The following morning was bright and sunny, an invitation for us to head out to Chilko Lake (all 80 miles of it), a further 15 kilometers on from the River Lodge. When we reached the lake, a dire warning about bears being frequent visitors to the area greeted us at the entrance of the park. In accordance with the instructions posted, I insisted that wherever we were going to fish, the Jeep could not be far away. We smiled and both of us suddenly realized that while we were at home, the thought of encountering bears in the wild caused apprehension and we even enquired about bear spray! However, we arrived in the wild without bear spray and while fishing in bear country, neither one of us was at all concerned or worried.
The bears didn’t put in an appearance and we spent a marvelous 3-4 hours, the sole occupants of the Park, Denis fishing and me learning to fish – casting, that is. Actually, in retrospect, I was quite pleased with my efforts by the end of the day. We didn’t catch any fish, but that was beside the point. It was a joy just to be out there. The sun, the sky with tiny cotton wool clouds moved gently by a slight breeze, the gorgeous colours of the lake itself stretching out before us, predominantly ice blue and white as a result of the winter melt and run off; the huge snow-capped peaks towering above us and of course the endless trees – just as it all had been for thousands of years. It was spring (early June) and the entire panorama seemed to be coming alive in anticipation of summer.
We returned to the Lodge, tired out but invigorated, without fish! Unfortunately, for the rest of the holiday it was the weather, not us, that dictated the holiday activities. Denis did get some more fishing in and actually went out on the lake with Mike, the resident fishing guide. Alas, I cannot report any success.
My activity apart from writing was one afternoon of horseback riding. This was wonderful, although some of my riding skills taught so many years ago were a bit rusty. Silver, my horse, and he was a big horse (he had to be to carry me) was a dream. I thoroughly enjoyed myself just ambling behind our host in the late day’s sunshine, with Bandit, the border collie running ahead of us to ensure that we wouldn’t come upon any wildlife unexpectedly!
The holiday was so neat; we decided to stay an extra day before heading back on the long drive home. We returned the way we’d come until we got to Cache Creek where we decided to head out and investigate a new route and which, according to the map, was a gravel road. The owner of the gift shop at Cache Creek assured us that the road was recently leveled and that it would not produce any difficulties for us, particularly since we had a Jeep. So off we went into Downing Provincial Park and then up what appeared to be an unassailable mountainside. Actually, it wasn’t, but it was very steep and I was just a little concerned as the ground seemed to drop away more steeply than ever round each bend!
Coming down on the other side was much gentler and the country spread out before us, mountain after mountain, some with snow, some without, bathed in the afternoon sunshine. It was absolutely vast, breathtaking and unbelievable. On the lookout for wildlife, we saw only one black bear, but unfortunately the noise of the Jeep frightened him and he took himself off at a high speed before I could get the window down to take a picture. As we descended the road passed through some private land and we witnessed ranchers herding cattle and roping calves – fascinating – long live the Wild West.
By the time we got to Lillooet it was getting late, but we decided to press on. We followed route 99 through some steep, precipitous mountains rising on both sides from the highway which produced a strange feeling of claustrophobia. The road was good but fraught with twists and bends so you had to be on guard all the time. Finally, at about 8:00 p.m. we reached Whistler and booked in at the Holiday Inn (the first hotel we came to). We went from the sublime to the ridiculous – rustic but very comfortable living to state of the art hotel conveniences, which included a Jacuzzi; just what was needed after a long day’s journey.
The following day we got up early to finish the journey to the Ferries at Horseshoe Bay and then home to Nanaimo. It was great to see home again, but we were both sad that we couldn’t have stayed longer at Chilko.
Keywords: horse, River Lodge, bears, bear spray, Chilko Lake, Williams Lake, barbecue, crossword books, Jacuzzi, Holiday Inn, Lillooet, fishing, horseback riding
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