BELLA COOLA VALLEY VISITOR GUIDE IN THE HEART OF THE GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST www.bellacoola.ca CONTENTS 4 Getting Here Getting Around the Valley 7 Explore Port Hardy 9 Connecting With the Past: A Brief History 10 Venturing Forth Venturing West out the Channel Hooking the BIG Ones! 14 Experience the Valley 21 Experience the Wild Side 26 Geology, Ecology and Wildlife 27 Arts and Culture 31 Valley Accommodation Tom Hermance Tom 32 Bella Coola Valley Map The Visitor Information Booth is located at the Copper Sun Gallery and Journeys building (summer months only). Phone (250) 799-5202 This Visitor Guide and Trail Guide on reverse have been produced by Bella Coola Valley Tourism with special thanks to Jessie MacDonald, Ernest Hall, BC Ferries, Tom Hermance, Jayme Kennedy, Jefferson Bray, Doug Baker, Holly Wilgress, Hans Granander, Ken Dunsworth, Carsten Ginsburg, Jan Prins, Caitlin Thompson, the Bella Coola Trails Alliance and Central Coast Communications Society. British Columbia Photography credits: Michael Wigle, Jefferson Bray, Jayme Kennedy, Doug Baker, Fawn Gunderson, Hans Granander, Ernest Hall, Laurie Sissons, Tom Hermance and To Prince George Prince Rupert Benjamin Westerik. For their invaluable advice and contributions, BCVT is especially grateful to: Snxakila Hagensborg Hwy 97 (Clyde Tallio), Ximximlayc (Robert “Skip” Saunders), Sixilaaxayc (Noel Pootlas), Great Bear Chris Nelson, Crystal Schooner, Wally Webber and Karen Anderson. BCVT also Rainforest acknowledges the Nuxalk Development Corporation for providing the venue for the Williams Lake Visitor Information Booth. BCVT is a member of the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association and the Bella Hwy 20 Hwy 97 Commercial Bear Viewing Association of BC. Coola Cover photos: Michael Wigle, Benjamin Westerlk. Port Hardy Hwy 99 Cover design and production: Roger Handling/ Terra Firma Digital Arts. Printed in Canada. All rights reserved. © 2019. Bella Coola Valley Tourism – To Whistler Circle Tour and Vancouver Box 670, Bella Coola, BC V0T 1C0. and Port Hardy ferry route Vancouver Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. This guide does not constitute and should not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation. Bella Coola Valley Tourism does not assume any responsibility for any carrier, hotel, restaurant or any other Victoria facility or activity in British Columbia. Errors and omissions excepted. Opposite: Opposite: BCVT/Michael Wigle 2 | (250) 799-5202 | www.bellacoola.ca | Visit Bella Coola Welcome Yaw smatmc to the Bella Coola Valley: In the Heart of Hello, my friend British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest My name is Sixilaaxayc. My The Bella Coola valley is a place smayusta (Creation story) tells of of rare beauty. Encircled by snow the abundance that came at the covered mountains, defined by a time of Creation when the land world-class salmon river that’s fed tilted toward Chief Sixilaaxayc and by the purest of waters, the valley Q’umk’uts on the bank of the river is one of the gemstones of British near where I live now. Columbia’s Central Coast. One hundred years ago, several long Located in the heart of the Great houses stood at that place. Long Bear Rainforest and bordered before that, at the time of Creation, by Tweedsmuir Park to the east, the tilting land brought much the valley offers an exceptional abundance to the Valley of Nuxalk, combination of wild forest, sheer- which means in my language sided granite mountains and the “becoming one.” I welcome you exquisite Bella Coola river that to our Valley, where all you see is flows into the Central Coast’s maze sacred. of fjords and inlets. Steeped in over 10,000 years of Nuxalk culture I hope you enjoy the scenery, the and tradition, the valley combines rich history, and the abundance. these breath-taking elements into Please enjoy your stay. an unforgettable, life-enriching experience that we welcome Sixilaaxayc (Noel Pootlass), visitors to experience and share Nuxalk Nation Head Hereditary Chief with us. and Artist Central Coast Regional District ODEGAARD FALLS (250) 799-5202 | www.bellacoola.ca | Visit Bella Coola | 3 GETTING HERE: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS ew places in the world combine sanctuary to a host of wildlife species trading commodity of fish oil. authentic wilderness with comfort, thriving in undisturbed wilderness. And At the subalpine Heckman Pass, the and remoteness with accessibility the further still, beyond the snow-capped moist influence of the Pacific is evident as BCVT/Michael Wigle F way the Bella Coola Valley does. horizon, the Great Bear Rainforest on British Highway 20 begins its spectacular descent The glacier-carved valley of the Bella Columbia’s Central Coast. toward the sea. Coola River winds its way through the At Anahim Lake, the pavement yields to Here the modern adventurer can gaze far mountains to the sea at the head of one of an all-season gravel road—with a maximum below at the thin ribbon of road ahead. The British Columbia’s longest inlets about 450 speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). Where the “highway” winds down the mountainside to km (270 mi) northwest of Vancouver. telephone and electric power lines end a the valley floor and meanders seaward toward short distance later, the true wilderness the heart of the Great Bear Rain Forest BY LAND: THE HWY 20 begins. Here in this pristine region, the sweeping beyond the horizon left and right. ADVENTURE chance of spotting moose, wolves, black From the Pass, today’s adventurer All who approach the Bella Coola Valley bears, and grizzlies becomes a distinct descends the “Freedom Road”, dubbed such via Highway 20 for the first time experience possibility, and the ancient practices of because its construction through the pass the driving adventure of a lifetime. hunting, trapping, and fishing remain a vital in 1953 ended the isolation of the Bella From its headwaters high on British part of the local culture. Coola Valley. “The Hill” is no longer the Columbia’s central plateau, the river scours At the eastern boundary of Tweedsmuir hair-raising spectacle that once discouraged its way down through the Coast Mountains Provincial Park, a glance to the north detects faint hearted travelers with its 18% grades to saltwater at its mouth, providing a the mountain pass where Alexander Mackenzie, and hair-pin switchbacks. Today, tractor corridor for overland access from Williams one of North America’s first great adventurers, trailer rigs, supplying the valley merchants, Lake via Highway 20. This highway—paved entered the history books in 1793 with his travel the grades and curves regularly, and to Anahim Lake (319km/192 mi)—is in overland journey across North America to the the fearsome reputation of “The Hill” far itself an unparalleled adventure through waters of the Pacific at the mouth of the Bella outstrips its reality. the semi-arid forests and ranchlands of the Coola River. Here the imagination can conjure Suddenly—pavement again. At the Chilcotin Plateau, with the white gleaming up parties of First Nations peoples throughout posted speeds, you have covered the 62 km peaks of the Coast Mountains drawing the the millennia trekking up from the coast (37 mi) of gravel road in about an hour. The visitor westward into the Chilcotin Ark, over the “Grease Trail” bearing their precious remaining 80 km (50 mi) to the saltwater at 4 | (250) 799-5202 | www.bellacoola.ca | Visit Bella Coola Island, north to Port Hardy, ferrying to Bella Coola, and driving out across the Chilcotin Plateau, returning south through Whistler and back to Vanvouver. This Circle Tour takes the traveler through some 11 of the 14 commonly Identified eco-zones on Planet Earth. This four-to-five- day road trip is rivaled by few other such journeys. Of course the reverse (counter-clockwise) tour is equally varied and spectacular. BY AIR: A BIRDS EYE EXPERIENCE By scheduled daily air service from Vancouver, in little more than an hour you DRAMATIC FJORDS can descend into the Valley after an awe-inspiring bird’s eye adventure. the end of Highway 20 winds with the river One of the world’s largest remaining tracts Your flight soars high over through forests of Douglas-Fir, Western Red of unspoiled temperate rain forest, this lush, emerald alpine tarns Cedar, Western Hemlock and Sitka Spruce, protected ecosystem is a virtually untouched surrounded by meadows, past settlements and farmlands, down the wilderness. At two million hectares where waterfalls gush amid glacier-carved valley with snow-capped (27,000 square miles), it encompasses an glacial scree, and where volcanic cones peaks and granite ramparts lining the way. area nearly as large as Scotland! and sawtooth pinnacles cradle rivers of Of course, as with all highways, caution Leaving the outer coast islands, the ice, unseen by human eye except by air, is in order on Highway 20. Abide by the adventure continues through narrow glacial winging above and around the highest posted speeds, gear down—to first, not fjords that enter North Bentinck Arm to mountains in British Columbia. second gear—for the steeper sections of the mouth of the Bella Coola River— www.tweedsmuirtravel.com “The Hill”, and DON’T ride your brakes!!! some 100 km (60 mi) inland. For the www.pacificcoastal.com In winter, spring, and fall (as with any meditative traveler leaning on the rail, this mountain highway in Western Canada) it mountainous coastline of stunning granite GETTING AROUND IN THE is wise to check the road conditions before cliffs and tumbling waterfalls, misty green VALLEY BCVT/Michael Wigle heading out. (www.Drivebc.ca) dark forests, and deep glacier-fed inlet If you don’t have your own vehicle on waters dredges up images of tall ships of your BC adventure, rentals are available. BY SEA: A COASTAL European explorers or the painted paddles Inquire at accommodations at the airport or WONDERLAND of First Nations peoples in their dugout visit www.bellacoolavehiclerentals.com.