We were awakened by the urgent grey flickering and twittering of the whiskey jacks, demanding some granola for their breakfast. I stirred reluctantly from my down cocoon, guessing the dawn climatic characteristic to be hovering nearby minus 30 degrees Celsius, and fired up the stove for some tea.
My son and I were camped halfway up the Windy Joe Trail in Manning Provincial Park, British Columbia, 225 kilometers (140 miles) east of Vancouver.
Baby Walker
Spring, summer, fall and winter, Manning Park has all the time been our favourite recreation area. With nearly 73,000 hectares (180,000 acres) of forestclad mountains, deep valleys, sub alpine meadows and sundappled lakes, Manning Park offers visitors a vast selection of all season activities.
For downhill skiers, the Gibson Pass Ski area has two chairlifts, a Tbar and a rope tow servicing a collection of slopes and runs. However, for cross country skiers and snowshoers, Manning is a true paradise. The overall network of selfguiding nature trails, from the 500 meter (one-third of a mile) Beaver Pond Trail to the 66 kilometer (41 miles) Cathedral Provincial Park Trail, that host hikers, backpackers and horse riders in the summer, becomes the domain of crosscountry skiers when winter’s confetti weds these hills to niveous tranquility.
By the time my son and I had eaten breakfast and packed the sun was well up and so was the temperature. We stowed our packs in a snowdrift at the side of the trail in order to unblemished the 13-kilometer (eight miles) climb to the top of Windy Joe Mountain unencumbered.
No superlatives can adequately narrate either the view or our feeling of exhilaration once at the top. By now the sun was high in a flawless azure sky. The climatic characteristic had soared to close to the icy point. We again shared a snack of nuts and raisins with the ubiquitous whiskey jack, Canada’s malapert grey jay.
Glissading back down, we stopped for lunch at our campsite, priding ourselves on the fact that, other than some compressed snow, we had left no evidence of our presence. We hoisted our packs, descending more slowly under their weight. The afternoon sun was now warm and cast a satin sheen on the sugar snow. Every turn in the trail was a Christmas card scene. It was beautiful. It was as quiet as a dream. We hadn’t encountered other human being all weekend.
During the old winter on other skicamping trip to the Three Brothers Mountain, also in Manning Park, we got caught in a howling blizzard. It was too cold and too windy to pitch the tent. We hastily dug a snow cave. We dined on icy cheese and icy raisins. Our stove had decided it was too cold to work. We then read by candlelight in our sleeping bags, cozy as toast, until the sleep of exhaustion took us, while the lethal storm raged outside. The morning dawned clear and benign. The only residue of the past night’s fury was the alabaster charm of a snowpillowed landscape. Now we admired the sublimity of Robert Service’s “Great White Silence, not a snowgemmed twig aquiver”.
It had taken us two days to get to the top of Three Brothers. We glided down in less than five hours. Again, at an altitude of 2250 meters (6900ft), the view was magnificent with a panoramic view of seemingly endless peaks.
Throughout most of Manning Park crosscountry skiers are spared the scourge of snowmobiles. Their noise and stink are confined to the Castle Creek snowmobiling area.
In summer, the Skagit and Similkameen rivers and the chain of Lightening Lakes in Manning Park offer some of the best canoeing and fishing in southern British Columbia. Powerboats are prohibited in the park. Walkers, hikers and backpackers can combine other activities such as photography, birdwatching (over 190 species at the last count!), gold panning and an interest in the park’s geology, flora and fauna.
The park’s chipmunks and groundsquirrels are as cheekily tame as the whiskey jacks. The larger hoary marmots (the “whistlers” — so called after their alerting whistlelike call and after which Bc’s Whistler Mountain is named) inhabit the high country and are shyer. One of the park’s most endearing mammals is the pica or rock rabbit. They seem small guinea pigs with round black ears and custom a sort of rodent agriculture. In the summer they cut grass and shrubbery, cure it in the sun, then store the “hay” in small caves in the rocks. Also found in the park is the snowshoe hare. As its name implies it has a pure white coat in winter that turns to a mottled brown in spring.
Larger mammals to be found at Manning include mule and blackmail deer, moose, coyote, cougar and wild goat. Most critical for hikers and wilderness campers is the presence of both black and grizzly bears. Every usual precaution must be taken when on the trail, especially with the making ready and storage of food.
Many British Columbians make an each year pilgrimage to Manning Provincial Park when the alpine meadows are in bloom. There are two distinctive blooms, one in spring as the snow is melting and the more spectacular of the two in late July to midAugust. Hikers are requested to keep to the trails to protect the delicate skin of topsoil and vegetation. Against a backdrop of native grasses will be seen the blue lupine, the yellow arnica and the Red Indian paintbrush. Peppered throughout these will be the towhead babies, the fluffy seed heads of the western anemone.
In summer visitors can drive right up to the alpine meadows on the 15-kilometer (nine miles) long switchback road from Manning Park Resort on Highway 3, which traverses the park, to the Blackwall Peak parking area. Halfway up there is a magnificent viewpoint facing south. The resort, 1.6 kilometers (one mile) below, looks like a toy alpine village. The road ends at 2,060 meters (6,300ft.) and hikers will often encounter pockets of snow here in shady areas in the middle of a hot July. Adjacent to the Blackwall Peak parking area is the Alpine Naturalist Hut in which visitors will find information about the park’s flora and fauna and the times for conducted nature walks.
The Manning Provincial Park Visitors Center, situated just over one kilometer (0.6 miles) east of the Manning Provincial Park Resort on Highway 3 is open June to September, and has displays depicting the natural and human history of the region. During the summer months, interpreters offer a collection of extra programs ranging from nature walks to evening slide shows.
Manning Provincial Park straddles Highway 3 between the towns of Hope and Princeton. The park’s western entrance is 26 kilometers (16 miles) east of Hope, its eastern entrance 48 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Princeton. Allison Pass, at an elevation of 4,403 feet (1,342 meters), is the high point of Highway 3 as it traverses the park.
Manning Park: All Season Outdoor Paradise
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