Capilano River Regional Park

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Experience Cheakamus Canyon on Rocky Mountaineer’s Sea to Sky Climb rail journey

ACCESS: Paradise Valley Road begins four kilometres west of Highway 99 via Squamish Valley Road, 12 kilometres north of downtown Squamish. Paved for much of its 11.3-kilometre length, Paradise Valley Road links with the Sea to Sky Trail, which leads five kilometres through the Cheakamus Canyon to Highway 99.

To learn more about the Sea to Sky Trail, pick up a copy of our guide, The Whistler Book, or visit www.seatoskytrail.ca/.

For information on Rocky Mountaineer’s Sea to Sky Climb, visit www.rockymountaineer.com/.

From Paradise to Starvation sounds like a potboiler of a journey.

It certainly was when construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway began almost a century ago north of Squamish.

Even today there’s a wild flourish of adventure to be had while retracing the route that leads through the Cheakamus Canyon from Paradise Valley to Starvation Lake.

This five-kilometre section serves as one of the most scenic links in the Sea to Sky Trail, an unfinished recreational route that links Squamish with Whistler, Pemberton, and points north.

For those with a yen to experience the narrowest confines of the Cheakamus Canyon from the comfort of a front-row seat, a tourist train that runs daily between North Vancouver and Whistler during the summer is the ultimate way to go.

No matter how you choose to explore the canyon, the experience will leave you breathless, particularly between now and early July while the spring runoff in the Cheakamus River is in full bore.

The river is fed by snowmelt that collects in Cheakamus Lake in Garibaldi Provincial Park and is further added to by numerous creeks and rivers as it races to meet the ocean at Squamish.

Where the sheer walls of the canyon channel the clear green-hued water into a white froth, the river roars.

One person well acquainted with the canyon is Sea to Sky Trail project manager Gordon McKeever.

McKeever told me that the current pathway through the canyon is a remnant of the road built in 1913 to facilitate construction of the railway.

He also pointed out that—as on other sections of the work-in-progress trail—there are several hurdles to be cleared before the Cheakamus Canyon portion is completed.

“Holistically, there are two issues,” he said. “The Squamish First Nation has a land lease at the north end of the trail where it comes out of the canyon and joins Highway 99. It’s not closed, but we are working on collaborating with them to resolve the land-use issue to our mutual benefit.”

McKeever also spotlighted a section of the trail that temporarily washed out several years ago and lies within current owner Canadian National Railway’s right of way.

“It’s not clear who put a lot of work into creating the safe crossing which currently exists. It wasn’t a ‘midnight trail-building’ project by any means.”

With cautious optimism, McKeever noted that members of the Canadian Forces’ Joint Task Force Games intend to leave a legacy in the Sea to Sky Corridor following their involvement with security at 2010 Winter Games venues around Whistler.

“They’ve offered to build a safer permanent crossing there. But at the middle-management level, I sense CN doesn’t want anyone to use the trail. For the moment, it’s strictly a case of using it at your own risk, which all kinds of people do on a daily basis.”

Should you wish to experience the Cheakamus Canyon on foot or by mountain bike, keep several factors in mind.

With the exception of toddlers toted on their parents’ backs, this is not a child-friendly portion of the Sea to Sky Trail, particularly from the north end of Paradise Valley, where a short, steep stretch leads uphill atop granite boulders shaped like giant molars.

From there, allow 30 minutes to reach gemlike Starvation Lake on a secluded plateau between Highway 99 and the canyon.

If this is as far as you wish to go, follow a rough road just south of the lake downhill to the train tracks.

From that viewpoint, water in the Cheakamus can be witnessed repeatedly transforming between tranquillity and turbulence where the river falls through a series of short drops and swirls among boulders.

As the Sea to Sky Trail climbs steadily uphill beyond the lake, the most dramatic scenery occurs within a 30-minute hike, including one stunning clearing where the massive Tantalus Range peaks display their best faces.

Further on lies the cliff crossing, definitely not for the squeamish but sturdy enough to support a steady stream of hundreds of cyclists in the annual Cheakamus Challenge mountain-bike race held each September.

Beyond doubt, Rocky Mountaineer’s Sea to Sky Climb rail journey is the most comfortable and intimate way to experience the canyon, especially from the open-air heritage observation car, a 1914 relic that was state-of-the-art when the PGE line debuted and still holds its own against the train’s Plexiglas-enclosed passenger cars.

Lean out as the engineer eases back on the throttle and brings the pace to a crawl.

In places, the canyon narrows so dramatically it’s almost possible to touch both sides at once.

Where the train crosses a trestle bridge, views of the iconic Black Tusk appear that are far superior to anything seen from the highway or trail, reason enough to treat yourself to a day trip where someone else does the heavy lifting.

Original Article
Text CR Jack Christie
Photo CR Louise Christie

Kayaking’s easy on the calm Sunshine Coast

You’ll find plenty of information on the Sunshine Coast in our best-selling guide book 52 Best Weekend Getaways from Vancouver.

Check out this article to see why heading there this month is a good idea before the summer holiday rush.

Access: Egmont lies 75 kilometres north of the Langdale ferry terminal on Highway 101 via Sechelt. For information on kayaking at West Coast Wilderness Lodge, call 1-877-988-3838 or visit www.wcwl.com/. Okeover Arm lies 48 kilometres north of Egmont near Lund on Highway 101 via a 50-minute ferry ride between Earls Cove and Saltery Bay. To contact Powell River Sea Kayak, call 1-604-483-2160 or visit www.bcseakayak.com/. Detailed information on transportation, accommodation, and recreation on the Sunshine Coast is posted at www.hellobc.com/.

Late spring is imbued with the expectancy of summer’s imminent appearance.

Nowhere can you experience that more keenly than in a sea kayak on the Sunshine Coast.

Mountains and sunlight reflect off the ocean in flashes of chrome as you drift along.

Beneath the surface, clarity reigns.

An orange sea urchin looks close enough to touch.

In truth, the globe of spines sits a paddle length below.

Reach down and your kayak will roll just enough to momentarily seem about to tip.

Pull back as you snap out of a spell cast by the scene’s overpowering magic.

Although the Sunshine Coast is visible from Vancouver’s western beaches, the Sechelt and Malaspina peninsulas, which dominate this semi-isolated stretch of the Lower Mainland, seem a world apart.

No need to pack a passport. All that’s required to experience the tangible essence of this rarefied cosmos is the will to travel an hour or so beyond your back yard.

How hard is that, especially when the rewards are guaranteed to send you home with a whole new peace of mind?

Before you begin to think that you’ll somehow have to rough it to achieve this sense of release, consider this: life is challenging enough when you’re coping with the pressures of urban living.

As soon as you disembark on the Sunshine Coast, you’ll sense a soothing difference.

There’s more room to breathe—not just between you and others with whom you share the road but in the whole realm of nature that spreads before you.

Take your time.

With the Coast Mountains rising sharply from the shoreline, the inclination here is not so much to explore vertically but to put out to sea in a small watercraft and explore the sheltered bays and inlets.

No boat? No experience?

With plenty of local outfitters and guides, sourcing equipment and directions is hardly an issue.

When reached by phone at his company’s sea-kayak base on Okeover Arm near Powell River, Vallance was buzzing about a recent appearance by several orcas.

“Even though historically orcas used to feed here on salmon before local rivers were dammed for hydroelectric generation, this is the first time in the 16 years I’ve been here that I recall them visiting. That stirs up optimism in me.”

In that same vein, Hansen reported that paddlers around Egmont have been sharing space with hundreds of surf scoters—large, black sea ducks given to ululating while struggling to get airborne—as well as inquisitive minke whales that enjoy people-watching just as much as the seafarers are bent on nature observation.

A distinguishing feature of the inland waters around small ports like  Okeover Arm is the abiding sense of tranquillity.

At this time of year, few sailboats or yachts appear.

Come summer, all that changes, particularly around Okeover Arm, which opens onto Desolation Sound.

As Vallance pointed out, the sound is one of the Sunshine Coast’s more popular destinations for fair-weather sailors.

“For starters, Desolation’s got a great name and warm water, which is rather special. Plus, it’s got the best intertidal marine life on the coast. Based on their experiences from around the world, our guides tell us there are some unique things going on here, which is why they’ve dubbed our day trips the ‘famous aquarium tour’.

Desolation is sheltered by towering Coast Mountains,” he continued, “and dotted with islands and islets. There are no strong currents. This creates what people are seeking in a kayak tour.”

Extreme currents are one of the chief attractions for visitors to Egmont.

Except at slack tide, the mighty Skookumchuck Narrows at the entrance to Sechelt Inlet south of the small village offers a playground for experienced kayak paddlers who pull stunts in their stubby play boats on the roiling white water within sight of those who journey to viewing spots on foot.

Currents of a decidedly less threatening nature characterize the waters around Paul Hansen’s West Coast Wilderness Lodge in Egmont.

“Compared to the Strait of Georgia that can be choppy, the waters offshore from us are always flat calm. You never feel like you’re in big, open water with winds pushing you around.”

As well, Hansen pointed out that in a kayak you’re not sitting as high above the water as in a canoe. “When it comes to paddling, canoeing is an art, kayaking a joy.”

Whether you’ve sea kayaked before or not, now is the time to spring to it.

Original Article
Text CR Jack Christie
Photo CR Louise Christie

Bygone era returns at the Kilby Historic Site

Here’s a great Fraser Valley day trip suggestion for families with young children. For more informationon Kilby and nearby Harrison Hot Springs, check our guide “52 Best Day Trips from Vancouver”

ACCESS: Harrison Mills lies 120 kilometres east of Vancouver in the North Fraser Valley. The quickest approach is via Highway 1 east of Chilliwack. Take Exit 135 and head north on Highway 9 as it crosses the Fraser River and through farmland around Agassiz, and then go west on Highway 7. A slightly longer way is by taking Highway 7 (Lougheed Highway) starting in Pitt Meadows all the way to Harrison Mills. Details on the historic site, as well as information on special events can be found at www.kilby.ca/.

For information on Kilby Provincial Park, visit www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/kilby/.

To find out about circle farm tours in the Fraser Valley, visit www.circlefarmtour.com/.

As daffodils and tulips fade in the fields surrounding the North Fraser Valley hamlets of Agassiz and Harrison Mills, blossoming orchards take their turn, carpeting the side roads in a blizzard of pink and white petals.

Of particular significance is a Gravenstein apple tree planted in 1926, the oldest of its kind in the region. The tree stands propped up in all its gnarled glory beside the equally venerable Kilby General Store.

In rhythm with the vernal season, the gates at the Kilby Historic Site on the banks of the Harrison River have swung open once again for the summer, offering a window on both the valley’s past and, thanks to spring’s vibrant renewal, an incipient future as lively as a newborn lamb.

As it has for the past three decades since being acquired by the province from the Kilby family, who set up shop in Harrison Mills in 1904, the historic site hums with life thanks in large part to the commitment of local volunteers from the Fraser Heritage Society.

For fruit-pie lovers, chef Vera Point of the local Chehalis First Nation is back at the helm of her kitchen in the Orientation Barn’s Harrison River Restaurant, where the smell of fresh-baked goods wafts out the windows of the former stable and into the grassy area that surrounds the imposing heritage store and former hotel complex. The restaurant is housed in a reconstruction of a wood-planked barn that was raised in 1917 alongside the Kilby General Store.

Long before the construction of a dike system sturdy enough to hold back the waters of the Fraser River, whose confluence with the Harrison lies a short distance downstream, the Kilbys wisely mounted their two-storey enterprise on pilings high above the floodplain.

Nothing else akin to its quaint grandeur remains from the glory days when, in the wake of the Cariboo gold rush and the advent of the transcontinental railway, sawmills sprang up at riverfronts like Harrison Mills and spurred settlement in the valley.

For over 70 years, goods from the Kilby General Store’s well-stocked shelves filled shopping baskets, while rooms in the Manchester House Hotel housed workers.

These days, day-trippers journey to Harrison Mills and the nearby farming centre of Agassiz for recreation at Kilby Provincial Park and to go on a self-guided circle farm tour of the region in search of locally created crafts and artisan produce. Much of this is on sale in the Orientation Barn’s Waterloo Farm Gift Shop.

That’s where we talked to Jo-Anne Leon, the historic site’s sales and marketing manager.

“There are all sorts of unique holes-in-the-wall around Agassiz where we source everything on display here, including a whole range of farm-fresh products, which Vera and her staff use to bake from scratch,” Leon said. “Visitors to Kilby are inspired by a way of life from the past that we’re moving away from. It represents values and traditions of a day gone by that people feel good about and like to be reminded of, a history that’s still close but which represents a totally different way of living than today—a slower lifestyle.”

One arrival this spring is a crossbred Dorper–St. Croix sheep named Benji, a red-ribbon winner at the Agassiz Fall Fair whose owner donated him to the Waterloo Farm component of Kilby Historic Site’s array of attractions.

Animal husbandry volunteer Cecily Joseph is in charge of a menagerie that includes potbellied pigs, Shetland ewes, a billy goat, and a cocky rooster.

“Last winter’s cold snap was really hard on a lot of the animals,” she said while hand-feeding a bronze turkey named Beau. “His partner, Buttons, didn’t survive.”

Joseph, who lives near Harrison Mills on the Chehalis Indian Reserve, is studying early childhood education at the University of the Fraser Valley.

“With the potential demise of the Stanley Park petting zoo, my goal is to open an animal education centre for kids at Kilby that will eventually be enlarged to include ponies.”

Pack a picnic and head out to the North Fraser Valley.

If you’ve got a canoe or a kayak, bring it along as well, and don’t forget the binoculars.

Not only does the Kilby Historic Site offer an attractive place to enjoy a fresh-air outing, the nearby provincial park on the shore of Harrison Bay does as well.

A sandy beach beckons windsurfers, while a boat launch provides the opportunity to paddle as bald eagles and the occasional breaching white sturgeon soar above the surface.

Time stands as motionless as a blue heron.

Thoughts of yesteryear float on the breeze as the Kilby family legacy lives on. -

Original Article
Text CR Jack Christie
Photo CR Louise Christie