September 26, 2010 | Field Reports >
Clearwater, Sightseeing Tours
Explore spectacular Wells Gray Country by Clearwater, BC with Field
Reporter Chris Wheeler. Take an airplane flight over scenic Wells Gray
Provincial Park where you see the Cariboo Mountains up close and North
America's largest canoe only lake, Murtle Lake! Then hike behind Moul
falls before seeing Dawson Falls, Spahats Falls, and world-famous
Helmcken Falls! Wells Gray is the Canada you imagined.
http://www.wellsgray.ca
May 13, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Clearwater, Sightseeing Tours
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Another option if you are headed down the Tatlayoko Valley is to take the right fork and drive into the Horn Lake and Buff Lake area. We stopped for a quick lunch that Gisela had made up for us at a wonderful little campground on the eastern shore of Horn Lake. This is a small campground but it lies right on the shores of the lake with a plenty of space between each of the campsites so there some level of privacy. It’s actually quite nice and I’ll recommend it to my Mom and Day who like to find out-of-the-way places to take their fifth wheel and camp for several days at a time. They would love this spot and the pooch could take a swim any time right from their camp site.
Next up we drove another fifteenish minutes to Buff Lake which is also gorgeous and past that we ended up at White Saddle Air Services which is located at the far end of the lake. This section of the road is a bit more difficult to get through but totally doable if you take your time. This is also the location where parts of Seven Years in Tibet was filmed starring Brad Pit. In one scene he climbs this huge section of rock wall and yes, you guessed it, we actually drive right by that section of the rock wall where this was filmed. In the movie it appears to be a massive cliff high off the valley, but in reality it is a rock wall about twenty feet high and Brad Pitt was never any more than about a foot off the ground at any time.
May 13, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Clearwater, Sightseeing Tours
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If you want to go for a great half day excursion away from the Lodge a great option is to head back west on highway 20 into the Tatlayoka Valley. It’s about a 30 minute drive to the Tatla Village and just past a long section of split rail fences to either side of the highway you hang a left and head south into the valley floor. This a fairly good ‘chip seal', type road and is pretty easy to navigate even a small car. Another 30 minutes takes you past endless ranches and farms tucked away into the more protected corners of the valley.
Once you get closer to the mountains they soar above you to the right and the views are spectacular. We stopped at a small pullout at the Taklayoka Conservency (there is a sign posted on a tree) and walked along the northernmost shore of the Taklayoko Lake. Apparently, it is very windy here most of the time and it was quite cold given the early May dates of our travel time. I can see that windsurfers and kite boarders would be in heaven in this place. The beach head is quite long, I would guess three miles across, and there is plenty of room to set up and camp at any number of great spots along the beach. You’d have to check into whether one can actually stay overnight though as it is a conservancy area. If not the other option is to continue down the valley another 10 minutes to a small camp ground on the lake side.
May 11, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Clearwater, Sightseeing Tours
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This part of the drive is actually pretty straight forward. It reminds me of the Alaska Highway only a bit less winding. The valleys are huge with mountain views go miles off into the distance. It’s breathtaking to be on the side of the highway and the pictures don’t really do it justice. There are miles and miles of fences and we couldn’t possibly have counted the cattle and sheep in the pastures and fields we passed. It’s a bit early in the season still and the trees haven’t leafed out quite yet so its a bit grey looking in places. Soon though the leaves will come out and it will be a stunning. I would think the best time to drive this part of the world would be the middle of May to the end of June when it’s not too hot yet.
We stopped at a little garage station to get gas. There was a big old red dog lying in the sun on the porch that allowed us to wander over and scratch his ears. He liked that a lot. The next little community was Alexis Creek and it’s quite nice. The houses overlook the valley and we stopped to take pictures of this quaint little house on the hill with a beautiful garden just starting to send up new green shoots. It’s fun to be on the highway with the girlies - so many miles to go and we’re just kicking back listening to some great music. This is my idea of a good time!
February 21, 2007 | Tips from Travellers >
Clearwater, Sightseeing Tours
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Located in Wells Gray Provincial Park. A great place to enjoy a lunch and listen to the roar of the waterfall.