Barkerville and Beyond by A.M.Westerling

Those of you who have been following this blog know that I am an avid camper and that one of my favorite camping vacation destinations is northern British Columbia. Words cannot begin to describe the beauty of this area. Imagine towering, thick forests, tumbling white water rivers and soaring mountain peaks and you get the idea. If you like the wilderness and outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing and camping, this is the destination for you.


We usually set up a base camp just outside of Terrace on Lakelse Lake. One thing we've really noticed is how different the rain is. When it rains in Calgary, it's usually cold and pelting rain. Our experience in northern B.C. is that although it rains a lot (forests like that need a lot of water!) it's generally a misty, warm rain.

From there, we’ll take day trips and for today’s post, I’ll share one of our more interesting tours and that was up the Nass Valley. As you drive north of Terrace, you follow the Nisga’a Highway which borders Kitsumkalum Lake. You can drive for miles in pristine wilderness, with the lake on one side and forests and mountains on the other and you’ll rarely see another vehicle or any signs of habitation. Eventually you’ll reach Nisga’s Mem’l Lava Beds Provincial Park. The Nass Valley is the site of Canada’s most recent volcanic eruption, around 1750 and lava flows cover a large area.

From there, it’s up to New Ayiansh, which replaces the original town that was destroyed in the volcano. No one knows for sure but it’s estimated about 2000 people died during the eruption. Here are the totem poles in front of the town hall in New Ayiansh and below that, the river that runs through the provincial park. The picture doesn't do justice to the colour of the water.

After this, if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can head over to Kincolith, which until recently was only accessible by boat or plane.


 If you'd like more information on the Nass Valley volcano, here are a couple of links for you:

www.nisgaanation.ca/volcano
https://nassvalleyeruption.weebly.com/

On this particular trip, we stopped in at Barkerville on our way home. And it's a good thing we did because that definitely helped as far as research for Barkerville Beginnings! Although I didn't know at the time I would be writing a book about it...

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