Road Trips Guide 2023 - FREE PREVIEW

Distance: 116 km

Duration: 1+ Day

Off the Beaten Track Rating:

COALMONT ROAD

The path less travelled, Princeton to Aspen Grove

First Nations people used the Otter Valley trails for centuries to trade the red ochre found along the Tulameen River, west of Princeton. However, it wasn’t until the Hudson’s Bay Company fur brigade of 1849 that the trails became part of a major thoroughfare. They linked the Fraser River trade route at Hope with the Nicola Valley and the fur trading posts at Kamloops and the Interior via Tulameen River and the Otter Valley.

In the 1880s and 1890s, packers used the newly built wagon road to Nicola to carry gold from the Granite Creek mines to the Canadian Pacific Railway at Spences Bridge, returning with supplies for the settlers and mining camps. It was relegated to backroad status when Highway 5 (now designated 5A) via Allison Lake was completed in the 1920s.

Just so you don’t have any confusion, if you are driving between Princeton and Merritt and you’re in a hurry, Highway 5A is 20 kilometres and an hour shorter. If time is of little concern, then take Coalmont Road and enjoy one of the most historic routes in British Columbia.

NAME CONFUSION

If you are heading west from the old wooden bridge at the north end of Bridge Street in Princeton, the route is called Tulameen Avenue for the first couple of kilometres—then it becomes Coalmont Road. If you are following the Otter Lake Park signs from Highway 5A just north of

Princeton, the first part of the route is called Old Hedley Road. It joins Tulameen Avenue at the northwest end of the wooden bridge.

ROCKS AND GOLD

If you are interested in more than looking and driving, it is worth stopping at the Emporium at 221 Bridge Street. Ed Muckle is a self-appointed Gold Commissioner, and his shop is a treasure trove of gold panning hardware, historical books and maps. To live up to his “Gold Commissioner” sign, he will buy any gold you find in the local streams. Check with him about the current rules and regulations.

PRINCETON STARTING POINT

If history and photography are among your weaknesses, you won’t have to leave Princeton before you park the rig and dig out a camera. The old bridge across the Tulameen River and the “Wild West” stores along Bridge Street are the real things—no false-fronted decoys to catch you off guard, just the real deal.

If you are ready for lunch, Thomasina’s Cafe is one of those heritage buildings where you can get breakfast, lunch and fresh baking before you head out on your adventures.

Once you’ve crossed the onelane wooden bridge, hang a left and follow Tulameen Avenue as it climbs away from the village. If it is winter, and you’ve brought along your skis, take your first detour at the two-kilometre mark,

and follow the China Ridge signs up West China Creek Road to the China Ridge Cross Country Ski Trails. The cross country trails are about 8.5 kilometres from downtown Princeton, and the elevation varies between 1,190 and 1,310 metres, with a total of 40 kilometres of groomed skiing trails and a range of terrain to help keep you fit.

GRANITE CREEK GOLD AND BLAKEBURN COAL

Test your courage by following the winding Coalmont Road northward as it carves into the cliffs and clings to the clay banks. According to Mollie Broderick, whose grandparents were early settlers in the Otter Valley, Bobby Stevenson, of Barkerville and Granite Creek fame, was the surveyor of this portion of the road and “he just followed a garter snake along the hillside to find the grade.”

Coalmont Road drops down to the valley floor about 18 kilometres from Princeton. A few minutes later the four-way stop at the Coalmont Hotel (in the town of the same name) marks an opportunity for another detour. To the right lies the community of Tulameen and the continuation of the road north. To take the detour, turn left onto Main Street and then right on Bettes Avenue. This is the start of a backroad that will take you across the Tulameen River and, if you keep left after crossing the river, to the ghost town of Granite City.

GRANITE CITY

About 1.3 kilometres from the Coalmont Hotel, a Forest Service recreational site marks the remnants of Granite City. Historians suggest that John Chance, a

sometime-cowhand, miner, cook and rustler, discovered a placer gold deposit on Granite Creek on July 5, 1885. By year-end, more than 60 companies were working the diggings and had extracted $90,000 in gold. On December 28, 1885, mining recorder Henry Nicholson reported: “Granite City is rapidly increasing, buildings of one kind or another now probably number 200.”

EIGHTEEN OUNCE NUGGET Nearby Hines, Olivine, Champion and Bear creeks also produced

favourable mining results. With the coarse gold valued at $17 per ounce, miners recovered a nugget worth $87.50 from Granite Creek while Bear Creek yielded a gold nugget worth $320. Five years after the initial discovery, the gold rush had slowed to a trickle. An 1894 report indicates that only a few large companies were working in Granite Creek. Today, weeds, wild roses and saskatoons hide most of the streets of Granite City. Information signs, a concrete monument, a bumpy dirt road and a few decaying buildings are all that remain

to mark the creek-side community that produced more than $2 million in gold and platinum.

GRANITE CREEK RECREATION SITE

While a far cry from the 1880s

heyday, the south side of Granite Creek is now a 21-site campground with access to the nearby creek and Tulameen River. Check current regulations before you try your hand at stream fishing.

BLAKEBURN COAL

The remnants of the industry that started the town of Coalmont lie farther up Blakeburn Road, a turn off before the campsite. The Blakeburn Mine, on a hillside 9.6 kilometres from the Coalmont Hotel,

was the original source of Coalmont’s wealth. The coal harvested there was rated “amongst the finest in the continent.”

The mine built a 6.5-kilometrelong aerial tram to transport coal to the railway cars—an impressive feat at the time. Full buckets descended about 485 metres and the returning empties travelled back up at a pace slightly faster than a man could walk. From June 1921, the aerial tramway operated smoothly, until August 13, 1930—Black Wednesday, when an explosion killed 45 miners. Soon after the disastrous explosion, the market began to change, and production declined until the last tram load in 1940. For a time Blakeburn was one of the province’s major producers of topquality coal.

TULAMEEN

When you’ve had your fill, continue north up Coalmont Road to Tulameen. Originally known as Campement des Femmes and later as Otter Flats, Tulameen was a busy community between 1849 and 1860 as part of the Hudson’s Bay Company Brigade Trail between Fort Kamloops and Fort Hope.

Tulameen is now a busy outdoor recreation community. The Tulameen Trading Post is a good place to stock up on fuel and supplies before heading north or exploring the high country to the southwest or the meandering backroad west that leads to Coquihalla Lakes.

OTTER LAKE

At the end of Sixth Street, on the northern outskirts of Tulameen,

a BC Parks picnic area and beach provides access to five-kilometrelong Otter Lake. Four kilometres up the west side of the lake, Otter Lake Provincial Park has 45 campsites. While it can be busy in the summer months, there is usually room in the spring or fall for wayward anglers after rainbow trout, char, kokanee and brook trout. Although it isn’t a freeway, the road from Princeton is paved to a few kilometres north of Otter Lake Park, and then it gives way to dusty gravel. Watch for logging trucks around here.

THYNNE ROADSIDE INN

Forty-two kilometres north of Princeton and 15 kilometres north of Tulameen, Coalmont Road passes the gates of a bustling ranch, once known as Thynne Lake Ranch.

No story of the road would be complete without a mention of Jack and Mary Thynne’s Road House. John Granville (Jack) Thynne was a direct descendant of Sir Richard Grenville. His wife, Mary Eliza, was the third daughter of free-trader William Linklater at Fort Garry, now Winnipeg, Manitoba. The couple settled in the Otter Valley in 1890 and later built their ranch on the wagon road that linked Granite Creek with the Nicola Valley. Travellers were treated to “a little bit of old England” when they gathered in the sitting room to enjoy conversation amid portraits and photographs of the old Thynne home in Cornwall, England.

INFAMOUS AND FAMOUS GUESTS

One of the frequent patrons of this well-known Otter Valley ranch was a slender man in his mid-50s who spoke with a southern accent and enjoyed music and dancing. His name, he said, was George W. Edwards. Mr. Edwards made frequent trips, which few people cared to ask him about. However, on one of those trips, he was unmasked while holding up the Canadian Pacific Railway at Ducks, east of Kamloops. Residents of the Nicola

and Similkameen country were surprised to learn that their friend was none other than the notorious Bill Miner, train robber.

Other well known, but not so notorious guests included Pauline Johnson (one of Canada’s most popular and successful entertainers of the 1890s and early 1900s) and Father Pat (Rev. Henry Irwin—noted for his wanderings throughout the BC mining communities at the end of the 19th century).

PIKE MOUNTAIN SIDE TRIP

Coalmont Road winds north between the hillside and the hayfields for another 12 kilometres before passing Youngsberg Road and beginning a climb up Otter Creek Canyon. The nearby bridge across Otter Creek was out of service in October, 2022 but if it has been repaired you could take this side trip. It’s about a six-kilometre climb up a narrow road to Rickey Lake, the first of 20-plus lakes, including Thalia, Goose and Lodwick, that dot the plateau north of Pike Mountain. A four-wheel drive vehicle, good maps, GPS and plenty of fuel and supplies are essential if you intend to enjoy any of the dozen recreation sites in the area.

OTTER CREEK CANYON

Coalmont Road begins its climb up Otter Creek Canyon a kilometre northeast of the Youngsberg Road junction. At the mouth of the canyon, the road passes through a cut that once supported a Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) bridge.

HISTORY AND LAKES

Nine kilometres to the northeast, the timbered canyon opens up to cattle country. Coalmont Road passes Brookmere and Voght Valley roads. Brookmere Road will take you 16 kilometres across the plateau to what is certainly one of the last standing KVR water towers, and access to the Coquihalla Highway. Voght Valley Road winds north to Kane Valley Road and, on the way, passes rainbow-stocked Davis, Boss and Tahla lakes.

CATTLE COUNTRY

The gravel gives way to pavement just south of the Brookmere Road junction. Eight kilometres later, the backroad winds past the Portland Ranch, which is part of the Douglas Lake Cattle Company. Bunchgrass-covered slopes, bright yellow with the blossoms of arrowleaf balsamroot in early spring, green in early summer and golden yellow by autumn, provide the basis for the BC cattle industry.

A few kilometres later this backroad ends at a sharp bend in Highway 5A, about eight kilometres south of Aspen Grove and the junction with Highway 97C, the Okanagan Connector.

If you have the time, don’t miss this beautiful region and its varied and colourful past.

Distance: 775 km

Duration: 3 Days

Off the Beaten Track Rating:

DEMPSTER DRIVING

Dawson City, Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories

Completed in 1979 the fabled Dempster Highway— Canada’s only all-weather road to cross the Arctic Circle—was officially opened in August of that year, at Flat Creek, Yukon. It links Yukon Highway 2, approximately 40 kilometres east of downtown Dawson City with Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. The Yukon portion is labelled Highway 5, and the NWT portion is labelled Highway 8. It includes two ferries, several mountain ranges and countless hours of tundra.

PREPARE FOR HISTORY

If the word “Beringia” doesn’t mean much to you, then to better understand the unique landscape along much of the Dempster Highway, I suggest you visit the Beringia website at beringia.com. Then take a trip to the Yu-

kon Beringia Interpretive Centre on the Alaska Highway at Whitehorse—learn the land before you head north.

In brief, during the massive ice ages that buried southern Canada under as much as 2,000 metres of ice, Siberia, Alaska and the Yukon were linked and called Beringia, together they formed a land bridge. Much of the Dempster route was unglaciated because the climate was too dry. It was home to mammoths, giant bears, beavers and scimitar cats (the cats with the giant front teeth). Recent reports suggest that it was also home to giant mastodons around 125,000 years ago.

While you are unlikely to see the mastodons, American camels or giant beavers that once roamed the region, the lack of glaciation may help to explain the distinctive shape of the mountain ranges and some of the unusual plants that can be found along the route.

PREPARE FOR ADVENTURE

If you still feel that the Dempster Highway is on your bucket list, make sure your bucket is full before you head out. You should have enough fuel for at least 500 kilometres when you leave Yukon Highway 2. You should also be sure that your vehicle and tires are suitable for 1,500 kilometres of gravel road—with some sections being rough shale. Note that there isn’t cell phone coverage and even satellite phone service can be sporadic.

When we first drove the Dempster Highway, there was a fuel stop and restaurant at the junction of Highway 2. The service stop burned in 2013 and there is now a public cardlock gasoline/diesel station at Dempster Corner. Reports are that it isn’t always operational. I suggest fuelling up and restocking supplies in Dawson City or Carmacks.

TOMBSTONE TERRITORIAL PARK

With the junction of Highway 2 and 5 as kilometre 0, the first notto-be-missed stop is the Tombstone Interpretive Centre at kilometre 71 in Tombstone Territorial Park. It is usually open early June to mid-September with helpful staff, lots of information and a pot of mountain tea brewing on the wood stove.

Within walking distance of the info centre is a 51-site campground—a busy place in summer. If you are into a little backcountry camping or hiking, the centre also has information and maps covering the trails on both sides of the highway. For up-to-date information, visit yukon.ca/en/outdoorrecreation-and-wildlife.

A viewpoint at kilometre 75 offers excellent views of the

INUVIK - TUKTOYAKTUK HIGHWAY

Campbell Lake

Fort McPherson

RICHARDSON MOUNTAINS

Peel River Ferry Crossing

Yukon/NWT Border

Eagle Plains

Mackenzie River

Mackenzie River Ferry Crossing

YUKON

Chapman Lake

Two Moose Lake

View Point

Tombstone Interpretive Centre

OGILVIE MOUNTAINS

Area of Enlargement

Arctic Circle

jagged Tombstone Range to the west with peaks rising to 2,362 metres (7,749 feet). A few minutes later the highway crosses the Continental Divide, leaving the Klondike and Yukon drainage and starting the slow, undulating descent to the Mackenzie River system.

North Fork Pass is barely discernible but the change from forest near the interpretive centre to open rolling tundra is much more dramatic.

Two Moose Lake, at kilometre 103, is another good place to stop. Although we didn’t see any moose, the waterfowl were plentiful. Chapman Lake, at kilometre 116, is one of the largest lakes along the southern half of the highway.

NORTH ACROSS THE TUNDRA

The highway winds around sections of the Blackstone River and then deceptively straight across the tundra. Deceptive because the growth near the highway looks like a dry landscape—until you step off the road and find your boots quickly filling with water.

The highway leaves the Blackstone River near kilometre 146 and heads west before following Engineers Creek north to the Ogilvie River. The Engineers Creek Campground can be found at kilometre 194 and the longest bridge on the highway at kilometre 196. By now the landscape has changed to narrow valleys bordered by scrub timber and sharply defined mountains.

To avoid the permafrost muskeg landscape, the highway climbs away from the Ogilvie River near kilometre 245 and up the ridges with an excellent viewpoint of the Ogilvie Mountains and the Ogilvie and Peel River Valley at kilome-

tre 259. Interpretive signs and pit toilets complement the view. You are now into the region that the last ice age left alone.

EAGLE PLAINS

On one trip, we passed through a burn at kilometre 280 and photographed a foraging grizzly bear at kilometre 335. The end of day one was at the Eagle Plains Hotel, service centre and campground at kilometre 369. We checked out the pub and restaurant and talked to the young lady that seemed to manage all three facilities. Her story was that her car broke down near here a few years earlier and

while waiting for parts, she decided to work at the hotel for a week—it seems that it has been a long week for her.

The campground has half a dozen serviced sites and about the same number of un-serviced ones. The wind sweeping the ridge keeps the mosquitoes at bay allowing a pleasant evening watching the late June sun never quite set. For up-to-date information see eagleplainshotel.ca.

ARCTIC CIRCLE AND RICHARDSON MOUNTAINS

It is about 30 minutes north to the Arctic Circle (kilometre 405) and an information sign marking

this achievement. The Richardson Mountains, plus the British and Barn mountain ranges form part of the “Beringia” region that was not glaciated during recent ice ages.

It is likely that the view has changed little from when mastodons and mammoths roamed the region. While these huge animals have long since disappeared there are still a few species that have survived. One of these is the Arctic ground squirrel, with fossil findings dating back two million years. Another species to survive is the barren-ground caribou. Both can often be seen along the Dempster Highway.