BELLA COOLA VALLEY VISITOR GUIDE in the Heart of the Great Bear Rainforest www.bellacoola.ca Cover Photo: Detail of the Sisiutl “Two-Headed Serpent”. CONTENTS Carved by Nuxalk master carver Ximximlayc (Skip Saunders), this monumental sculpture memorializes a 2005 drowning victim, a 4 Getting Here descendant of Nusq’lst, the family founder who came down from Getting Around the Valley Nusmata (Heaven) in the form of a Grizzly Bear. During the Great Welcome Yaw smatmc Flood, he implored the Sisiutl to expand into a great canoe to rescue 6 Connecting With the Past: the survivors, taking them to the top of the nearby mountain that A Brief History bears his name. This monument acknowledges the responsibilities of to the Bella Coola Valley: In the Heart of Hello, my friend inheriting this sacred place. 7 Venturing Forth British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest Photo Courtesy of Benjamin Westerik Venturing West out the Channel Hooking the BIG Ones! Experience the Valley Nestled in the heart of the Coast Mountains, My name is Sixilaaxayc. My smayusta (Creation 10 the Bella Coola Valley is a remote natural story) tells of the abundance that came at the 17 Experience the Wild Side paradise offering the visitor a vast array of time of Creation when the land tilted toward Eco-tour Drifts authentic cultural and outdoor experiences. Chief Sixilaaxayc and Q’umk’uts on the bank of Bear Viewing The first recorded visit to this Valley was the river near where I live now. One hundred Arts and Culture in 1793 by Alexander Mackenzie, the first years ago, several long houses stood at that 20 European to cross the continent. place. Long before that, at the time of Creation, 23 Valley Accommodation the tilting land brought much abundance to the Today, living at the end of the only road Valley of Nuxalk, which means in my language 24 Bella Coola Valley Map access to the Central Coast and the heart of “becoming one.” I welcome you to our Valley, BCVT/Michael Wigle the Great Bear Rainforest, with Tweedsmuir where all you see is sacred. Provincial Park straddling the eastern end, our communities are privileged to extend I hope you enjoy the scenery, the rich history, a welcome as you enter a world steeped in and the abundance. Please enjoy your stay. history and culture, rich with wildlife, lush flora, and glacier-fed rivers. From sea to Sixilaaxayc (Noel Pootlass), mountain peak, from valley floor to glacier, Nuxalk Nation Head Hereditary Chief prepare to ‘Experience the Adventure!’ The Visitor Information Booth is located on the Bella Coola Townsite in the former and Artist RCMP Station, also the home of Copper Sun Gallery and Journeys (summer months BCVT/Michael Wigle only). Phone (250) 799-5202 for information year round. Central Coast Regional District This Visitor Guide and Trail Guide on reverse have been produced by Bella Coola Valley Tourism with special thanks to Ernest Hall, Tom Hermance, Doug Baker, Jane British Columbia Baker, Hans Granander, and Rosemary Smart. Photography credits, Chris Carlson, Leonard Ellis, Hans Granander, Ernest Hall, James Taylor, Benjamin Westerik, and Michael Wigle. For their invaluable advice and contributions, BCVT is especially Prince Rupert To Prince George grateful to: Snxakila (Clyde Tallio), Ximximlayc (Robert “Skip” Saunders), Sixilaaxayc (Noel Pootlas), Chris Nelson and Karen Anderson. BCVT also acknowledges Hagensborg Hwy 97 the Nuxalk Development Corporation for providing the venue for the Visitor Great Bear Information Booth. Member of the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association and BC Wilderness Rainforest Williams Lake Tourism Association. Cover photos: Benjamin Westerlk. Cover design and production: Roger Handling/ Bella Hwy 20 Hwy 97 Coola Terra Firma Digital Arts Printed in Canada. All rights reserved. © 2017. Bella Coola Valley Tourism – Box Port Hardy Hwy 99 670, Bella Coola, BC V0T 1C0. To Whistler Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. This guide does not constitute and Circle Tour and Vancouver and Port Hardy ferry route should not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation. Bella Coola Valley Vancouver Tourism does not assume any responsibility for any carrier, hotel, restaurant or any other facility or activity in British Columbia. Victoria Errors and omissions excepted. Opposite: Opposite: BCVT/Michael Wigle 2 | (250) 799-5202 | www.bellacoola.ca | Visit Bella Coola (250) 799-5202 | www.bellacoola.ca | Visit Bella Coola | 3 GETTING HERE: the end of Highway 20 winds with the river Leaving the outer coast islands, the THE BIRD’S EYE through forests of Douglas-Fir, Western Red adventure continues through narrow glacial EXPERIENCE THE ADVENTURE BEGINS Cedar, Western Hemlock and Sitka Spruce, fjords that enter North Bentinck Arm to By scheduled daily air service past settlements and farmlands, down the the mouth of the Bella Coola River— from Vancouver, in little more ew places in the world combine sanctuary to a host of wildlife species trading commodity of fish oil. glacier-carved valley with snow-capped some 100 km (60 mi) inland. For the than an hour you can descend into authentic wilderness with comfort, thriving in undisturbed wilderness. And At the subalpine Heckman Pass, the peaks and granite ramparts lining the way. meditative traveler leaning on the rail, this the Valley after an awe-inspiring and remoteness with accessibility the further still, beyond the snow-capped moist influence of the Pacific is evident as Of course, as with all highways, caution mountainous coastline of stunning granite bird’s eye adventure. BCVT/Michael Wigle F way the Bella Coola Valley does. horizon, the Great Bear Rainforest on British Highway 20 begins its spectacular descent is in order on Highway 20. Abide by the cliffs and tumbling waterfalls, misty green Your flight soars high over The glacier-carved valley of the Bella Columbia’s Central Coast. toward the sea. posted speeds, gear down—to first, not dark forests, and deep glacier-fed inlet emerald alpine tarns surrounded Coola River winds its way through the At Anahim Lake, the pavement yields to Here the modern adventurer can gaze far second gear—for the steeper sections of waters dredges up images of tall ships of by meadows, where waterfalls gush amid 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 “The Hill”, and DON’T ride your brakes!!! European explorers or the painted paddles glacial scree, and where volcanic cones British Columbia’s longest inlets about 450 speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). Where the “highway” winds down the mountainside to In winter, spring, and fall (as with any of First Nations peoples in their dugout and sawtooth pinnacles cradle rivers of km (270 mi) northwest of Vancouver. telephone and electric power lines end a the valley floor and meanders seaward toward mountain highway in Western Canada) it cedar canoes flashing in the sun since the ice, unseen by human eye except by air, short distance later, the true wilderness the heart of the Great Bear Rain Forest is wise to check the road conditions before dawn of time. Ferry reservations are strongly winging above and around the highest BY LAND: THE HIGHWAY begins. Here in this pristine region, the sweeping beyond the horizon left and right. heading out. (www.Drivebc.ca) recommended. mountains in British Columbia. 20 ADVENTURE chance of spotting moose, wolves, black From the Pass, today’s adventurer www.tweedsmuirtravel.com All who approach the Bella Coola Valley bears, and grizzlies becomes a distinct descends the “Freedom Road”, dubbed such A SEAFARING DOUBLING THE ADVENTURE www.pacificcoastal.com BCVT/Michael Wigle via Highway 20 for the first time experience possibility, and the ancient practices of because its construction through the pass ADVENTURE Experience a Circle Tour by traveling the driving adventure of a lifetime. hunting, trapping, and fishing remain a vital in 1953 ended the isolation of the Bella More serene, but likewise spectacular, is clockwise from Vancouver to Vancouver GETTING AROUND IN THE From its headwaters high on British part of the local culture. Coola Valley. “The Hill” is no longer the the approach to Bella Coola by sea. Island, north to Port Hardy, ferrying to Bella VALLEY Columbia’s central plateau, the river scours At the eastern boundary of Tweedsmuir hair-raising spectacle that once discouraged Every summer, between Port Hardy, on Coola, and driving out across the Chilcotin If you don’t have your own vehicle on its way down through the Coast Mountains Provincial Park, a glance to the north detects faint hearted travelers with its 18% grades northern Vancouver Island, and various points Plateau, returning south through Whistler your Bella Coola adventure, rentals are to saltwater at its mouth, providing a the mountain pass where Alexander Mackenzie, and hair-pin switchbacks. Today, tractor on the mid-coast, BC Ferries vessels cross the and back to Vanvouver. available. Inquire at accommodations at the corridor for overland access from Williams one of North America’s first great adventurers, trailer rigs, supplying the valley merchants, open waters of Queen Charlotte Sound into the This Circle Tour takes the traveler through airport or visit www.bellacoola.ca. Lake via Highway 20. This highway—paved entered the history books in 1793 with his travel the grades and curves regularly, and islands and fjords of the Great Bear Rainforest. some 11 of the 14 commonly Identified Trips on the Community Bus can be pre- to Anahim Lake (319km/192 mi)—is in overland journey across North America to the the fearsome reputation of “The Hill” far One of the world’s largest remaining tracts eco-zones on Planet Earth. This four-to-five- booked at least 24 hours in advance—or itself an unparalleled adventure through waters of the Pacific at the mouth of the Bella outstrips its reality.