Driftwood 2

Driftwood Canyon 7/24

Driftwood Canyon is about 10 miles north of Smithers. It is a great stop to explore an ancient fossil bed, where a foot bridge and trail leads to a viewing platform and interpretive display at the base of the fossil bed outcropping. It was a nice easy walk through the forest, which is about all we could do. The fossil beds are about 51 myo and produce fish, leaves, insects of the time when a lake bed and volcanic ash combined to seal the evidence of life at that time. We also found there is a Tree Lungwort, a cross between fungus and algae, and looks like leaves growing on the bark of the tree. They said it is an indication of good air quality. Because, it gets all it's nutrient's from the air.

Crater Lake 4

Crater Lake 3

more Crater Lake

Crater Lake

This was a spectacular late morning. We climbed Hudson Bay Mountain. The information said it was a moderate hike through alpine meadows. The trail winds its way to Crater Lake. Let me say we did not make it all the way up. The climb was 45 degrees...steep. As we got closer to the lake it started to rain. We were afraid the walk would get slippery and my ankle was feeling some stress, so we decided to leave the top for another time. We started off at about 4900ft and went up at least 1,000ft., it was about 2 1/2 hours round trip. It was truly magnificent. From town it took about 25 minutes, by truck, up rolling gravel switchbacks. Before we got to the gravel road we saw a fox killing its pray. I thought it was a cat because it was jumping up and down to catch its meal.

Dixie & Jim

I am getting some emails but cannot send any. Please excuse our conversation with Jime & Dixie.
We will be leaving Smithers tomorrow, Sunday, July 25, and go to Meziadin Lake. Hope to see you there.

Moricetown

Moricetown 2

Moricetown 7/23

The second half of the day we went to Moricetown one of the oldest surviving native settlements. They fish with gaff polls or dip nets. With the dip nets they are tied to the rocks with a long rope. They would be a goner if they slipped. You can sometimes see the fish trying to come up the waterfalls. The people perform their critical and dangerous task of gathering the winter's supply of salmon. We followed our new friends from the twin falls. After watching the fishermen we went to the little museum that explained the history and traditions of the Wet'suwet'en community. It spoke of the injustices that were put upon them by the whites. They would not let them fish for years because they said they were taking all the fish and the salmon runs were not as plentiful. Not to say that the whites were fishing with big nets and started in the ocean. They were finally given there right to fish,
which they had done for thousands of years, some years ago. They were also told they could not compete with the commercial fisheries.

Smithers 2/23 Twin Falls

The tee shirt is from the Netherlands and is for a soccer team I think the team was the tigers. It is pretty cleaver.