Early June 2020

For many years, I have owned this excellent book entitled “Exploring the Interior – Country Roads of British Columbia”, by Liz Bryan.  I have often pulled it off of my shelf on quiet evenings and read and reread its chapters, each of which is organized as a road trip along the interesting back roads of B.C.  In every chapter, Bryan includes a map of the suggested route, beautiful photographs, and lots of interesting facts about the historical, geographical, geological, and natural history of the area described.  It is a pleasure to read, and offers many well-chosen and often surprising stories from our province’s history.  So now, with the freedom of early retirement, and with international travel unavailable because of Covid 19 (sorry I had to cancel, dear Ireland, maybe next year!), I have finally begun travelling some of these marvelous  routes.

For my first adventure, I chose the chapter which has most intrigued me, “Along the Deadman River” – with red rocks, sage brush, rattle snakes and hoodoos.  It seemed a fitting replacement for my cancelled trip to the American Southwest. So, here we go!

First, Highway 1 east, with a stop in Hope for a nice, socially-distanced, visit with my friend Anna.  Then, an unplanned detour because of a Highway 1 closure at Yale, so up the Coquihalla to Merritt, and then I connected to Highway 8 to do part of the “Nicola River Journey”.  I love, love, love driving on a road that is new to me, and this was a fun road to drive as it curved along, above, and beside the rapidly flowing and almost over-flowing waters of the Nicola River.

The river and road continued to descend together from the heights of the Nicola plateau, bordered on one side by rocky, crumbling, dry, and sage-covered south-facing slopes, and on the other by greener north-facing slopes.

All too soon, the Nicola River met the Thompson at Spences Bridge, and Highway 8 met up with Highway 1.  I turned north on Highway 1 and enjoyed the far-reaching views of sage-covered hills, with the colours, air and scenery so different from the coast.  I stopped at one pullout to pick a few branches of sage and place them on the dash to scent my car – a ritual I always do when I travel to the Thompson Valley.

From one pullout, far above the Thompson River, I could spy a dark green collection of trees at a deep bend in the river and guessed that to be Juniper Beach Provincial Park, and I was right!

Here is a closer view down to the park from the access road, just after turning off of the highway.  The straight line angling in from the right foreground is the CN rail track, and on the far side of the river, is the CP track. Long freight trains travel east and west along these tracks day and night. Noisy, but in a thrilling and exciting way if you like trains!

And there is my campsite beside the very full and very fast flowing Thompson River.

And a view of the river from my bed!

I took a nice walk several times around the tidy campsite loop to stretch my legs after a long but happy day of driving.  I enjoyed the warm dry air and the sound of crickets, and I was thrilled to see cedar waxwings, one of the most beautiful of birds, feeding in the Juniper trees.

I relaxed, prepared dinner, and watched the first of many long trains rumble by on the precarious-looking track across the river.

It was a rather noisy night!  The CN trains on my side of the river actually shook the earth and my vehicle as they passed (and as I said they are L-o-n-g trains), and I found that I didn’t totally love the very loud and high-pitched squealing brakes of downhill-bound trains. But, I managed to sleep well anyways, happy to be on an adventure. 🙂

The next morning I woke, excited to explore along the Deadman River valley, a geologically-interesting valley that runs north-south and is located some 20 km east of Juniper Beach.  The river is so named because Pierre Charente, a fur trader and clerk of the North West Company’s Fort Kamloops, was knifed to death on its banks in 1817.   But for me, not two minutes after turning onto the Deadman-Vedette Road, my first sight was a peaceful one – two lovely mule deer foraging by the roadside, the first of many wildlife sightings on this day.

The first section of the road is paved and passes the native village of Skeetchestn where I took a photo of the graveyard.

Soon after, I met a group of horses grazing by the roadside. They were interested in me and headed closer.

And closer.

And closer!

“Well hello there. How are you today?”  I’m not sure if they were expecting some treats or if they were just curious, but they looked at me for a while until I backed up slowly and carefully drove around them, stopping a little further on to take one more photo back of my equine friends.

Soon, I reached the red rock pinnacles found at Criss Creek, formed from solidified volcanic ash.

And, a little further on, the colourful cliffs of sculpted layers and cracks known locally as Split Rocks.

Then, I was on the search for some capped hoodoos hidden in the colourful hills behind this collection of old ranch fencing and corrals.

This is the best shot that I could get of the hoodoos with my zoom.

A little further down the road there was a pullout, and a small knoll that called out to me to climb it.

There were also sculpted, high cliffs on the west side of the road, with some basaltic columns and caves, and later another interesting hoodoo-like formation.

As well as interesting geology, the valley featured scattered ranches and beautiful grazing land with herds of cattle feeding on the lush green grass.

There were also some remnants of old cabins and ranch buildings, with wildflowers like campion and salsify adding colour and interest to a roadside stop.

Soon after this cabin, the valley bottom and ranch lands disappeared behind me as the road began to curve and climb upwards, continuing to follow the fast-flowing Deadman River between forested slopes.  Then came a string of six pretty lakes, with several recreational cabins and Forest Service campsites tucked into the trees on their shores.

As I travelled the road close to Deadman Lake, I turned a corner to see a mother black bear and her three cubs in the distance!

At the sixth lake, Vaseaux, I stopped to assess the road.  It climbed steeply and somewhat precariously above the lake, and a dark thunder cloud was brewing above.  I had already negotiated some slippery mud and a few small washouts, and I had manoeuvered around many fallen rocks and potholes so I was feeling a bit tired.  According to Liz Bryan’s book, three enticing sites still lay ahead, not that far away:  Deadman Falls (an impressive 60 m high), an old gold mine (possibly haunted), and apparently the “Center of the Universe” (!) – identified as such by a visiting Tibetan monk who had meditated in a flower- and aspen-filled meadow on the high plateau above Vaseaux Lake.

A little bit disappointed, but also okay with my decision, I decided that getting close to the Center of the Universe was good enough for today, and that it was time to turn around.  I greatly enjoyed the drive back down the Deadman Valley, happy that I had finally made the journey and with all that I had seen.  Three wildlife sightings, however, were still to come!

At Split Rocks, I decided to take a side road that angled off towards Cache Creek as an alternate route back to my campsite.

I travelled several kilometers up this very scenic road as it curved around and into an open forest.  Rounding one corner, I startled a huge mother black bear with two cubs, one black and one golden brown.  They were very big, healthy-looking, and beautiful as they hurriedly crossed the road right in front of me.  How exciting!  Then, just one minute further up the road from the bears, I spied a large dog on the hillside off to my right.  But was it a dog? No.  A coyote?  No, too big.  It was a wolf!  He was beautiful, with a healthy coat of gray, brown, and gold.  He looked at me, headed a bit up the hill at an angle, then looked at me again before he loped his way a little further up the hill and then turned and disappeared into the forest.  My camera was right next to me on the car seat, and I considered trying to get a shot, but I knew that the experience of seeing him would not last long and I didn’t wish to lose one moment of seeing my first wolf in the wild.  A little further up the road, I was stopped by an unexpected “No Trespassing” sign, so I had to turn around and head back the way I had come.  Close to where I had seen the wolf, I saw a young fawn by the side of the road, with no mama in sight.  I said, “Be careful little deer, there is a wolf nearby!” and was reluctant to leave it, but of course I had to carry on, back to the Deadman-Vedette road and then south and west to my campsite at Juniper Beach.

What a day!  Thank you very much to Liz Bryan for providing the inspiration to visit the beautiful and wildlife-filled Deadman Valley.