Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 163

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 163

Canada

8/11/09 - Mountain Shadow Lake, near Iskut, BC

The day starts off great.  We have completed another task and all the fish is safely processed.  We pack up and head down this new-to-us road, hoping that it will be better.  It wasn’t.  For a part of the ride, I found that Sam was happier when I closed my eyes and thought good thoughts about … well anything.  The road was pretty wiped out in places, pretty close to one full lane in places, fighting for road space with mungus machines in others.  Bumpy, narrow, twisting, nasty road, with little or no stable shoulders at times.  We had already passed Blue Lakes, Baking Powder Creek, and entered the Cassiar Mountains. These mountains have jade in them. Aged jade of many colors and qualities.  We know that Jade City is in front of us, and we plan to stop and view the products made from jade at that location. We creep past Dry Creek and Aeroplane Lake, McDame Creek, Snow Creek and there it is.  Jade City. Not a city at all, just an area built up around a family involved in the jade trade.  We really enjoyed looking at all the huge rock cutting saws and equipment, along with the jewelry, beads, and knickknackswhatnots.  We left with billfold intact, but could not keep our eyes on the road for any meaningful length of time. Lots of green in those hills. Then we entered the town of Dease Lake. At the Arctic Divide – the divide between the Arctic and Pacific Ocean watersheds.

Jade City

Although we had kept our eyes open for a place to buy fishing licenses, we had been told that due to the ease of buying them online, even from the States, that few people sell them anymore. We stopped at the universal store at the gas station.  Not there.  They directed us to the gift shop.  There, but not for us.  They sold them, but did not take credit cards. They directed us to a government building that held all sorts of offices and was located across the two side-by-side main streets of the town.  They sold them.  They sold them to us.  We were set. Now we only needed to find another body of water.  Since we have been nowhere in Canada or Alaska that was thirsty in any way for bodies of water, we were confident.  Back on the road. Although it seems like we have been on the road forever, we really have not gotten too far.

A Good Promise

We pass Trout Line Creek, Limestone Creek, Vines Lake, Twin Lakes, Simmons Lake, Cottonwood River, Pine Creek Lake, Dease River, Elbow Lake, Packer Tom Creek, Beady Creek, Good Hope Lake, Hotel Creek, Tanzilla River, Stikine River and finally get a glimpse of Mount Edziza.  Mount Edziza is a dormant volcano that lives in a park that has no access due to the ruggedness of the terrain.  We don’t go there.  Sam is getting tired.  We have traveled about 140 miles this day – but we both think that much of that was through inaccessible rugged terrain. Silly we. We decide to stop at the Mountain Shadow RV Park, pretty close to Iskut, a Tahltan Native community of about 283 persons.  The main reason we chose this place was that it advertised access to a rainbow trout lake.  We pull over and set up camp. 

Mountain Shadow Lake

When we finish with the essential non-essentials, we get down to the basics and go hunting for this lake. Fishing poles in hand. We have to hike around this small lake, which is small, but has a very brushy, rough path that winds through trees, up and over boulders and has both of us looking for bears.  We find none, but do find the fishing beach.  We mess with the poles a while, then start casting the hooks in.  We start catching fish immediately.  After all the large salmon and halibut we have been catching, the trout look pretty small.  We are throwing them back in until we measured one.  Found out it was very nice-sized, about 14 inches, and we had planned to have a native trout dinner.  We kept three and let the others back into the lake.  They gave us a fun time and a fine dinner – Sam has proclaimed: “the red meat of that trout was some of the finest tasting I have ever had”. I was too busy eating to respond.