Spectacular 2019 Niut Lakes Camp a Smashing Success by Stephen Partington WHAT AN AMAZING SETTING for a Nature loomed large to the west and south Vancouver camp! while the vast Chilcotin Plateau Twelve minutes or so in the heli- stretched invisibly to the east. copter was all it took to hop overtop From here, the Nature Vancouver of the imposing mountains tower- 2019 campsite ofered a stunningly ing above Bluf Lake south of Tatla gorgeous 360-degree view free from Lake and to be deposited near the any signs of humans. Nature was at treeline about 1000 m higher than our doorstep. Te quiet was delicious. the chopper launch pad. No-one needed to hike anywhere— Instant wilderness! we were already there! Helicopter delivery of all goods And there we were—on a small and personnel was key to the com- plateau forested with patches of low fortable establishment of our near- pines at about 2000 m elevation alpine occupation. Not many who and tucked among a series of small attended this camp would have been lakes and ponds. Te rugged Niut happy to make the hike to such a Range peaks of the Coast Mountains place. Our fight was feetingly short View of lakes, Goat Ridge, glacier and Niut Peak from Snow Patch Peak. Photo: Caroline Penn 48 Discovery at a little more than 10 km, but the level as a root embedded within the terrain that we few over was rugged, mantle of the earth. rocky, steep and trackless. Te geologic conditions changed Geology of the Niut Range radically, however, about 5 million years ago when a shift in the ofshore Te Niut Range is a place where plate subduction zones resulted in the immense geological events have appearance of the Cascade Volcanic unfolded. Tectonic peregrinations of Arc. From these changes came fresh crustal fragments in ancient times subduction-induced volcanic activity brought the location of the 2019 accompanying a heating and expan- Nature Vancouver camp close to the sion of the batholith. Tese events contact edge between the ancient triggered a 2000 m uplifting of the Peri-Laurentian terrane of North batholithic mass of granite and the America and some curiously far- rebuilding of the Coast Mountains roving Arctic terranes that crashed that continues today. Te Niut Range into the continent from the west. took part in this re-elevation and, like Tis Arctic terrane complex was what the rest of the Coast Mountains, was built up most of the Coast Moun- still on the rise beneath the Nature tains of present-day B.C. Vancouver camp this past summer. Te eastern side of this Arctic Overlaid upon these incompre- terrane complex underwent a trans- hensively long geo-tectonic sculpt- formation during subduction of ings of the Earth’s crust beneath our plates colliding with North America campsite was an even more recent from the Pacifc during an interval surface etching of the landscape by 175 to 45 million years ago. Te glacial advances and retreats. Te melting rock and volcanism caused whole Niut Range terrain is currently by these tectonic events resulted in a jumble of ice age features: moraines, a huge coalescent igneous batholith cirques, tarns, kettle lakes, glacier of granite that formed a great belt lakes, hanging valleys, remnant gla- of metamorphic rock stretching ciers and broken rock-covered slopes. through the Coast Mountains north Te relative fatness of the area from Vancouver to Prince Rupert hosting the Nature Vancouver camp and beyond. Te granitic mountains may well have been due to the loca- thus formed towered high enough to tion being a glacial kame terrace—a create a rain shadow and dry condi- glacial landform usually shaped like tions eastward. an irregular hill, which is formed After the mountain-building sub- when sediment accumulates in ponds duction ceased 45 million years ago, or lakes trapped between glacier ice. these mountains were subjected to Geographic Setting weathering that reduced their height to mere hills. After 40 million years An unnamed pond that’s the of erosion, the greater mass of the Homathko River headwaters is granitic Coastal Mountain batho- located fairly near the camp setting. lith resided largely beneath ground Despite all of the camp participants 2019 49 having traveled up the Fraser River killed during a series of events often watershed to get to the staging area referred to as the Chilcotin War. No at Bluf Lake, the Niut Range drain- town was subsequently built on the age fows westward through the surveyed plot and very little of the Coast Mountains to enter the Pacifc road lasted long afterward because Ocean at the head of Bute Inlet ford. of the erosive power stemming from Te Niut Range nestles in the heavy coastal precipitation. angle between the two arms of a Next came the prospect, in the “Y” confguration delineated by the 1890s, of running the frst Canadian Homathko River and Mosley Creek, transcontinental railway by way of its major tributary. Tese two valleys the Homathko River drainage to link are the primary lowland corridors the Pacifc seaboard of B.C. with the between the Pacifc Ocean and rest of the country that the crown Chilcotin Plateau. Tese routes have colony had been induced to join. Te facilitated the passage of wildlife and Canadian Pacifc Railway did some people between the coast and the preliminary surveys, but these were interior since the last ice age waned. abandoned when Burrard Inlet was Although, by map, the Homathko selected as the logical destination for can be traced up through Tatlayoko the rail link. Lake and the Mosley up through Te most comprehensive and Bluf Lake to origins apparently very compromising plan for industrial close to Tatla Lake, which drains use of the Homathko and Mosley into the Fraser River, there is, in corridors came as grandiose hydro- fact, a clear watershed and no shared electric ventures frst proposed in the source between the Homathko and mid-20th Century that would have Fraser watersheds. seen a series of dams built on the Industrial Development Homathko and its tributaries. Diver- sion via Tatlayoko Lake of the waters Great industrial schemes to utilize of the Taseko Lakes and Chilco Lake the Homathko-Mosley corridors from the Fraser River drainage was for transportation or hydroelectric suggested in order to enhance the generation have been foated or turbine spinning potential of the actually launched since the Cariboo waterhead above these dams. Gold Rush. Protection of the Niut Range Area Te frst venture began in 1861 when Alfred Waddington set about Te hydroelectric development building a road to access the gold scheme described above was stopped felds. A townsite was surveyed at in the 1990s for a variety of reasons the head of Bute Inlet and 50 km after much review and consider- of crude road was built nearly to able controversy. Te Cariboo Land the confuence of Homathko River Use Plan process as well as the suc- with Mosley Creek. At this point, cessful implementation of several in 1864, the construction came to long-standing park proposals starting an abrupt halt when people were in the 1990s established a basis for 50 Discovery My favourite Niut view. Photo: Phil Edgell protection against regional indus- other nearby lakes appear blue due trial development. In 1994, Ts’il?os to the refraction of light. Our local Provincial Park that encompassed watershed was without a glacier in Chilco Lake at the head of Nemiah its cirque and therefore had been Valley was established. Bishop Creek fushed clean of this fne silt. Despite Provincial Park was added to the the rocky substrate, the bifes proved south side of Ts’il?os in 1995. Te diggable, and everyone managed same year, Big Creek Provincial Park to secure their tents sufciently to was created east of Taseko Lakes. weather the ferce winds and pelting Tis holding was expanded by the rain that, at times, challenged our southern addition of South Chilcotin security and comfort. Mountains Provincial Park in 2001. Exciting frst impressions Te Homathko River-Tatlayoko included fnding an abundance of Protected Area was proclaimed on inky gentian and roseroot around February 14, 1996. the campsite and the discovery of a Nature Vancouver Campsite family of Spotted Sandpipers nearby, which entertained campers for and Nearby Hiking several days. Our actual camp setting contained Tere were no trails visibly scattered scrubby pine trees but was radiating from camp despite there relatively fat with lakeside views being an active fre pit and depos- and very easy access to an endless its of horse dung nearly adjacent water supply. Tis water was clear to the cook tent. Terefore, one of the glacial four that makes some task of Week One campers was to 2019 51 bushwhack and fag hiking routes access into the cirque area with its through the patchy low forest of complex of little lakes. lodgepole and whitebark pines. For hikers who wanted more eleva- Easy trails were soon established tion gain, there were two challenging near the camp. Tese led to a number but readily accessible peaks north of small lakes and bogs scattered of camp. Tese provided rigorous among the moraines and glacial scrambles across tricky slopes covered churnings on the level terrace. Inter- with broken rock. Te rewards for mediate trails were also established enduring the somewhat treacherous in short order to provide upstream passage were the stellar views from Hiking in the clouds. Photo: Kris Andrews The crossing. Photo: Caroline Penn 52 Discovery the heights of what became known turned out to be a sloping plateau as Ridge Peak and Snow Patch Peak. or terrace.