First Snowfall In 2015 At The Steelhead Park Houston British Columbia (7 - Pictures)

Above Photo: Sign for the District of Houston’s Steelhead Park.

People play hard in the summer time around Houston, British Columbia. The weather is nice so folks grab their fishing rod, boat and motor and head off to one of the many lakes to catch that really nice Trout. Some like to lay around sunbaking, maybe head off on a nice hike, or paddle around in a canoe or kayak, but no matter what people do, they love soaking up the heat. 

 Above Photo: Houston, British Columbia's Steelhead Park.

After a fun summer and fall sets in, people again are busy gathering fire wood and getting last minute repairs done for the long winter that soon will be upon us. Before we know it, temperatures start dropping and that cool rain shower turns into frozen soft flakes that falls gently to the ground. 

Now we know, winter has arrived in Houston, B.C.

Although it is winter, people again play hard, this time were waxing up our ski's, or making sure snowshoe bindings are in good order, the kids bring out their sleds and toboggans for that wild ride down a gentle slope. Nothing changes here in Houston, if it summer or winter, we still get out with our families and have a blast.

I took the photos on December 4, 2015 as we had our first snowfall. One place that never lets you down is Houston's Steelhead Park. In summer or winter, the park looks beautiful.

 Above Photo: Houston, British Columbia's Steelhead Park.

Things to do in Houston, B.C. in the winter months.

The Morice Mountain Nordic Ski Club does an amazing job caring for ski trails at the Morice Mountain recreation site. The recreation site is located approximately 8km off Highway 16 on the Buck Flats Road. I have provided a map which will give you the directions to find this site.

Location map for the Morice Mountain recreation site:

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Morice+Mountain+Nordic+Ski+Club/@54.3346242,-126.6506588,8z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xb5f0ed0cbc077fd6

The Morice Mountain Nordic Ski Club looks after approximately 26km of trails. There are easy, moderate and difficult trails which is great for beginners and for the experienced, trails that are more difficult. What ever stage you are at, there are trails for everyone.

 Above Photo: Houston, British Columbia's Steelhead Park.

Also there is 2km's of trails that are lit for night skiing. For the children, there are trails just for them.

Most of the trails are groomed with a Bombardier 400 Plus which does an excellent job. The Morice Mountain Nordic Ski Club also has 60 pairs of skis, also boots, and poles for kids and adults. There is a small fee for the ski equipment.

There is a lot of great information on the Morice Mountain Nordic Ski Club's website, which I highly recommend checking out. This will fill you in on everything the club does and and information you will need to know.

Morice Mountain Nordic Ski Club website:

https://sites.google.com/site/moricemountainnordicskiclub/

Also in the winter months, you can go ice fishing on the numerous lakes around Houston. You could ski into Silverthorne Lake, this is also in the Morice Mountain recreation site. 

Above Photo: Houston, British Columbia's Steelhead Park.

There is also Klinger Lake which has some huge fish and fishing is good on Irrigation Lake as well. There are so many lakes you can try your luck on. Just always be safe and check to see how thick the ice is before walking out on the ice.

Here is a helpful website that helps you determine the thickness of the ice, and how safe it should be before heading on out.

Lifesaving Society Ice safety tips from the BC and Yukon branch:

http://www.lifesaving.bc.ca/ice-safety-tips

As for snowshoeing, you can strap on your snowshoes and go anywhere as there is 

snow all around us. 

Above Photo: Houston, British Columbia's Steelhead Park.

Now to snowmobiling around Houston, there are many awesome areas, starting with the Dungate Meadows, which is a great place for the entire family as the trails are easy and you can ride over the gorgeous alpine meadows. 

The Telkwa Range is also very popular with the snow machines, as there are easy hills and meadows for the less experienced and a hard ride for the experienced. Another awesome place to ride is at Sibola/Rhineridge. There you can hill climb and a lot more. 

Above Photo: Snowy scene by the Bulkley River in Houston, British Columbia.

Before you head out, here is a good read 

(Houston has deep powder, open meadows and wild ravines)

So when going out to enjoy your day, please respect the wildlife and peoples property. 

Also if you would like to see what else Houston has to offer, please drop in, or write to the 

Houston, British Columbia Visitors Centre:

Location Map for Houston, B.C.'s Visitors Centre:

Have fun, and watch out for those flying snowballs !

Travel British Columbia with Brian Vike blog, please contact me at b_vike@telus.net

Travel British Columbia with Brian Vike.

http://britishcolumbiavike.blogspot.ca/

Travel Houston, British Columbia with Brian Vike.

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Plan Your Next Holiday To Clinton British Columbia (9 - Pictures)

Above Photo: Clinton, British Columbia Museum.

There is a small town, actually it is called a village with a population of approximately 650 people. This would be Clinton in British Columbia. Clinton is located between Prince George and Vancouver in the Cariboo region.

Know matter from which direction you enter Clinton, it always looks the same, beautiful with a country charm. When traveling through the community on Highway 97, which was the historic trail from the famous gold rush days, actually Clinton was founded in the 1860's because of the gold rush.

Clinton attracts tourists from around the world to see wild and splendid scenery. Some of the sights that travelers take in are Hart Ridge, Marble Range, Limestone Mountains and Cougar Point. You can hike, or ride the many trails until the cows come home. Also Clinton offers up some excellent fishing on Beaverdam Lake, Leighwood Lake, Kelly Lake just to mention the few. Wildlife can be seen all throughout the area, from Bear, Moose and Deer, and all the smaller animals.

Above Photo: Clinton, British Columbia Museum and awesome wood benches.

Some of the summer recreational facilities that are available are, basketball courts, two ball diamonds, rodeo grounds, tennis courts and four provincial parks. Some of the winter facilities include a curling rink, cross country ski trails and artificial ice rink. There of course are other things to look into, and this is why it is so important to check with Clinton's Visitors Centre so you don't miss out on anything the community has to offer. Make it a point to spend some time in this amazing small community which has a lot to share with you and your family.

Above Photo - Text below taken off picture on the outside wall of the museum: 

This picture was taken in front of the old Clinton schoolhouse (presently the museum) and is of the class of 1898. The teacher was Miss Powell.

Seen here are: Back Row: Joe Smith, Harry Tweedle, Alfie Smith, Archie McDougall, Oden McDougall, John Tait, Donat LeBourdais, Charles Pollard, J. McDougall, F. Souses, T. McDougall.

Front Row: Lillien Evans, Nora LeBourdais, Jenny Luther, Issie Luther, Alice Luther, Kate McDougall, Eva Truam, Sissie Pollard, Sadie McMillan, Carrie Robertson, W. Walker, Vinnie Hautier, Harry Pollard, James Robertson, Inglis Uren, Fred Hautier, Stanley McMillan, Willie Uren, J. McMillan, L. LeBourdais, Pete LeBourdais, C. Pollard.

Above Photo: Farm and ranching equipment that was used by the pioneers from the past.

Clinton, B.C. Museum - British Columbia Wagon Gallery.

http://clintonmuseum.ca/gallery.html

Clinton, B.C. Museum.

http://clintonmuseum.ca/contact.html

Clinton, British Columbia Visitors Centre.

http://village.clinton.bc.ca/siteengine/activepage.asp?PageID=16

The text information below is about Clinton and is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton,_British_Columbia

Clinton, British Columbia.

Clinton is a village in British Columbia, Canada, located approximately 40 km northwest of Cache Creek and 30 km south of 70 Mile House.

Above Photo: Farm and ranching equipment that was used by the pioneers from the past.

It is considered by some to straddle the southern edge of the Cariboo country of British Columbia, although others consider Ashcroft-Cache Creek, Lillooet, Savona, Kamloops and even Lytton and Spences Bridge to be in the Cariboo. Clinton, however, does sit immediately below the southern edge of the Cariboo Plateau. Clinton has a number of attractions including horse-back riding, big game viewing, hiking, fishing and other outdoor activities.

Above Photo: Museum - This brick building was built in 1892 as a school house and it soon became too small. For many years served as a court house, in 1954 it became the museum.

Every May, Clinton is home to the Annual Ball which features a rodeo and dance. This is one of British Columbia's oldest continual events having first been held in 1867 and was a highlight of the social calendar in the British Columbia Interior for many decades.[3] The Clinton Museum, built in 1892, has a number of historical artifacts on display that date back to the gold rush and founding of the area.

Originally known as 47 Mile House or 47 Mile, Clinton was named in 1863 upon completion of the Cariboo Wagon Road in the area for Henry Fiennes Pelham Clinton, the 5th Duke of Newcastle, who was Colonial Secretary from 1854-1854 and 1859-1864.

Above Photo: The Museum.

Highway 97 runs through the village north-south, meeting just south of downtown with the Pavilion Mountain Road, which connects from Pavilion and Kelly Lake and is the route of the Old Cariboo Road and follows what is known as Cut-Off Valley from the foot of the road over Pavilion Mountain, which is also the route used by the British Columbia Railway although that route does not traverse Pavilion Mountain but comes via the Fraser Canyon via Moran and Arden Forest. The ranching communities of Jesmond, Kostering and Big Bar can be accessed via a road which has its junction with the Pavilion Mountain Road at Kelly Lake, which is also the location of Downing Provincial Park, which encompasses that lake. The same road is the access for Edge Hills and Marble Range Provincial Parks and also for the Big Bar Ferry to the west side of the Fraser River, which connects to the Slok Creek FSR to Lillooet. Clinton was, until adoption of its present name, known as 47 Mile House, that being the distance from Lillooet on the Old Cariboo Road.

Above Photo: An amazing looking bench which sits close to the Museum.

Also diverging from Highway 97 at Clinton is the route of the original Cariboo Road, which climbs a gentler grade up the side of the Bonaparte River valley up to the Cariboo Plateau, via Chasm and the associated provincial park and the community of Lone Butte. The BCR line also follows roughly the same route and has rail stops at Chasm, Lone Butte and the Flying U Ranch, one of the province's oldest dude ranches. Other roads lead east from the Cariboo Road routing to Bonaparte Lake and Bonaparte Provincial Park and various provincial parks in that area. Loon Lake is accessed via the Loon Lake Road, which departs Highway 97 eastwards to the south of Clinton.

Above Photo: An amazing looking bench with some  of the carved pioneers who came to Clinton.

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Fraser Canyon British Columbia (Photos)

Above Photo: The Yale Tunnel, 286 metres long, just 1.5 km east of Yale.

The Fraser Canyon is an 84 km landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Canyon" is often used to include the Thompson Canyon from Lytton to Ashcroft, since they form the same highway route which most people are familiar with, although it is actually reckoned to begin above Williams Lake, British Columbia at Soda Creek Canyon near the town of the same name.

Above Photos: My wife took a couple of pictures when driving through the tunnels.

Geology:

The canyon was formed during the Miocene period (23.7–5.3 million years ago) by the river cutting into the uplifting Interior Plateau. From the northern Cariboo to Fountain, the river follows the line of the huge Fraser Fault, which runs on a north-south axis and meets the Yalakom Fault a few miles downstream from Lillooet. 

Exposures of lava flows are present in cliffs along the Fraser Canyon. They represent volcanic activity in the southern Chilcotin Group during the Pliocene period and the volcanic vents of their origins have not been discovered.

Above Two Photos: The mighty Fraser River winds it’s way through the canyon far below.

Geography:

The canyon extends 270 kilometres (170 mi) north of Yale to the confluence of the Chilcotin River. Its southern stretch is a major transportation corridor to the Interior from "the Coast", with the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways and the Trans-Canada Highway carved out of its rock faces, with many of the canyon's side-crevasses spanned by bridges and trestles. 

Above Photo: Spawning salmon statues mark the ends of the Alexandra Bridge.

Prior to the double-tracking of those railways and major upgrades to Highway 1 (the Trans Canada Highway), travel through the canyon was even more precarious than it is now. During the frontier era it was a major obstacle between the Lower Mainland and the Interior Plateau, and the slender trails along its rocky walls - many of them little better than notches cut into granite, with a few handholds - were compared to goat-tracks.

North of Lytton, it is followed by BC Highway 12, then from Lillooet to Pavilion by BC Hwy 99 (the farther end of the Sea-to-Sky Highway, though not carrying that name in this area). The British Columbia Railway (the BC Railway is now owned and operated by the CN) line follows the same stretch of canyon from Lillooet to just beyond Pavilion. 

Above Photo: A deep canyon with a small fast moving creek at the bottom. 

It eventually flows into the Fraser River.

Between there and the mouth of the Chilcotin River there are only rough ranching roads, and the terrain is a mix of canyon depths flanked by arid benchland and high plateau. Between Pavilion and Lillooet, the river's gorge is at its maximum depth, with the river throttled through a series of narrow gorges flanked by high cliffs, though still flanked above those cliffs by wide benchlands which stand on the foreshoulder of the mountain ranges flanking the gorge.

Hells Gate:

At Hells Gate, near Boston Bar, the canyon walls rise about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above the rapids. Fish ladders along the river's side permit migrating salmon to bypass a rockslide that diverted the river during the blasting of the Canadian Northern Railway line in 1913. The area around Hell's Gate carries the name Black Canyon, which may either be a reference to the colour of the rocks when it rains, or the name of a community built on the cliffsides here during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. 

Above Photo: Cisco Bridges - CPR bridge (black) in foreground, CNR bridge (orange arch) in background. Photo facing upriver. Also a railway tunnel to the left side of the picture.

Today there is a specially-built air-tram, like the kind used in ski resorts, which takes tourists down to Hells Gate, where visitors may view the fish ladders as well as the boiling rush of the Fraser's waters. A set of tourist pavilions with shops and café now occupies the site of the workmen's housing seen in the accompanying image.

View of Hells Gate looking across to east bank, with a CPR steam locomotive in background passing old railway housing, c.1945

At Siska, a few minutes south of Lytton, there are the Cisco bridges—a pair of railway bridges at the throat of a rocky gorge. From south to north, the Canadian Pacific has been on the west side of the canyon, while the Canadian National has been on the east side. Here Cisco (Skiska), the two railways switch sides: the CP—(520-foot (160 m))-long truss bridge—crosses to the east, the CN—on a 810-foot (250 m) steel-arched bridge over the CP—is now on the west. 

The two railways now have an agreement to allow directional running through the canyon as far as Basque. All eastbound trains—CN, CP, and Via Rail's eastbound Canadian—run on the CP line. All westbound trains—CN, CP, Via Rail's westbound Canadian—use the CN tracks.

The above source information was provided Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Canyon

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108 Mile House Ranch Heritage Site In British Columbia (23 Pictures)

Above Photo: 108 Mile Ranch House.

From an earlier post I spoke about a trip my wife and I went on in early November 2015, we were traveling through a number of British Columbia communities and we stopped at the 108 Mile Ranch and Heritage Site. The heritage site I referred it to being one of 

British Columbia's gems, and it truly is.

Above Photo: The 108 Mile House Heritage Site welcomes travelers.

When we stopped, it was the off season, so we were not able to tour through the buildings, but just stand looking at the buildings gives you that feeling from the past. The members of the 100 Mile and District Historical Society have out done themselves by putting together such an amazing display for us all. The hard work that has gone into building up of this site is truly remarkable. 

Above 2 Photos: In the two photographs it shows the longest log Clydesdale barn in Canada with the 108 Mile lake in the background.

Above Photo: The information sign tells you about what is in the 108 Mile House area.

The 108 Mile House Heritage Site opens on the May Long Weekend from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and runs through to Labour Day in September and I would encourage anyone who is going to be traveling through the area of the 108 Mile Ranch, stop and tour the Heritage Site, it is an amazing look at British Columbia’s past.

The Heritage site also has a great rest site, with lots of parking, clean heated washrooms, picnic tables throughout the site, so bring along a lunch and stretch your legs and enjoy this treasure.

Above Photo: 1962 Mack truck used at the Ainsworth Lumber Co. LTD. 

100 Mile House British Columbia.

The below information comes off of the 108 Mile Ranch - The Heritage site sign which is displayed in front of the Heritage site.

108 Mile Ranch - The Heritage.

The 108 began as a post house on the Cariboo Trail in 1867, the year of confederation.

During the next thirty-six years the property changed hands several times as various entrepreneurs provided services, including murder for the gold.

Above Photo: The chapel where folks got married in and where they went to worship.

In 1903 captain Geoffry Watson purchased district lot 76, a 320 acre spread as beautiful as any in the new west, which became home to a championship line of Clydesdale horses until his death, while serving in World War 1.

With the lumber boom in the 50's select fir was harvested. Stumps four and five feet in diameter remain as testimony to the dry belt giants of yesteryear.

Above Photo: These are some of the older buildings that are present on the heritage site.

It was the time of the last frontier, of wide open spaces, dark stands of evergreen and graceful groves of white-trunked aspen, of shinning lakes and the big, empty sky above. The human population was sparse, rugged pioneers scattered over a seemingly endless expanse of wilderness.

The 108 continued to sustain a mixture of cattle ranching and lumbering until 1969, when it was purchased by Henry Block.

Development:

While areas of "the ranch" were developed as residential and others as airport, resort and recreational facilities, care was taken to preserve the integrity of the landscape.

Above Photo: Some of the old equipment used around the ranch.

Fifteen hundred acres of greenbelt were set aside. A legacy of parkland unique in British Columbia, if not in the whole of Canada.

Today:

Over the years increasing numbers of people have been attracted to the lure of living in harmony with nature and to the abundance of recreational opportunities.

Above Photo: Some of the old equipment used around the ranch and the church 

where people went to worship.

Today the 108 Mile Ranch continues to grow, and to nurture a deep love for this 

land we call the Cariboo.

Above Photo: 108 Mile Ranch House.

Above Photo: Picnic tables throughout the heritage site, so bring a lunch and enjoy the sights. Also in the distance a beautiful covered bridge.

Above Photo: Besides the buildings, there is a nice paved parking area, with lots of room.

Above Photo: Picnic tables throughout the heritage site, so bring a lunch and enjoy the sights.

Above Photo: Picnic tables throughout the heritage site, so bring a lunch and enjoy the sights.

Above Photo: The rest area with heated clean restroom.

108 Mile House Heritage Site website: 

http://www.historical.bc.ca/main.html

108 Mile Ranch (This is the location of the 108 Mile House Heritage Site)

Google Maps. You can pan around to see the Heritage Site.

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