Canada's Best Kept Secret: 500km from the nearest paved road, solo in Northern BC.

[Crooked Creek]

Originally Posted by alcanrider

Funny similar thoughts are had regarding coal mines, mostly strip mining. I personally have no problem with any resource developement as long as the environment can be returned to its somewhat original state.

I tend to agree, but that is what was in question with this project, whether a "somewhat original state" was a possible outcome. I not an environmentalist, but this was a 988 000 acre project at the alpine headwaters of 3 of BC's most important salmon rivers. To clarify, it wasn't the 3000 km of roads, 6500 wells, pipelines/compressor stations/etc that were the concern as much as the fracking, wastewater and contamination of the salmon-bearing rivers. The land will look fine in 100 years (though the alpine tundra takes a lot longer to recover than West Virginia) but they are not making any more salmon rivers. Anyways, several other projects are still underway in the region, but everyone seemed agree this was the wrong place for coal bed methane extraction.

Regardless of the conservation discussion though, I just stumbled on this video and it has some great footage many of the places I rode through last summer.

[smilin jack]

Originally Posted by Crooked Creek

Sorry about the slight delay, but when we left off we were here:



Downtown Germansen Landing.

Okay, not quite downtown.


That would be here.




It was easy to find.

Thanks for the modern photos of Germansen Landing. My brother and I rode our Suzuki S-32 bikes (150cc twin 2-strokes=16hp) there during high school summer break, 1966 from Newport, Oregon. Quite the adventure with flat tires, purchasing fuel from locals in the bush and being chased by a cow moose with calf.

We'd been to Chuchi lake and upstream on Nations River several times with the family in younger years and decided to go on our little motorbikes. We were 16 and 17 years old.

Have enjoyed your BC trip reports. Good stuff.
Dave

[Crooked Creek]

Originally Posted by smilin jack

My brother and I rode our Suzuki S-32 bikes (150cc twin 2-strokes=16hp) there during high school summer break, 1966 from Newport, Oregon. Quite the adventure with flat tires, purchasing fuel from locals in the bush and being chased by a cow moose with calf.

Sounds like a proper adventure.

[morerpmfred]

Enjoying the ride report. Pine beetle is sure beating the crap out of all the trees in the last two updates.

[Crooked Creek]

Originally Posted by morerpmfred

Enjoying the ride report. Pine beetle is sure beating the crap out of all the trees in the last two updates.

They sure did. It's only a matter of time before they all go up in smoke now.

[Mercenary]

Originally Posted by morerpmfred

Enjoying the ride report. Pine beetle is sure beating the crap out of all the trees in the last two updates.

Yea...its pretty devastating. Things look somewhat bleak for the forest industry in my neck of the woods......or what's left of the woods anyway....

[Crooked Creek]

About 4100 feet now and climbing.







Lay Creek








Looks like someone was using this snowcat to plow the road in the winter. But it broke down and here it lies.




Still climbing

[blacktruck]

This is an area I would love to see. Must have been an awesome ride going there. I'm in. I want to follow this. Might be on the list of places to go.
Thanks for sharing.
Ken

[Crooked Creek]

Originally Posted by blacktruck

Must have been an awesome ride going there.

It was indeed. Saw more than 10 times as many bears as vehicles on this stretch. I love having the place to myself.

[Crooked Creek]

And here we are




nestled in the clouds.




Besides being beautiful, Johanson Lake is a very unique place as it's the farthest inland and highest in altitude that salmon travel, right on the edge of the Pacific watershed and only ice free a couple months of the year.




Not a bad place to stop and stretch your legs after 26 or so hours of riding.




But I didn't stop long as I had already decided that I would go all the way today. We have peaked now and the road is generally downhill from here.






Here's the baby Sustut River.




Not for from there I see signs of life.

[Mercenary]

Nudgenudge....

[Crooked Creek]

Originally Posted by Mercenary

Nudgenudge....

Sorry, been hard at work .








Will be home and back to the grind next week.

[Crooked Creek]

What's this man-made object I see...




This is my mail drop off point and the home of Ron and Wanda Steffy.







These are not your ordinary hermits.

From their website.

In 1984, my wife Wanda and I, along with our children, Oak 11, Clayton 9, Heather 8, Leaf 9 months, and Brome 7 months from being born, traveled from our family dairy farm in Michigan in search of a life filled with adventure in the remote wilderness mountains of northwest British Columbia, Canada. The decision to leave our thriving family farm that had been in my family for generations, and where I had worked daily since childhood with my dad, brother, grandfather, and great uncle, was an extremely difficult one to make. But, the desire to build a homestead in the scenic wilderness mountains of British Columbia, where there are glaciers and grizzly bears, was calling us with such intensity that we couldn’t ignore it. Having been raised on our family dairy farm I had acquired an intense work ethic and many skills including construction, cement work, wiring, plumbing, growing crops, and raising livestock. While living on our farm I had effectively taught myself subsistence living skills including making a flintlock rifle and pistol, tanning hides and making buckskin clothing by sewing hides together with sinew, building a log cabin using only an axe and knife for tools, making soap by leaching lye water from wood ashes, making stains from wood bark, building fire using flint and steel, making glue by rendering rawhide on a slow fire, making sugar by tapping maple trees, and delivering our third son. I delivered our fourth son in December of 1984 and our fifth son, Hawk, in 1991 in one of the cabins that we built in Moose Valley. Wanda also learned the pioneering skills of cooking on a wood cook stove, sewing, churning cream into butter, canning fruits and vegetables, making all of our breads, and making homemade meals from scratch.

In May we loaded our team of mules into our trailer along with harness, a walking plow, and hand tools and we headed for British Columbia; the beginning of our adventure. Soon after arriving in British Columbia we found just what we were looking for. We purchased the exclusive right to guide big-game hunters in Moose Valley and the surrounding 1000 square miles. Owning the guiding rights to the 1000 square mile area also gave us the opportunity to build our homestead wherever we wanted to within that area. The closest town to Moose Valley was Fort St James (referred to as the “Fort”) 270 miles to the southeast. The snow in the pass, near Moose Valley, where we would cross from Arctic to Pacific watershed melted out of the narrow trail in late June. I was warned by some of the local town’s people that if I took my family into that remote wilderness of Moose Valley some of us wouldn’t live to return to civilization. Despite the warning, we left the Fort and headed northwest for Moose Valley with our team of mules, 5 horses, and enough supplies to last until mid October.

We survived and thrived here in Moose Valley and over the years we’ve built many cabins, and our homestead including our lodge/home. We made the lumber for all of the buildings with an Alaskan Mill attached to a chainsaw. We cleared land by cutting trees down, chopped stumps out with an axe, hauled the stumps to a fire with horses, and broke the ground with a walking plow pulled by our horses. We used horses to prepare the seedbed, seed the grass, and later cut, rake, and haul the hay to the barn for storage. Wanda home schooled our children and washed all of our clothes, including diapers for our three youngest, in a washtub with a scrub board. Our children did very well academically, and received honors for their academic achievements, but their greatest education came from growing up here in our wilderness guiding territory. Building our homestead and guiding business here in the wilderness gave them their work ethic, survival skills, hunting skills, common sense, and their skills at many trades. We worked together in harmony to build our homestead and develop our horse trails and camps for guiding. Ingenuity and improvising come natural for all of us and they’re essentially instinctive. Oak married several years ago and moved to a rural area in Missouri where his wife is from. Heather married a few years ago and she and her husband live in Montana. Clayton, Leaf, Brome, and Hawk are all very much committed to our guiding business and the wilderness. Due to their lives of growing up in, living in, and sustenance lifestyle in the wilderness their guiding and survival skills are second to none. Each year we continue to develop our guide territory by cutting more horse trails, building new cabins, and scouting more mountains and valleys for game. We’re all committed to providing our guests with the most memorable experience of their lives.

I had heard a few different things about Ron, but I found him friendly and appreciative for the mail delivery. I didn't get the impression that he was really that into killing things, but outfitting gives him the chance to enjoy the lifestyle he wants, so that's what he does.

[RockyDS]

Very interesting people!

[Mcgee]

Yes, very interesting people for sure. Seems like they are living their dream. A lot of hard work, but they are free!! Thank you for the great adventure, very inspiring and what a beautiful place to live around.