canyon

Amazing Athabasca waterfalls

There is so much more to British Columbia and the great American North West in general, but it has been over a year since I visited, making it difficult to recall everything I saw.  The above lists the highlights but there was much, much more. 

Now to Grandiose Alaska – where the roads are even worse…