Bridge Lake and the Ice Caves

On May 7, 2019, we moved to Lac La Hache, British Columbia -- our first stop on our serious trek toward Alaska after visiting with our good friends Dave and Leslie in Penticton.

By the time we arrived, we already had a good idea what we'd like to explore.  There are so many lakes in the region -- and the fishing is so good -- that we wanted to find one good paddling lake, and then one good fishing lake...oh, yes, and one good hike.

Wikipedia has this to say about Lac La Hache:

"Lac La Hache is a recreational and retirement community in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada. Located on the shore of Lac La Hache alongside British Columbia Highway 97 near the regional centre of 100 Mile House, the community's origins date to the days of the Cariboo Gold Rush and the Cariboo Wagon Road, for which it provided an important roadhouse. Lac La Hache, or "The Lake of the Axe" as it translates to, was named, during the fur trade era, after the unfortunate incident of a French-Canadian voyageur who lost his axe head while chopping a hole in the ice. It is a town rich in history, as it sits along the Gold Rush Trail.  Prior to the European immigration, both the Shuswap (Secwepemc) and Chilcotin (Tsilhqot'in) First Nations were active in the area. The Chilcotins referred to the lake as Kumatakwa, Chief or Queen of the waters. The Shuswap built pit houses near the present day municipality of Lac La Hache."

The lake is gorgeous --

-- and it is teeming with wildlife:

We were eager to get on with this visit!

Waking up the next morning, we drove into 100 Mile House to find out what was available in the area.  We stopped in the visitor center and spoke to a young man from the area who clearly knew what was available for us to explore.  He had ideas for places to paddle our kayaks, places to fish, places to hike, and attractions to see.  With only a half day left after the visitor center, we decided on a less-ambitious hike to a local attraction, the Bridge Lake Ice Caves, which is part of the Interlakes Recreation Area in British Columbia.

We drove east of 100 Mile House along Highway 24 to the little village of Bridge Lake, where we shopped at the Bridge Lake General Store for a picnic lunch:

We backtracked along Bridge Lake itself to the Ice Caves site, where we were greeted by a First Nations totem pole (we aren't sure how genuine it is, but its construction was first-class, as were the improvements to the Ice Caves site):

Our first agenda item was food in our bellies, and a picnic table was obligingly provided by the founders of the picnic area:

Nourished, we walked the half mile or so to the cliffs above Bridge Lake, where we could see the ice caves.

The "ice caves" are not truly ice caves.  Rather, they are crevices on the edge of the cliff above Bridge Lake that collect falling snow and melting snow or ice.  Legend has it that First Nations and pioneers collected ice from these caves during the summer, and indeed a person whose parents lived on an island on Bridge Lake reported that he remembers coming to the ice caves to collect ice.  The caves will retain ice year-round if conditions are favorable.

Here is a view of the "caves," or crevices, from above on the boardwalk (you can see a small amount of ice inside):

This crevice has substantial amounts of ice remaining, even though it was May and there was no snow or ice in the region around the caves:

Kathy is trying to peer deep into the caves.  Don't fall in, Kathy!

From the bluff around the ice caves, we could catch view of Bridge Lake through the fir trees:

We could even descend wooden stairs and a steep path to the shore of the lake.  Here, Kathy takes a short breather on the way down:

The lakeshore is still virtually undeveloped on the south shore:

Working our way back up the trail, we spotted a lot of dead timber, which is serving as habitat for wildlife and other fun guys:

After this short outing, we drove back to Lac La Hache on Horse Lake Road, which gave us fetching views of Horse Lake and other small lakes and ponds along Bridge Creek --

-- which we would follow in two days on our drive up past Canim Lake to Mahood Lake and some waterfalls in Wells Gray Provincial Park.

Back at our campsite, we made a roaring, warm campfire and spun yarns about the adventures we would be having here in the next few days.