Show I Page 16 — The Herald Journal Logan Utah Wednesday October 16 1996 A mountain search for Canada’s wildflowers By Bob Mottram — an experiThis hike was ence more common to the Alps than to the Noith American West We slept and ale at wilderness cabins operated as Wells (iray Park Hackcountry Chalets liriggs and her husband Ian own and mu the enterprise They fly in staple foods and other necessaries in the spring Hikers carry just a few fresh things some meat some bread Iresh fruit and vegetables Briggs cooks on propane stoves hul-lo-h- ut Tacoma News Tribune WIIIS GRAY PROVINCIAL PARK HC — The thunderclap cimie rolling iieioss the leaden sky like a roaring diesel engine seeming to explode above oui heads with the lury of a tractor-trailer smashing a concrete wall It lollowed a Hash ol lightning by only a handful of seconds iml we knew that the lightning strike had hit the gionnd much closer than we wished We headed away Ironi the high ground the II of us on this hike and look shelter near a stand of lii just as the hailstones hit lay Briggs the leader of uur group dug a nylon tarp out ol hci pack and we held it ovei our heads and let the hail beat down upon it In just minutes the sionn passed through It was the lirst afternoon ol a six day lour-burn- cr (iuests sleep beneath wool or cotton blankets and Huffy comforters August is peak llower lime in the Trophy Mountains of southern Wells (iray I’aik July is best for wildlife In September the meadows are brown as a result of killing frosts But the biting bugs arc dead then too and that lime is best for hiking Ouis was a naturalist hike and Briggs was the naturalist A university-traine- d lorcsicr she shared her expertise on wildllowei walk in eastern British wildflowers wildlife and mountain ecolColumbia ami this would be the only ogy She also guided the group between at limes and prechalets threatening wealliei we would encounter Our ages ranged Ironi the 20s to the pared delicious meals bveryone pitched in with chores 70s We had come some ol us thouThe hike starts midmorning on a Sunsands ol miles - to view the alpine meadows of Wells (iray Provincial I'aik day at a ranch resort about 20 miles north of Clearwater BC when Briggs traveling from Vancouver BC Vancouver Island Washington state loioulo picks you up in a van You drive part Manhattan and Munich (iermuny We'd way hack to town then east up a logging wanted to be here at the height of the road to a (railhead at 5300 feel This day's hike will he the shortest of Scrippi Howard photo wildl lower season And we were We tramped some 40 miles across the the trip hut the one with the biggest eleBritish Columbia in eastern Park in Provincial into Wells who Fields of wildflowers venture a stunning array of colors await hikers Gray vation gain - 1700 feet to the Trophy Early fall is prime time for the blazing fields of flowers southern reaches of the park Hut we car ried just light packs no sleeping bags oi Mountain Chalet The trail rises steeply tents or heavy bags of Inod through subalpine fir and Fngelmann spruce but we take sonic rests and in a point of this day's hike and look out a deer's 'Iliis part of the park is home to across the ridges to the north There on woodland caribou and wc sec more of couple of hours we're at the chalet the horizon the most distant line of their tracks as we proceed wooden building conThe Part way up the timbered valley wall tains a kitchen-dinin- g area and a sleepsnowcapped peaks marks approximately Moor toward contains the Wells loft with on the mattresses ing haglc Pass wc drop our packs Gray park's midpoint Scenery from the windows is spectacnearly 13 million acres virtually all of it beside a frigid lake and plunge into the meadows with untamed To the north of those peaks on water We're refreshed when wc resume ular — flower-fille- d the climb the horizon still inside the park lie hunsnowcapped peaks behind Just one night at cabin No 2 and then We cat sandwiches dreds of thousands of acres that we canwe're crossing Table Mountain toward fresh fruit and pear juice and about 3:40 not see To the northeast and northwest pm we head for a nearby hilltop to get outside the park lie millions of acres of Fight Meadow a place where — legend has it - - two American Indian bands a look at the country we'll he hiking the wilderness more Dinner that night is chicken breasts in once fought for caribou-huntin- g next couple of days rights The Mower fields are nearly indescribThe storm drives us off the hillside cieam gravy mashed potatoes salad and able Briggs thinks they’re some of the and (he wind blows hard that night We fresh hioccoli l irst thing wc smell next day is coffee finest in the world You never tire of can feel it shaking the chalet as we eat and after we turn in for the night Monwafting up the stairs to the loft in which them — their yellows and reds and blues day dawns beautiful however with we sleep We pack our gear and head for fighting for attention against the whites and purples and greens bright sun illuminating the distant snow-field- s accommodation No 2 the Table Mounand the multicolored wildMowers tain Chalet where we will spend one The following day we hike to the lop that spread like a carpel over the land of Battle Mountain where some of us night We're hiking north cross-countr- y pile additional stones atop a cairn From Today will be a day hike in the Trohere one can look north to the Cariboos phies to the lop of several peaks We eat through land that contains few trails the Premier Range and the Monashecs some scrambled eggs and sausages and ycr the hills behind the Trophy Mounhead into the hills with packs containing and on a clear day east to (he Rockies tain Chalet and into the valley below A final night at the third chalet and little more than rain gear lunch and then up the opposite valley wall through Hass and into the valley beyond water alter breakfasting on cold cereal powIn the bottom of the first valley known We reach the ridgelops above the limdered milk and muffins fresh from the Scrippa Howard photo ber line and walk along them marveling as the Valley ol the Lakes Briggs points oven we pack up and head down a steep break dunng a at the view in both directions John and Grota Olesen of Ladysmith British Columbia lake a out a caiibou track oval — for walking trail toward the ranch resort from which In the afternoon we reach the highest d day hike along a ridge hi Wells Gray Provincial Park like we'd started out on snow - 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