106 Chilko Lake

One of the most unique adventures of my thirty years working at the Pacific Forestry Centre was the week I spent at Chilko Lake with my boss Terry Shore and a couple other guys from the lab. We flew out to Chilko Lake to spend an entire week surveying the south side of the western arm for bark beetles.

Chilko Lake is a very beautiful blue green glacier fed lake snuggled along the eastside of the Coastal Mountains. The only way to get to the western arm of the lake, which poked right into the backside of the mountains, was to travel up the lake by boat or to take a plane. We chose to fly from Williams Lake, where we chartered an old Beaver bush plane. I was not certain the plane could really take off by the time it was fully loaded with our gear as the cargo area filled up fast and what wouldn’t fit in had to be jammed under our feet and any other place it would fit. Charlie the pilot didn’t seem to worry and after taxiing a short ways from shore headed out into the wind to give her full throttle and it was only seconds later that we were above the lake and heading west.

An hour later we landed at an old miners shack on the lakeshore just up from the end of the western arm of the lake. An easterly breeze off the meadow at the end of the arm brought the pungent smell of elk and deer dung as they probably used the meadow for more then just feeding but also as a gathering place during high snows.

I watched with some misgivings as the Beaver took off, realizing that it would not be back for nearly a week. The pilot had dropped us off at an old prospector’s shack just up from the beach. The shack had seen much better days, and even thought the roof was full of leaks it was still a good place to stow our gear. We decided it was a good place to do our cooking as well as to spread our sleeping bags, as there were a number of old wooden bunks that had not yet rotted into the floor.

I usually am a sound sleeper but this sure was no Hilton, and miles even from the luxury of a Motel 6. It was the pesky rats though, that kept me awake, they played games all night long running up and down back and forth over my sleeping bag until I finally had to resign myself and just let it happen.

I finally got used to the rats, sort of that is, but I really was put out the night it rained. It is no fun trying to sleep when the places where the roof is not dripping is not big enough to huddle in and you know that some part of your body is still getting dripped on. Well, I made it through that night too and was sure glad most of the week was without any serious rain.

For the most part the weather cooperated for the entire week, except for the day when the westerly howled up the arm. John, one of the guys from the BC Forest Service had met us at our camp with a small kicker, which we used to travel up and down the arm of the inlet. This was a great help except for the day that my summer student George and I had been dropped off miles down the west arm near the main part of the lake. Would you know it, as the day wore on the lake got so rough George and I had to walk miles along the shore to get back to the shack.

To add to the excitement, I had not brought my raingear that day and it poured for a while, George and I had to hole up under a big tree until it slacked off, before we could continue the several miles back to camp. We were fortunate that the sun sets late in the summer, as we would have been stuck out under a tree all night. Boy was I glad when we finally rounded the last corner and saw the shack in the distance.

The week had not gone to bad in spite of the rough living conditions and I was completely awed by the pristine beauty of the area. The awe factor was really pushed to the extreme as the eastern side of the coastal mountains towered overhead and added to the incredible blue of Chilko Lake.

It was with some disappointment that we saw very little wild life during our week’s adventure but I suppose that was a good thing as we were in the heart of grizzly bear country and I would not have wanted an encounter, at least with one of them.

It was with a sense of relief but also some sadness as the Beaver came circling in and landed late Friday afternoon and we said good-by to one of the most beautiful spots I have had the privilege of working in.