The Word - Vol 69

The Bowron Adventure

British Columbia really does live up to its billing on license plates, “Beautiful British Columbia.” Every corner of the province features its own beauty. The East Kootenay country, up against the Rocky Mountains, the Okanagan’s wine country, the rugged Pacific coast, and the big sky country of the Cariboo. All the regions have their own unique features.

It was 1968 when B.C.’s beauty came calling and four west side kids, Jim, Garth, Macko, and I decided to take off into the wilderness and tackle the Bowron Lakes canoe circuit in the colourful Cariboo. Bowron Lakes Provincial Park is a spectacular part of our province located near Quesnel and Barkerville, that features a series of lakes connected either by water or by well-maintained portage trails.

The circuit is 116km (72 mi.) and made up of 10 lakes. Making the entire loop takes between 7 and 10 days depending on the weather and your skill level. These days there are campsites, cooking shelters, and emergency phones located around the loop, but back in 1968, that wasn’t the case. It was a little more, how should I say, rustic!

We were city kids, and not well-versed in what lay ahead. Without having had much experience handling canoes, we set out on a training session in Jim’s backyard pool. It was a pretty short lesson because it was a short pool. It went something like this: canoe in the pool, get in the canoe, paddle, paddle, bump! Turn around, paddle, paddle, bump! Well, that should do it? Training session complete. Little did we know how ill-equipped we were to tackle 72 miles of lakes in the wilderness.

The park wasn’t as sophisticated in those days. Today as mentioned, there are shelters and camping spots and also little wheeled carriages you can load your canoe and supplies on to make a portage from one lake to the next. Back in 1968, we were forced to do it the old-fashioned way. We would pack supplies on our backs to the next lake, then return to get the canoes, hoist them over our heads, and carry them.

Aside from paddling and making the portages, we did have some time for adventure. We came across rapids that were part of the connection between two lakes and decided to unload the supplies from our canoes and make the portage, but with the canoe empty - make a run at the rapids just to see if we could make it through without turning turtle. Much to our amazement, we made it!

Even though we weren’t experienced canoeists, and had limited experience in the great outdoors, it was a spectacular trip filled with amazing scenery, and very few people to be found, not like today, where the park can get very busy. We went for days without seeing anyone, except one particular morning when a lone canoeist pulled up on shore as we were having breakfast. He was travelling alone and the night before a bear had found his cache of food and ate everything this camper from New York had. He said he was trying to make it to the finish line but would be grateful for whatever food we could spare. He had been trying to find other campers who could help him out, but as I mentioned, we hadn’t seen anyone on the circuit. We gave him some sliced meat and bread and he was on his way. I’ve often thought it must have been quite an adventure for him to make the trip solo!

When he left, we realized that it was the first time we had even thought of bears. The only wildlife we encountered came as we rounded the corner of one of the lakes, we almost ran into a moose grazing hip deep in water. For a bunch of city kids, this was an amazing sight. I can remember stopping paddling and just drifting by silently, watching this giant of the forest who didn’t seem to be bothered in the slightest by us being there.

As the next couple of days drifted by, we became aware of the fact that we didn’t pack nearly enough food! As our supplies continued to dwindle, we ended up eating handfuls of puffed wheat cereal with a side of brown sugar. Yes, that’s how prepared we were for this adventure. With time and food running out we realized we had to step up the pace. I can’t remember whose idea it was, but it was brilliant! We lashed the two canoes together and tied our tarp to some tree limbs to make a sail. This way we could sail down the final lakes and make it back to the start/finish line without starving to death! And so we did. Luckily the wind was at our backs, the tarps filled and away we went making record time.

We made it back to the start/finish line tired and hungry but filled with great memories. The Bowron Lakes Chain has become such a popular destination you have to make a reservation well in advance. The website has all the information you’ll need if you’re thinking of tackling the loop.  https://bcparks.ca/bowron-lake-park/

But please try and get a little more canoeing practice than in a backyard pool. Paddle, paddle, bump!

Till next week…
Wayne

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