The epic land of the Tsilhqot'in!

June 29

Sunday

Woke up at 5:36, cursing being awake, cursing having to pee, and wanting to barf from the smell of quickly thawing cheezy dogs. Dragged myself across the whole park, running by the time I got there to the can, so glad it was unlocked, clean, and equipped.

Went and got ice to re-fridgerate the stinky dogs, checked fluids in the ole truck, then rolled back to the park where I slept. I wanted to go back to sleep but all I could think of was bathing and setting up my truck for the road trip ahead. Had a thorough washing in the sink, changing out of my smelly clothes. Then made coffee and sat still, looking through my maps and reading about places to go. Eventually decided to park on the main street where the girls would see me and walk around to take pictures. Thrift store rip offs and great history. The woman at the museum asked me if I was pregnant then gave me extra attention, telling me stories about the images on the walls cos she felt like a dick I hope. I'm feeling done with being overweigty. Clinton stores were pretty cool, the old junk one with all the farm stuff out front has all kinds of good things inside, the other good one is at the opposite end of town and had beautiful things as well. In between was the museum. Bought postcards for everyone, saw a japanese glass float that I want badly, and a book that would be a funny present. 

 

The girls came, we walked a bit then hit the road, getting to Williams Lake in no time. Gas up n CanTire for pallets to burn and my new hatchet, or my hand-axe as call it. She's a light lil black beauty! Up the leaving hill, down the Fraser River valley, up to the Chilcotin plateau, and across we go. We tried to get to the hot springs at Riske Creek, but couldn`t find the access road, so we decided to head for Farwell Canyon. Off the highway, into the yellow rolling hills, into the adventure country and the canyon of epicness!!

It looks as though you are about to drive over the edge of the world, into the sky. We stopped to hike across the bluff and stare down into the valley below, awed by the vastness of the land, the grandiose feeling of standing on top of the world. Then begin to snake downhill. The hoodoos came up on our one side, and we stopped at the bridge crossing the Chilcotin River to stare at them, partly because we thought there was a roadblock on the other side. When we stopped at the Chilcotin Lodge to ask where the access road was to the Riske Creek hot springs, the naysaying German lady told us no no no, private property, springs are not impressive, the canyon is kind of off limits, you might be able to camp there, you might not bla blah blahhh. So we were a little spooked and thought we`d get the boot. But instead we found an amazing abandoned homesite with leftover cabin remains and awesome riverbanks and birds doing weird and lovely things. We burnt up all our pallets over the next two nights and had a nice rest and got too much sun. Epic.