Kelowna, Nakusp & Frank Slide - May, 2009
Karen's grandson was playing hockey in Kelowna over the weekend so that was excuse enough for us to gas up and hit the road. That, and the fact that I had just bought a new car that Karen figured needed a road test.
Kelowna
We made it just in time for the morning game. Karen's son and his family were quite surprised to see us at the arena. Such a good granny she is!!
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| Lake Okanagan |
Lake Okanagan
After the game was over, we left Kelowna and took the back road to Vernon driving the west side of Lake Okanagan. Dad showed me this road this road a while ago and I wanted Karen to see it. There is nothing prettier than the Okanagan in the spring.
Update September 2023 - McDongall Creek Fire
This beautiful area on the west side of Okanagan Lake we drove through in May 2009, has been destroyed. McDougall Creek Fire started about 10 km northwest of West Kelowna on August 15, 2023. The wildfire forced the evacuation of West Kelowna and parts of Kelowna.
On the evening of August 17, 2023, a constant wind gust caused the wildfire to rapidly spread across the mountains. It jumped over Okanagan Lake sparking new wildfires north of Kelowna forcing a state of emergency by the city and further evacuations. Non-essential travels into the area were restricted to essential purposes only.
As of September 1, the wildfire was estimated at 13,712 hectares in size and still classified as out of control. On September 21, the B.C. Wildfire Services reported that the wildfire was "being held".
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| Perimeter of McDougall Creek Fire |
It is inconceivable that almost 20 years to the date, another devastating fire ravaged Kelowna. The Okanagan Mountain Park Fire started on August 16th, 2003 by a lightning strike. History repeats itself when on August 15th, 2023 the McDougall Creek Fire also started with a lightning strike.
Nakusp, B.C.
From Vernon, we turned west on highway 6 staying in a log cabin motel at Nakusp for the night. The cabin was beautiful. By then, it was pouring rain and inside was snug and warm. Just where we wanted to be. Our only concern now was whether we might run into a blizzard over the Crowsnest Pass in the morning.
Bear Ridge Cabins
Nestled in the Kuskanax Valley near Nakusp, these beautiful hand-crafted cabins overlook the Arrow Lakes and surrounding mountains.
The Village of Nakusp is a small community located on the shores of Upper Arrow Lake in the West Kootenays. The area around Nakusp was occupied by aboriginal peoples from the Shuswap.
The town name is derived from an Okanagan Indian word meaning 'closed in' or 'come together'. In 1811, the first reported European explorer on the Arrow Lakes was Finan McDonald, an associate of David Thompson. European settlers arrived in 1890, and the settlement took shape. In 1892 the post office, the first store, and a sawmill opened.
It was expected that Nakusp would also become a mining boomtown, and the Nakusp Slocan railway was completed in 1893. With the building of the smelter in Trail, however, the plan for a smelter in Nakusp vanished. Several paddle steamers came into service on the lakes, transporting settlers, produce, vacationers, and just about everything else. The boats were retired from active service in the early 1950s.
August 19, 2013 - Note received from Ien van Houten of Nakusp Delightful blog, will be back to read at leisure. Right now, I just need to correct one fact regarding the first inhabitants of Nakusp. The lakes region was the territory of the Sinixt.It suits the government to perpetuate the fallacy that the Sinixt are extinct. |
In the morning, we decided to continue with our south route plans through the Crowsnest instead of heading north to Revelstoke. I tried to talk Karen into taking the side trip down to Grand Forks so I could have some borsch. She wouldn't go along with this idea. I'm sure if she actually liked borsch she wouldn't have hesitated at all.
Frank Slide - Frank, Alberta
The bonus of taking the south route is that it includes seeing the Frank Slide (Turtle Mountain). We stopped at the visitors centre for a self guided tour and I purchased a book and video.
The Indians of the area avoided Turtle Mountain. To them, it was the "Mountain that Walked" and they would not camp in it's shadow. Their legend would soon become all too real.
90 Seconds & 90 Million Tons
On April 29, 1903, at 4:10 a.m., in a minute and half 90 million tons of limestone crashed from the east face of Turtle Mountain and covered approximately 1.5 square miles of the valley floor.
The slab of rock that broke free was approximately 2100 feet high, 2900 feet wide and 492 feet thick. The slide dammed the Crowsnest River and formed a small lake, covered over a mile of the Canadian Pacific Railway, destroyed most of the coal mine's surface infrastructure, and buried seven houses and rural buildings on the outskirts of the sleeping town of Frank. Frank was home to approximately 600 people in 1903. It is estimated that 90 of the roughly 100 individuals in the path of the slide were killed.
Only fourteen bodies were recovered from the debris at the time of the slide. In 1922, a road construction crew uncovered the remains of seven more people. Several people in the direct path of the slide survived, including three young girls. Fernie Watkins was found amongst the debris. Marion Leitch, 15 months old, was thrown from her house to safety on a pile of hay. Gladys Ennis, 27 months old, was found choking in a pile of mud by her mother. Gladys, the last survivor of the slide, died in 1995 at age 94.
The South peak of Turtle Mountain continues to exhibit the same signs of instability that caused the 1903 slide. This has lead geologists to speculate that it is only a matter of time before another slide occurs. The Alberta government launched the Turtle Mountain Monitoring Project in response to the uncertainty of when a slide would occur and because of houses and recreation areas in slide path. The Turtle Mountain Monitoring Project has put sophisticated monitoring equipment on the face of Turtle Mountain which provides hourly updates on the size of rock cracks and the tilt and location of the Turtle Mountain. Experts say it's a matter of time before it happens again.
We did hit a bit of snow in the higher altitudes but nothing that caused any problems. Three days and 1700 kms later we were back in Calgary. My new car passed it's road test.
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