Chetwynd, British Columbia,
Canada
July 04, 2019
It was nice to escape Prince George and the Ron, Shirley and Wylie Coyote show. I’m not quite sure what was going on in that town but I guess we should maybe expect more of this the further North and more remote we get, it’s all a good laugh and part of what makes traveling interesting.
The drive from Prince George to Chetwynd and then on to Dawson Creek is described as scenic and incredibly beautiful. Having experienced the Rockies in all their splendor it was always going to be a hard act to follow. We no longer had stunning mountains surrounding us and Eagles soaring above, just flat plains of emptiness and the occasional bend in the road to throw in a bit of variety every half hour or so. That and the endless fun of being able to move right over to one side of the road near the crumbing edge of the tarmac at speed on bouncy bumpy highways to let huge roaring trucks thunder past you. You do this at the same time as watching out for bears, deer and any other piece of wildlife that decides the highway is just in it’s way and it needs to head off across your path. It’s always interesting no matter where you are. Every day is different.
It’s quite the distance from Prince George up towards Chetwynd and as the evening drew in we pulled off up yet another Forrest service road in search of a free BC recreation site to stay at, at a place called Heart lake. And what a stunning little place it was. One of the best free BC rec sites we have stayed at so far. By the looks of it it must have been a paid for site at some point as all the sites were numbered. We grabbed a great corner spot sat a little above the green coloured lake below and after half an hours scavenging for wood we got the camp fire roaring and settled in for the night. As has often been the case so far in Canada we probably drank more than we should have that night. Up until the early hours with some music on and the great outdoors as our front room we merrily cracked on through our Jim Beam, beers and wine until the rest is a mere distant blur. The only recollection I have is waking up at some point during the night feeling hungry. I recall fishing about in the darkness of the van and picking up what I thought was a biscuit. As I bit into the wee biscuit I felt a strange chemical chalky taste so spat it out and rinsed my mouth. When I woke the next morning with this vague recollection I looked outside the van to discover that what I thought was a biscuit was one of our mosquito burning rings! Not the ideal midnight snack really. I read the box which said if consumed to contact a poison expert. In the middle of nowhere with no phone signal I figured a quick rinse of my mouth would suffice and sure enough I’m still alive and kicking so thankfully all good.
The next days driving brought a very pleasant surprise when we arrived at the small town of Chetwynd. I had briefly read somewhere that it is the world capital of chainsaw carving and as we cruised into town it certainly lived up to it’s name. There are glorious sculptures dotted about all over. Lining each side of the road as you drive in and tucked around every one of the street corners and small buildings. As is now standard we popped into the small visitor information centre just off the highway and that was us for about the next four hours. Every small town has one of these centres and this one is the best we have come across so far by a country mile. Not long after we entered the sky grew dark and gloomy within minutes and the heavens opened in a torrential downpour. Thankfully we were in the best place in town when this happened. The centre has all the usual things you expect. Plenty of local and further leaflets to browse through, local arts and crafts for sale and plenty of info on the myriad of chainsaw sculptures around town. It also boasts free tea and coffee facilities, and it is very nice coffee indeed with fresh milk or cream so that was a massive plus for me, the caffeine addict. Plenty of charging points, free WiFi, even an art room where your encouraged to contribute a little to several paintings that have already been started by locals and other visitors passing through. The place was just great. The two girls that work there were amazingly helpful and kind and a credit to the small town.
Several hours later with a blog entry tapped up, some photos edited, money transferred and all the usual checks of emails and speaking with family that you do when you have connection out of the way the rain had eased off so we headed off to take a look at the sculptures. As we went to open Buddy the battery had gone for the central locking so I popped back into the centre to ask one of the girls if there was anywhere they knew in town to grab a replacement. Yet again the girls were happy to help and bizarrely one of them had a battery in another room and gave it to me free of charge. Unbelievable service this for a small town visitor centre!
The sculptures around town are stunning works of art. It was hard to understand just what kind of skill must be involved in making these massive solid wooden creations. The design of them based on the shape of the piece of wood used is brilliant and then being able to take that vision and execute it with a power tool is impressive. It was hard to pick out any favourites but I did particularly like one of the Jungle book characters with a huge King Louie, it was great. There are loads of photos to look through at the bottom, have a tap through and see which ones you like the best, they’re all great.
After a longer than expected stop due to the rain and hospitality we eventually pushed on again headed off on a detour from Dawson creek 100 km South to Tumbler Ridge Geopark and it’s famous dinosaur footprints and discoveries. We’re really hoping it’s good as it’s a days detour from starting the Alaskan Highway.
With night drawing in we found another cracking free camp spot at yet another Moose Lake. I know a second Moose lake? We have also came across about three Beaver lakes now as well and I guess Canada just has that many lakes that it recycles the names. There are lakes everywhere we have been so far, you can’t escape them. The great thing with this Moose lake is that you get a great lakeside view site and our site already had a whole bunch of pre-chopped logs for a fire so I didn’t have to do my usual scavenging off in the wilderness as soon as we arrived routine. It was a pleasant change. Throw in the fact that it was mossie free and it was a belter of a little spot. It’s only about an hour away from Tumbler Ridge so when we get up we’ll be able to head straight off in search of dinosaur footprints and far of waterfalls, it should be fun.
