PG ‘25 - The Ancient Forest

Sorry for the delay in posting - it did not take very much camping time to get to the “what day is this again?” stage.

We have been at a campground called MamaYeh, 15 min south of Prince George, the ‘northern capital’ of British Columbia. Tomorrow we pull up stakes and head three hours west and a smidgen North to Burns Lake to visit our niece, but we wanted a couple days to see what was in this area (and to break up the 11 hour drive time from Edmonton). And even without flush toilets, it is a lovely campsite, with a great host.

One of the things to see is an amazing inland rainforest, at B.C.‘s newest provincial park, Chun T’oh Whudujut. It turns out you don’t have to drive out to Clayuquot on Vancouver Island to witness immense, 1000-year-old cedars.

There is an accessible boardwalk with minimal elevation change, but lured upward with the promise of a waterfall, we instead opted for the larger loop with a lot more climbing than I’d anticipated. 

The footing is sure on a sturdy boardwalk and steps, all built and maintained by volunteers.

It is very dense off the boardwalk, and I can only imagine how easy it would be to get lost in terrain like this, and wondering what sort of fauna is lurking just out of sight in the underbrush.

At one point, Canéla stopped pulling ahead on her leash and drew back with a low growl, which I found unnerving. Another dog would have made her bark, as would any small mammals like a squirrel or mouse. I looked intently ahead, and saw nothing, so I coaxed her forward again, but once more she balked, growling more loudly.

“What is it girl? What’s the matter?” I asked, knowing full well a response of any kind was unlikely. Once more I peered into the low brush surrounding the immense cedar trunks, following a dry creekbed heading downhill to our right. Surely not big enough for a bear or cougar, was it?

Audrey drew up behind us and asked, “hey, is she scared of the knot coming out of that stump? The one that looks kind of like a birds head?”

Sure enough, that’s what it was - and I was so relieved I never even thought to take a picture!

No injuries or wildlife encounters, but we were all pretty tired by the time we got back to the Lander. But the waterfall really is worth the effort.