Last fall, I went to Likely, BC, Canada, to photograph Grizzlies during the Sockeye Salmon spawning run. The last day turned out to be one of my most memorable adventures. That night my guide suggested I come in February to photograph the Wolves and Lynx during their mating season.
I made plans for the third week in February 2018. I flew into Vancouver, BC, spending the night about an hour NE. The drive would usually take about 8 to 9 hours with stops. My luck, a large snowstorm had just gone through the area with high wind and below zero windchill warnings. This drive took me over 10 hours.
I left the hotel at 5:00 am, taking Trans-Canada HWY "1" to BC-97. Once I had passed through Hope, BC, entering the first mountain valley, it was white knuckle driving till I made it to Cache Creek, BC (193KM). When I stopped in Cache Creek, BC, I noticed they had closed the road in the direction I came from for fuel. I asked the station attendant what had happened. They said a semi had jacked knifed coming down from the pass. Lucky for me, that happened behind me as I had just come down that same pass. The rest of the drive to Williams Lake, BC, was flat ice covered with strong NW winds making for an intense driving experience.
Once I finally made it to my designation, it was a winter wonderland with 36 inches of snow on the ground with up to 6 ft at the higher elevations. The temperatures starting in the morning for the week would begin at -35° Fahrenheit on average. One morning it was -40° degrees Celsius which is equivalent to -40° Fahrenheit. Several days it only made it to -15° Fahrenheit.
As I have said many times, I love the cold and snow. This week I could not have been more excited to experience the challenges that come with these conditions.
The weather presented us with many challenges as they had received two major winter snowstorms back to back. One issue was a majority of wildlife was finding it very difficult to get around. I never saw any wolves during my stay but did come across older signs of them jumping through the deep snow. The conclusion was that most wildlife was stranded at the higher elevations, making it easy for the wolves to capitalize on these conditions. Even at the lower elevations, moose were having a difficult time moving around in the deep snow.
Because of the deep snow in the higher elevations we spent the whole week except for the last day in this lower elevation valley. The guide has permission to access different properties within this valley. Here is an overview of the week.
On the first day we came across a mating pair of Lynx.
I cry every time I look at this picture. It happened so fast and I couldn't get focus fast enough through the small branches. He was walking through the brush and just stopped to look for 2 seconds. It happens to all of us guess!
Here is a photograph as they walk away from us.
Here is a moose taking advantage of the logging road as we would see many of them throughout the week doing the same.
I thought this was a great sign posted around the area.
Here is a picture of me (center) with two of the 3 guides getting ready to snowshoe out.
Here are the 3 guides returning from the day.
Here is one end of the hidden valley.
Two different days we hiked past this old abandon log home.
Here is the snowshoe trail we created going through a property the guide has assess too that takes you into a small hidden valley.
On this day we decided to have one of the 3 guides take us up above the small hidden valley we had been in and drop us off. This picture shows one of the guides making adjustments to his snowshoe as we hiked down the backside of the valley to see if we could find any signs of Wolves or Lynx. We did see fresh Lynx tracks but they went into some dense area so we decided to keep going. Did cross an older Wolf trail in the snow. Must have been the same Wolves that we saw their trail in the deep snow the first day we were there.
Here is a picture of the high country where I would go up to on the last day.
My last day we decided to drive up into the high country. The logging company hand plowed the logging road up to the area they were logging. We took advantage of this an drove up there. Here is what it looked like when we made to the end of the plowed logging road.
On the way back down as usual, here is a Lynx crossing the logging road in front of us. I quickly got out of the vehicle to take this picture. Boy I wanted to go in to see where it went but the snow was so deep it would have been difficult even with snowshoes.
One day we ended up getting back early. I decided to photograph the wood bridge that takes you into Likely, BC across the Quesnel River.
Summary
My expectations going into this adventure were set very high by many prior conversations with the guide. I know there are no guarantees in life, but this trip was somewhat of a letdown. Yes, the weather conditions were at an extreme level, but the guide's execution in adapting to better position me to achieve the goals outlined before the trip was the issue. Sometimes you have to think outside the box and take calculated risks changing things up.
Otherwise, the weather conditions were the best part of the trip for me.
I loved the challenge, to prepare mentally for the extreme below zero temps.
Outfitted to snowshoe in without overheating at -35° and then sitting for up to over 2 hours at a time. Why do I say this? Once you get chilled at these temperatures, it can have detrimental effects for you the rest of the day or trip.
Dealing with the deep snow
Experiencing and knowing at the end of the day, you survived.
Overall, there were many life learning lessons I gained and stored for future adventures. That is the best takeaway you can have for any trip!
Tom