Kicking Back in Kitimat

Hi Blog!

After yesterday's epic hike up Sleeping Beauty Mountain, we decided to just kick back and take it easy. We started Sunday, August 31, 2019, with a trip to the Terrace Farmer's Market where we picked up all sorts of goodies. Once the goodies were safely stored in the rig, we took off south on Highway 37 toward Kitimat. For those of you who don't know, Kitimat is where Michael J. Fox attended kindergarten.

On the way to Kitimat, we decided to stop at Lakelse Lake Provincial Park. The lake is prime sockeye salmon country. The salmon enter the lake and then head to their home stream to spawn. The park has a salmon viewing platform along the banks of Williams Creek. Here we are at the trailhead.

In order to reach the viewing platform, you have to walk across the highway bridge to the far side of the creek. However, because of the time of day and amount of glare on the water, we couldn't see the salmon from the viewing platform.

The best view of the salmon was actually from the walkway on the bridge.

After watching the salmon, we decided to take the path to Gruchy's Beach. This one kilometer trail weaved its way through old growth forest.

We found this cedar growing right out of the stump of an old spruce.

Our path followed along Williams Creek toward the beach. There were a number of areas where we could see the salmon -- much better than at the designated salmon viewing area. Take a look at this video of sockeye salmon doing what comes naturally.

We soon emerged from the primordial forest into the bright light of a sunny beach. Located at the north end of the lake, Gruchy's Beach is a favorite summer destination for folks from Terrace and Kitimat.

We strolled along the beach looking for the outlet of Williams Creek, but our efforts were thwarted by numerous channels and backflows. Here, Dave checks out a spruce stump bench at the edge of the beach.

Kitimat came into existence in the 1950s after British Columbia invited Alcan to develop hydroelectric facilities to support an aluminum smelting industry. The company built a dam, 10 mile tunnel, powerhouse, 51 miles of transmission line, a deep sea terminal and a smelter. The company also designed, laid out and assisted with the initial construction of the city. At the time, the combined development was considered "the most expensive project ever attempted by private industry."

As a planned community, Kitimat has all the services you would expect from a city with over 8,000 residents. We found a lovely little family restaurant for lunch.

After lunch, we drove over to the Giant Spruce Park. The town of Kitimat was carved out of old-growth forest. The substantial greenspace areas and future expansion concepts designed by Alcan resulted in a low-density settlement pattern interspersed with forested patches. One of those forest patches contains 500 year old Sitka spruce trees. Here we are getting ready to hug some trees.

These gentle giants can reach over 300 feet!

With a base over 11 feet wide, you just can't wrap your arms around it!

After getting our hugs, we drove over to check out the Kitimat River. The Kitimat River originates from glacial meltwater on the northern slopes of Atna Peak. The river empties into the Kitimat Arm of the long fjord known as the Douglas Channel. The waters of Douglas Channel flow south to Wright Sound and on to Hecate Strait and the Pacific Ocean.

We wanted to get a better look at the Douglas Channel, so we drove back through Kitimat to the First Nations' Kitimaat Village on the east side of Kitimat Arm.

A small boat harbor services the local fishing fleet.

The Haisla (local First Nations tribe) name for Kitimaat Village is 'Tsee-Motsa', meaning 'Snag Beach". As we looked out on the bay, we could still see all the snags. That has to make boating difficult.

Kitimaat Village is the principal community of the Haisla people.  The Haisla are a group indigenous people that have been living in the Kitimat region for at least the last 9000 years. This boat looks like it has been there almost as long.

The practice of leaving old shoes suspended in a tree may seem unusual, but it’s actually a common North American occurrence. Many famous shoe trees are visible from major roads on tourist routes and carefully documented on the internet. While still in its infancy, behold the Kitimat Shoe Tree.

We enjoyed our time kicking back in Kitimat. Tomorrow we move on to Prince Rupert. Looking forward to exploring more of coastal British Columbia.