My Sacred Places - Part Four

Kootenay Lake, British Columbia

In his book "The Buffalo Head", Raymond Patterson quotes George Pocattera 's description of British Columbia; "There is a softness to it that Alberta does not have; it is almost as if one could feel the breath of the Pacific."  I remember the spark of recognition when I first read his portrayal many years ago. I cannot think of a more apt description, especially for my favorite valley and lake lodged between the Purcell and Selkirk Mountains.

It was over twenty five years ago when my new wife and I decided that we would take a different route to the Okanagan that summer. We drove through Creston, B.C. and continued along Highway 3a. Soon we found ourselves winding along the east shore of the lake toward the ferry. The scenery got more and more beautiful as we headed north. Pretty properties dotted the road and any undeveloped land was lovely cedar forest. To our left was the lake backed by the pretty summits of the Selkirks. which were mirrored in the still waters. Finally we saw a place to we could stop and have lunch.

The Heidelberg Inn was at a particularly pretty bend in the road. Our heads were on swivels as we got out of our Ford Escort. We took in all of the scenery, flowers and hummingbirds in front of the restaurant.  John Mclean, (the proprietor of the inn) could see we were enamored with the area and he proceeded to tell us about "Banana Bay" across the road, which he said was the warmest part of the lake. We decided we would paddle our dinghy around the bay and laze on the beach that sunny afternoon. We rented one of the rustic rooms in the Heidleberg and decided to stay the night.

 We were concerned about leaving our stuff on the beach while we were in the water, but John told us that we needn't worry - the local people were very trustworthy and honest. We floated around the bay and I am sure a few beers were consumed. We could hardly believe our eyes when we returned to the beach and all of our stuff was gone. I was stunned! Our keys, towels and clothes were in the bag we left behind. I went up the hill to the hotel with my insides churning, but just as I arrived, John emerged from a small storage shed with all of our belongings. His son had brought our things back to the inn after looking around and not seeing us on the water. When John told him we were down there, he was afraid to bring it all back. We all had a laugh as his son looked sheepishly on. We did continue on to Vernon and the Okanagan that year via the ferry and lovely Nelson, B.C., but after that day we always returned to Kootenay lake at least once a year.

 I have never visited a Scottish Loch, but I have seen pictures and films about them and I've flown over them on my way from England. I would say that Kootenay Lake is comparable to the land locked freshwater variety (there are also sea lochs). Kootenay is a big lake, much longer than it is wide. At the most the main body is perhaps ten miles wide (from east to west), but it is over 70 miles long (from north to south). It's one of those lakes that they say "nobody knows how deep it really is". That isn't true, but it is very deep! It is also a cold lake, but big enough that it doesn't freeze over in the winter.

Kootenay Lake kokanee

One of the activities that I like to do most when I am at the lake is go fishing. It isn't the typical type of fishing that I normally do anywhere else. I really do prefer stream fishing. I suppose that comes from growing up in southern Alberta. Kootenay Lake is the one place that I spend a lot of time lake stillwater fishing. The gerrard rainbow found in the lake are the largest rainbows in the world and can weigh in at 50 pounds. The North American record bull trout (or Dolly Varden as they are called locally) was caught in the lake and was about 35 pounds. Fishing for these big fish usually involves large boats with downriggers to get your lure or bait into the deep waters. One day I wouldn't mind trying that (probably with an outfitter).I am told the best time of year for this kind of fishing is February. My type of fishing is off of a rocky point or at a creek mouth with small gear. Most of the time, I am fishing for Kokanee (a landlocked salmon). They are usually small (around one or two pounds), but they are fun to catch and they put up a good fight - jumping and dancing. They have soft mouths and they will often spit your lure back at you, but a good day of kokanee fishing can be very exciting and just plain fun.

The other thing that makes this type of fishing an adventure is there is always the threat of a big "Dolly" taking your lure and if you fish with light tackle like I do, the fight is on! I once brought in one that we estimated at twenty plus pounds with 4 lb. test line after it almost emptied my reel three times. I laughed when I got it in close and went to grab my net which was totally inadequate for bringing in such a monster. I have always sworn by the Shimano Spirex reels that we have used for years and I must say I would have never landed this fish with such a small reel of any lesser quality. My wife held the rod while I hauled the fish in by its mouth and gill plates.I removed the hook and back in the lake it went (as I believe in catch and release) and the fish was uninjured except for a sore jaw perhaps. I sometimes will keep the odd kokanee, as they are delicious eating. There are also a non-gerrard type of rainbow and cutthroat in the lake.

The climate around the lake is very temperate and more humid than the East Kootenays, which are not that far away. I like to go there in the spring, because it always seems to be quite a few weeks ahead of the surrounding areas. I have heard it said it is the most easterly area of Pacific influence and I have seen examples of this when I visited in late April/ early May. In Alberta I left behind snow or sticks sticking up from the brown tundra and even the East Kootenays were barely greening up at all, but when we pulled into Erickson B.C. there were blossoms on the fruit trees and people were outside gardening and mowing their lawns. It was very much like driving into spring.

Don't let the lake fool you. Its waters can go from placid to a tempest in a matter of minutes. One evening I had my tiny flat bottomed boat (the Li'l Titanic) out fishing on waters which were like glass. We noticed a rain storm miles across the lake and I said "we'll have to keep an eye on that". I retrieved my cast one more time and turned around to look. The lake was white caps! By the time I got the motor started and the boat turned around, we were in it. I told my wife to hang on to her seat and I worked our little boat diagonally through the waves. One moment we were between the waves and all we could see was a wall of water and the next we were on top of a massive wave (my poor five horse Mercury screaming and out of the water). I managed to get the boat back to the marina and had to gun it through the entrance. The owner was waiting for us on the docks. She had watched us head out earlier in the evening... I never took that boat back to the lake again.

In 1898, the captain of the sternwheeler "City of Ainsworth" also found that he had underestimated the power of the lake, when he left Kootenay Bay in a storm. The boat had barely rounded the headland when it floundered and nine souls were lost. The wreck still sits at the bottom in 360 feet of water.

Lockhart Creek

There are areas of old growth cedar forests around the lake. One of the places I love to walk is Lockhart Creek, where the mature forest creates its own climate. It can be windy and storming out on the lake, but a few hundred feet back into the forest it is muggy and calm. 

Sandon, B.C - A boardwalk once covered the creek and streetcars transported passengers through its streets.

The Moyie, Kaslo

On the west side there is an interesting hot spring in Ainsworth which is cut into the rock making a horseshoe shaped tunnel. Nearby is Cody Caves which I have visited several times. Highway 31a extends from scenic Kaslo (home of the sternwheeler "Moyie")through the Selkirk mountains into the "Silvery Slocan" and past the ghost town of Sandon. The West arm of the lake brings one to the City of Nelson which is built on the side of the mountains overlooking the lake as it narrows back into a river.

Nelson

South of the lake is Creston, which is a pretty retirement town, full of gardens and orchards. The Creston Valley is prime farm land retrieved from the original marshland that was this section of the Kootenay River before it entered the South end of the lake. When the Palliser expedition came through this area, it was inhabited by Kootenay Indians who fished and hunted in the marshland with their unwieldy sturgeon nose canoes. There is an example of this unusual water craft in the Creston museum. I once visited their archives and there were many interesting photos of the paddle wheelers that once navigated the lake. Some (like the Kuskanook) were massive. The Creston Valley Wildlife Centre is also worth a visit for nature watchers like me. In the summer we often drive the Gray Creek road which goes across the crest of the Purcells and on to Kimberly. It's a rough road and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but it does access a remote network of roads and streams full of cutthroat.

A sign and phone booth are all that remained of the Heidleberg Inn
and now even they are gone...

I could go on and on. People that I talk to around the lake often mistake me for a local. I suppose that all of the years that we have visited the area qualify me as a spokesman of sorts. I can't help being enthusiastic about the nature and history of the lake and surrounding region. I have seen people come and go (many of them Albertans). The Heidleberg changed owners (who we also got to know) before tragically ending its days in a massive fire.

Black bear in Crawford Bay

We have had many adventures around the lake, but the main reason that I return is that I really find it relaxing. After a long winter of work, there is nothing that refreshes my soul more than a week or two at my favorite lake; fishing, nature watching, walking or even just sleeping in on a rainy morning. Many of my ideas (for stories, films or music) have come to me while deep in the cedar forest or on the rocky shores of the lake with only the sounds of the wind and water to keep me company. Like many of the places where I worship, I can see Kootenay Lake peering back at me when I look in the mirror - reflected in my eyes and etched in the lines of my face. Kootenay Lake  is a part of who I am. The peace I have found there is something that I take with me wherever I go.

 

My Sacred Places - Part Three

Four Corners

At Four Corners Monument

The borders of, Utah, Colarado, New Mexico and Arizona meet to form an imaginary cross in the desert. The area has come to be known as "The Four Corners" and it has a look and a feel to it that is unlike that of any place I have ever experienced. I have had the good fortune to visit this mystical land twice over the last five years and I am hoping to make the trip again and again in the years to come.

Goosenecks State Park, Utah
Called the best example of entrenched meandering in the world
The San Juan river has carved its path into the Colorado Plateau as it rose up

The first time I visited was the result of a spur-of-the-moment decision in the winter of 2009. After weeks of looking out my front door at the same old picture of snow blowing across the field and a windy, less than -20 degree cold, I booked some time off and loaded up my little Honda Fit and started driving south. We headed across the border and down the Interstate 15,stopping over first in Great Falls, Montana and then in Orem, Utah. It was the third day of travel that proved to be a total revelation. We turned east off of the I-15 at a place called Spanish Forks and followed a road that cut through a gap in the Wasatch Range. We could see a threatening looking storm ahead, but we passed through the mini-blizzard unscathed. We emerged through the gap into what seemed like another world - a world of pinion pines and Utah junipers, a world without snow! We drove through Price and Green River and finally stopped at a roadside pullout North of Moab. We were giddy! We checked into the hotel in Moab and went to Arches National Park that afternoon (which was amazing). That's how my exploration of this unique area began.

The double arches

Delicate Arch

I haven't traveled that much of the US, but I think that Utah may be the most underestimated State in the Union for natural beauty. Most of the population (80%) lives along the "Wasatch Front" (over two million people), which includes Salt lake City and Provo. the rest of the state remains much more sparsely inhabited. Near Moab there are many interesting places to visit including Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Dead Horse Point State Park. If you have seen the movie "Indiana Jones and the Lost Crusade" , the opening scenes will give you an idea of what Arches N.P. is like. It contains hundreds of natural arches formed from the red Jurassic sandstone that is everywhere in this region, along with plenty of spires and cliffs and red sand dunes.



Looking under Mesa Arch from Island in the Sky.
LaSal mountains in the distance.



The Upheaval Dome

Canyonlands is a larger park and is divided into several districts. Island in the Sky is a high plateau from which one can view amazing vistas. Looking down at the Colorado or Green Rivers, you might think that you have landed on Mars. The landscapes are so much different from anything that I have ever experienced and I would find myself standing transfixed, staring off into the distance. I recommend visiting the Upheaval Dome which may have been formed by a meteorite impact. Chickadee-like  juniper titmouses visited us while we lunched there along with a couple of scrub jays.  South of Moab is The Needles District, which is near the junction of the Colorado and Green Rivers. It is lower down than Island in the sky and is full of interesting rock formations, Puebloan ruins, rocky desert and natural springs. I look forward to one day visiting The Maze District, which is more remote. It contains hundreds of pictographs in Horseshoe canyon and was the hideout of famous outlaw, Butch Cassidy.

Newspaper Rock -Needles district

Closer to the Four Corners itself is Monument Valley, which is situated on the Utah/ Arizona border. There we stayed at the historic Goulding's Lodge in the heart of Navajo country. Goulding's started as a small trading post run by Harry Goulding and his wife "Mike". In 1930's things were not going well financially at the trading post. Harry heard that John Ford was planning to shoot a new Western film so he gathered up what few dollars he could and had some professional photos taken of the area. Then he traveled to John Ford's office in Holly Wood. When he was told by a receptionist that Ford was a busy man, Harry just said "I can wait, I brought my bed-roll". When John Ford saw the photos, he was intrigued and the classic western "Stagecoach" starring John Wayne was filmed there in 1939. That was the beginning of a long string of movies filmed in the region. The cast and crew stayed at Goulding's and the local Navajo's got work as extras and wranglers in many of Ford's films.

"The Mittens"

The spire in the background was climbed by
 Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy in "the Eiger Sanction"

The mesa's of Monument Valley are  one of the icon's of the American West and I don't think I have ever seen a montage of America that didn't include at least one shot of  the area. I don't usually do guided tours, but I was glad that we did one of the valley. Our Navajo guide, Dave was informative and when he saw that we were as interested in the Navajo people as we were with the scenery, he adapted his spiel toward us (we were the only people there on that off-season weekday). We learned and saw things that day that I wouldn't have otherwise experienced.



The Whitehouse Ruins

Canyon de Chelly, in the Arizona corner can be viewed from the top of the canyon and the Navajo people still work farms at the bottom of the canyon. There are many excellent viewpoints along the canyon - two of the most famous are "The Whitehouse" and "Spider's Rock".  In my favorite science fiction film,  "Contact" Jody Foster's character sits on the edge of the canyon and runs sand through her fingers in the poignant final scene.

At "Spider Rock"

The "ring of fire"

The New Mexico corner is no less interesting. Views of  the aptly named Shiprock  follow you as you cross into the "Land of Enchantment". I have been to Chaco Canyon twice - once to view the annular eclipse on May 20, 2012 (which was an experience in itself).

Chaco was the cultural center of the "Anasazi" (as called by early European archaeologists) between 800 and 1200 AD. Today it is agreed that the ruins on the site were built by puebloan peoples, ancestors of the Hopi and Pueblo people. I really should not even wade into this subject, because there is an evolving understanding of what Chaco is all about. Was it built for trade, religion, ceremonial purposes? Trade definitely went on there - macaw carcasses, turquiose, copper and shells have all been found in the ruins of the canyon. I have been told that ancient trails emanate from Chaco heading east to the Mississippi, south to Mexico and west to California. There are pictographs in a canyon near Canmore, Alberta that appear to be made by peoples of the four corners, so who knows how far people traveled to visit this important site? I think that because these people passed on their traditions through oral rather than written means, people of  European descent such as myself will never comprehend the meaning of these places. I have little doubt that the people who need to know, understand exactly what the significance of this place is and why it is located in a particularly arid part of the high desert. Buildings such as Pueblo Buenito  are said to have astronomical significance and alignment and it felt like an honor to be there for the eclipse, after traveling 2 and a half thousand kilometres from my home. I try to never forget that I am only able to access some of these amazing places by the grace of the peoples of the desert and that I am traveling Indian land. Perhaps I am being naive in this, but this land and its peoples deserve our respect.

My wife, Bev at Butler Wash, Utah

Mesa Verde is another important archeological site in the Colorado corner. It is a high mesa which contains reconstructed ruins. I have only passed by snow-covered Mesa Verde in February. Perhaps one day I will visit the park. There are so many places that I have already visited on the high desert of the Colorado Plateau and so many more that I haven't, In fact I think one could spend a lifetime exploring and absorbing the scenery and spiritual aura of this vast area.

The Four Corners is a place that I first fell in love with from afar. The images and art that I became familiar with (long before I even knew where it came from) already were a part of my consciousness before I managed to travel to that sacred place. I was not one bit disappointed when we passed across the Wasatch mountains that winter day and into the land of my dreams.

My Sacred Places - Part Two

Fabulous Fundy

 

I might not be the most qualified person to write this blog. I am a confirmed landlubber, having spent almost all of my life in Alberta. I will however try to relate my experiences in a part of the world that has grown dear to my heart.

 

I will say that the Bay of Fundy was not love-at -first sight to me. I visited a portion of Fundy National Park and nearby Alma where I sampled the tastiest scallops I can imagine- much different than the rubbery little hockey pucks we get in Alberta The tidal flats are not the most pretty of scenes that you will ever see. They are very diverse and interesting places to explore on low tide however. Even the famous "flower pots" of Hopewell Rocks were a bit of a disappointment to me.. It took a bit of time for me to realize what it was that I was looking at -one of the natural wonders of the world!

Remnants of  the bygone era of wooden shipbuilding dot the shore. In Harvey Bank, New Brunswick we found the old Turner Shipyard and a memorial to the "Revolving Light" - a ship that was launched from that spot on 1875 and out into the Bay of Fundy. It reminded me that European history in this part of the world goes back hundreds of years. Acadian settlement, British conquest, American Independance and even a threatened Fenian uprising (which helped to the hasten the formation of the Dominion of Canada) are all part of the story.

It wasn't until I had a chance to get out into the bay that I really appreciated it for the wonder it is. The" highest tides in the world" are something I've heard again and again, What does this really mean? For me, it means an amazing diversity of aquatic life that is represented in one thing... whales!

My first trip to Grand Manan Island and whale-watching tour on "Sea Watch Tours" http://www.seawatchtours.com/  resulted in sightings of many of the endangered North Atlantic Right  Whales, along with seabirds and pelagic birds of the open ocean (such as shearwaters and puffins). Right whales are the "cows" of whales. Over fifty feet long, they float on top of the water - taking long naps between foraging. They begin to rock from tip to tail and once you see the tail come out of the water, you know they will disappear for extended periods - diving perhaps hundreds of feet to the bottom of the bay for food. Then once again they ascend to the surface and you can see and hear the clouds of mist and air expelled from their gigantic lungs. In fact we were close enough to smell their breath! I don't care who you are (or how cynical or jaded you have become) being in close contact with whales is one of the most amazing things you will ever experience as long as you live. The next day we took the ferry from Saint John to Digby, Nova Scotia and I will never forget the experience of  slipping into Digby Harbor after crossing the bay from New Brunswick.

My second trip to Grand Manan was even more spectacular. This time we took a sailing ship http://www.whales-n-sails.com/ out into the bay to a spot where it meets the Gulf of Maine. I rode on the bow of the ship the entire way (which was well worth the price of admission in itself). I spotted the whales by their dual spouts of mist on the ocean ahead. As we approached the location, we could see hundreds of seabirds flying all around us and (in the water) harbor porpoises swam alongside. Whirlpools caused by the rapidly rising tide and upwellings from the bottom caused a feeding frenzy beyond my imagination. Three types of whales were in attendance that afternoon; minke whales (the smallest of the baleen whales), gigantic finbacks and the stars of the show - the  humpbacks.

My last trip I made to the area was Campobello Island (in 2013). We arrived on the island via two ferries. One government ferry to Deer Island and another private ferry to Campobello. The weather wasn't great on our way to the island, but the fog lifted like a veil at the end of our journey, revealing the pretty coast of Maine and the island itself.

Eastport, Maine from ferry

I found Campobello Island to be a total delight. We rented a sea-front cottage with a view overlooking our own tiny bay where we could watch sea birds and bald eagles feeding on herring, as well as harbor porpoises and the occasional minke whale. One evening we just played on the beach at Friar's Bay and enjoyed watching the tide come in. While not being an momentous event it was something that somebody like me would never have a chance to see in everyday life and I enjoyed it immensely. Naturalists like myself will definitely enjoy Herring Cove Provincial Park for its beaches, marshes, fens and forest.




Most of the visitors to this small Canadian island seem to be American, because it is most easily accessed by bridge from Lubec, Maine. The main thing that drew my attention to Campobello was its association with a man that I believe was the greatest president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His mother and father took 3 year old Franklin there  in 1883 and they loved the place so much it became their summer home. Eventually Franklin and his wife Eleanor had their own cottage on the island where they visited almost every summer up until he became president.  Tragically, in August 1921, it was at this cottage he developed the paralytic disease which left him forever paralyzed from the waist down. This huge setback didn't stop him from going on to be the 32nd President of the United States.  The Roosevelt's property is now the Roosevelt Campobello International Park, which takes up a major part of the island.

 

Roosevelt's "cottage"

On my second trip to Nova Scotia, I had the good fortune to witness the Bay of Fundy from the air and I was able to observe the "Digby Neck". The neck is a long peninsula formed of volcanic rock that extends from Nova Scotia into the bay. It, along with some other places on the Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy are places that I would like to visit to complete my odyssey to this unique part of the world. Though I can probably count my time spent around the Bay of Fundy in days, it is a region that has opened my eyes to the marine world and changed the way that I see nature as a whole.

Liberty Point, Campobello

My Sacred Places - Part One

Don't let the title fool you into thinking that I am a religious person at all. I was a still a kid when I decided that I was a non-believer. I used to read a great deal (I was a bit of a "book-worm") and  I got interested in Norse and Greek mythology. At some point, I realized that the old gods weren't too different from the new gods and the people who told those old tales believed in those gods as much as Christians believe in "our" god today. That realization changed the way I look at the world, but that isn't what these articles are about so don't worry - I don't have any answers and the older I become, the more I realize that I just don't know...

I am certainly not a world traveler, but I am interested in the places around me and I like to explore whenever I can get away. I live in Western Canada so there is a personal bias involved of course, but there are a couple of more far-flung places that I have included that might surprise some of you. I don't think there are too many places that I have been that I can say I really don't like, but there are some that I have grown to love. Among that greater selection of destinations, there are some that are just that bit more special to me personally. They are places that have left their mark on me and are part of who I am. I have called these my "sacred places".

 Highwood High

I will start by saying that there is no place on the entire planet that I would rather be in the fall than the upper Highwood. From the shimmering stands of aspens in the Eden Valley to the beautiful golden alpine larches of the high subalpine cirques around the Highwood Pass, the Highwood is like heaven to somebody like me. If I had just one day to show somebody our province I would take them west of Longview and into those hills and mountains. The Highwood is "my Alberta".

In the summer of 1979, I worked for Alberta Transportation painting markings on the highway. One blue sky day we drove out to Longview, Alberta. to do some work, From the moment I arrived in the small town on Highway 22, I knew this was a special place. It was love-at-first-sight. That was the year Highway 940/ 40 was being realigned and paved into Kananaskis Country and up to and over the Highwood Pass making it the highest paved road in Canada at 2200 metres above sea level. I visited the area intermittently in the years before I met my wife, then it became a regular thing. We often camped at Green Ford campground (next to the river) in the Eden Valley, which is just outside of K- Country.



Bear creek hills - Grass Pass is the notch on the right

The autumn isn't the only time to visit the Highwood River. In the early spring  we would hike the Bear Creek Hills, trudging (huffing and puffing) up Grass Pass, Fir or Marston creek and up along the crests of the hills amongst the twisted limber pines. I could see the snow covered mountains of the Great Divide and across the river down into Zephyr and Cataract Creek valleys on either side of the long ridge of Mount Burke. The pain of these early season conditioning hikes would soon be forgotten, but not the inspiration of returning to the mountains after a long winter.

Summer draws one into the high country One June we backpacked up (toad filled) Mist Creek valley and almost ran headlong into a grizzly under one of ridges of Mist Mountain while looking for the hot spring. Later we hiked Mist Ridge, which was a lovely trip, with views of the backside of Mount Gibraltar and down into the Sheep River valley. We found a beautiful spring high up on the ridge.

Arethusa Cirque

The cirques of the misty range are always beautiful places to visit in the peak flower weeks of late July. Ptarmigan Cirque is the most popular of these and is one of the most easily accessed alpine meadows in the Canadian Rockies. The first time I hiked Ptarmigan, I spent several minutes explaining a boulder made up of fossilized horn coral to a man who turned out to be a paleontologist. His wife (sensing my embarrassment) told us that he had previously been explaining the formation of the universe to an astrophysicist. I guess we all get a little bit out of our depth sometimes! Less visited Arethusa Cirque is probably my favorite.  Last year we scrambled beside a cascade and up to an unnamed cirque full of alpine flowers that I had spotted from the Highwood Ridge (across the valley) on a previous trip.

Paradise Valley
Mount Tyrwhitt(upper left) Grizzly ridge(left)
Highwood ridge(right)

Pocattera Cirque, Grizzly Col and Ridge along with Paradise Valley and Highwood Ridge can be arranged into different hikes, in the area immediately west of the Highwood Pass. The views in this region are unsurpassed anywhere. The last time there, I hiked the length of the Highwood Ridge in nothing but a t-shirt, which is a rare experience at that altitude! I walked south from the summit. To my left, the peaks of the Misty Range were my constant companions. Below me to the right was pretty Paradise Valley backed by Grizzly Ridge - the site of a near fatal mistake, when I tried to shortcut off of the ridge. Behind the ridge, the summits of the great divide form a wall of rock that extends from Mount Tyrwhitt to the south. It was definitely one of the best days in my hiking career.

Pocattera Cirque in the fall

 

 

Thinking back, there have been so many adventures along the Highwood that it is no wonder that is a huge part of the person that I have become. There was the time that my wife and I got "lost" during a traverse of Cataract Creek one October day. We spent too much time fishing and ran out of daylight. We got tired of crossing back and forth along the creek so we detoured up to the ridge of Mount Burke where we teetered precariously along in the dark with just an emergency pen-light I had in my pack. The battery quickly expired and we were in the dark again so we just followed our trusty Jack Russell along and down the northern end of the ridge. Billy's white hair was our beacon. We arrived at a meadows between Cataract and Zephyr Creeks. We could hear a flapping sound in the building Chinook wind and see a dark form in the center of the meadows. When we approached the form we saw that it was teepee shaped and made up of many straight spruce poles. I revived my flashlight long enough to see that many colorful "flags" of colored cloth were tied to the poles. It was a sun dance lodge - probably belonging to the Stoney or Nakoda Indians of the nearby Eden Valley reserve. This was their  place, so we left to cross the freezing cold, rushing waters of the Highwood River (in the dark) to our waiting truck.

Third Picklejar Lake

 

There are places that we visit again and again. There are the Picklejar Lakes - four interesting high lakes that we first visited on a Thanksgiving Sunday, Cat Creek Falls and just walking along the river in the autumn. We often cross the freezing waters of the river to visit the pictographs of Zephyr Creek. By the time we get to the other side we can never avoid calling out in pain, clutching our frozen legs and feet. The pictographs aren't that spectacular but there is something about the place... My dog (Kenner) abandoned us once after swimming the river and ran back to our Jimmy. When I arrived and opened the passenger door, he immediately jumped into the back seat, curled up in a little ball and shook until he warmed up. The Highwood is a painfully cold river, even in the middle of summer.

The valley itself is usually cold at night especially in the fall (no matter how warm the day). One evening we had a huge fire going and the dogs were looking at us whining and I realized they were out of water. I filled their large aluminum 4 quart dish. An hour later they were  whining again. "They can't be out of water..." I checked the dish and it was frozen solid as a hockey puck!

The upper Highwood isn't a great fishing stream, but I have spent many hours happily fishing its waters and walking miles along its reaches. Occasionally I have had a decent day with a few pretty cutthroat trout and the occasional big bull trout. In October the spawning whitefish come to the deep pools of the Eden Valley. There are also introduced brook trout in Cataract Creek. I have watched them, fighting their way up the falls during the fall spawn like miniature salmon.

Grizzly Sow

There are still some parts of the Highwood that I have yet to visit and I suppose there always will be. I will save them for another day. For now, no matter where I am or what I am doing, I can think of that place where a crystal-clear, ice cold stream flows down a valley surrounded by towering peaks of  gray weathered limestone. A place of grizzly bears, eagles, bighorn sheep and elk A place of adventure and exploration, of  peace and sanctuary... my Highwood River.

 

A Week in California's Mojave Desert

“I think you are another of these desert-loving English: Doughty, Stanhope, Gordon of Khartoum. No Arab loves the desert. We love water and green trees; there is nothing in the desert. No man needs nothing.”

King Feisal to T.E. Lawrence from “Lawrence of Arabia”                                                                                               

Joshua trees and vintage neon signs at Bungalow in the Boulders

I’m not sure where my fascination with “the desert” came from. Perhaps it was from my favorite film of all time; David Lean’s classic “Lawrence of Arabia” or from my readings (as a boy) of Roy Chapman Andrew’s fossil hunting adventures in the Gobi. Whatever it was that sparked my imagination, that’s all it has remained (imaginings) until quite recently. In the last five years however, I have taken three trips to the deserts of the Southwest United States.

I just returned from a November trip to California’s Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. It isn’t my first trip to the American Southwest – I have taken two previous drives down to the Four Corners area; where the borders of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado draw an imaginary cross in the desert of the Colorado Plateau. This time I flew to Palm Springs and drove to the home we rented in the town of Joshua Tree, CA. on the northwest edge of Joshua Tree National Park.

One thing I noticed immediately is that though (superficially) the landscape is similar to that of the Four Corners area, it has a very different look to it. To me, the overall vistas weren’t as “pretty” as that of Utah or Arizona. It seemed that there were less intact cliffs, pinnacles and arches and more broken, square shaped boulders everywhere and crumbling mountains. I’m sure some of you are thinking that this isn’t a very scientific analysis, but I am a layman and have often found that beauty lies in science. I discovered that the reason for such a difference in appearance can be found in the Geology of the landscape.

Monzogranite cliff

The area around the Colorado Plateau is made up of sedimentary rock, such as the red Jurassic sandstones of Arches National Park and Monument Valley. Our Navajo guide, David at Monument Valley told us that it was impossible to take a “bad” picture there and he was right! The rock of Joshua Tree is igneous monzogranite which was horizontally layered with gneiss. Most of the softer gneiss has eroded away and along with vertical joints in the monzogranite it has left multitude square blocks everywhere. They are scattered on the ground, in piles or as part of weathered cliffs.

So perhaps I didn’t find the overall scenery from the top of a mountain as pleasing as Utah, but it was when I explored at a smaller scale that I came to appreciate amazing diversity of life and countless microenvironments of Southeast California.

Joshua tree "forest"

 



Silver cholla, California juniper and pinion.


I guess the first thing that drew my attention to the region was the Joshua trees themselves (which are actually a species of yucca). They say if you see a Joshua tree, you are in the Mojave desert (above 3000 feet). Below 3000 feet is the Sonoran desert. I have to admit, that when I arrived it felt like I was in a completely alien environment. None of the surrounding plants and landscape appeared familiar to me at all. Far from being disconcerting, I found this to be exhilarating. We got a guide and set about attempting to identify the various species of cactus, yucca and cholla. There was cotton top/barrel, Englemann’s hedgehog, Mojave prickly pear and beavertail varieties of cactus, Nolina and Mojave yucca, pencil, silver and perhaps cane cholla (pronounced choy-ya). On the last day we found a “garden” of teddy-bear cholla in the sonaran region of the National Park. There were some pinion and California juniper that looked suspiciously akin to the Utah juniper we saw when we were in Utah…



Teddy bear cholla

We hadn’t been at our rustic Route 66-themed “Bungalow in the Boulders” for two minutes when I had my initial first sighting of a new species of bird – the black-throated sparrow. I am not much of an “official” bird watcher. I don’t usually write things down or make life lists, but I am pleased when I see a new species and I usually remember where I was when I saw it. I do almost always carry the old binoculars that my parents presented to me on my tenth birthday.

Here are some of the “new” bird species I saw; Phainopepla, a greater roadrunner, Scott’s oriole, cactus wren, rock wren, Anna’s hummingbird, turtle doves, northern mocking bird, verdin and fan-tailed grackle. We were excited when Gambel’s Quail appeared at the feeders along with what we decided (after much debate) were California thrashers. I had been hoping for some desert woodpeckers and on my last day, a ladder backed woodpecker appeared at the bungalow pecking on the sides of Joshua Trees. I noticed that the map in the Peterson’s Guide showed the (familiar to me) downy woodpecker habitat interlocks almost perfectly with the ladder backed, with no overlap. One leaves off where the other begins…

There were familiar birds as well; red tailed hawks, coopers and/or sharp shinned hawks, house wrens(at an oasis), mourning doves, Oregon juncos (near a dam in the park) and an apparently slate colored one(at the feeders), spotted towhee, scrub jays, house finches and the inevitable house sparrows (maybe 6). The most plentiful song bird was one of my favorites – the white-crowned sparrow. There were thousands in the region – flocks in the park and many at the feeders.

Most of the trip was spent in the Joshua Tree region, where nature walks and hikes were the main activity. We took two interesting hikes up the wash behind the house and into a canyon which took us higher into the mountains of the park. We stopped once to investigate the “J T and S” railway museum and took a ride on one of the scale model steam trains. The second trip into the canyon took us up the right-hand fork to a nice picnic spot beneath a large pinion pine. On our way back we ran into a tarantula right next to where we had lunch that afternoon.

My first oasis - 49 Palms

One of the highlights of our trip was a 3 mile hike to my first oasis – 49 palms canyon. It was how I had imagined it and I found myself surrounded by lush fan leafed palm trees in an almost totally arid region of Sonoran desert south of 29 Palms, CA.
A day-long road trip took us north to Mojave National Preserve, where the Mojave and Sonoran deserts meet the desert of the Great Basin (which continues into Nevada). We visited the historic Union Pacific train station in Kelso, CA and the nearby Kelso sand dunes. Along part of our journey that day we were driving America’s historic Route 66.

Ten days isn’t very long, but I feel that I got a taste of California’s Mojave region. There certainly was plenty more to see and do in this large area, but on November 17 we drove to Palm Springs International Airport, tearfully bade farewell to the palm trees and hopped onto a plane back to snowy Calgary. One thing I have learned is that there is much more than nothing in the desert.

Me, in happier times!