Heading south on my drive back home, I drove from Bridge Lake to Kamloops via Little Fort. En route I passed through Barriere, the location of a distastrous forest fire a few years ago, where thousends of hectares of forest and at least 40 houses were destroyed. The landscape still looks like a vast expanse of blackened trunks.
After Kamloops I took Highway 5A south to Merrit through the Upper Nicola Valley - immensely wide, quite arid on the hills. But there are many green hay fields at the valley floor, thanks to wide-ranging irrigation. Here is Lac Le Jeune en route. Quite a few large white swans were resting along the shore - too distant to capture on camera without a really good telephoto lens.
Quilchena, in the Upper Nicola Valley, is a quaint settlement with many historic buildings. Here is the 'Banker's House' - rather modest for a 'rich' man.
Form Merrit I headed northwest again on Highway 8 (more like a paved winding country road) through the Lower Nicola Valley, through mostly desert landscape and areas of thin pine forests, towards Spences Bridge. Quite a few 'hoodoo' formations along the sides of the valley.
At Spences Bridge I crossed the Thompson River, where a bunch of white water rafters were getting lined up for a bit of excitement - the river became a little more foamy white, with standing waves a couple of miles down stream. I rather drove...headed south to Lytton along Highway 1.
After Lytton I headed northwest again towards Lilloet on an absolutely fabulous stretch of road: Highway 12. It snakes its way along the towering Lilloet Range, with Skihit Mountain at 2944m, Stein Mountain at 2774, and Brew Mountain at 2265 rising almost vertically to the south of the road. Spectacular scenery!
Here I met two different families of Bighorn Sheep, and a whole collection of deer. There was hardly any traffic, and very little human habitation....it must be one of the most pristine valleys in that part of British Columbia. The Stein Valley, which penetrates into the Lilloet Range, is said to be one of the most beautiful hiking and mountain trecking areas in BC. And serious high altitude climbers can certainly find a few challenges here.
