Mules and Shalath Trip

It's been a while—longer than I like to leave between posts—but the beautiful weather has had me outside late into the evenings, and sitting at my computer just isn't as enticing as it is on a dark winter's night.

I’ve been mountain biking every couple of days, and have the bruises to prove it, but I am noticing myself improving slowly with my balance and skill at maneuvering over tricky obstacles.

I’ve also been riding with Barry and his horses each week on Friday afternoons and sometimes on the weekends. Last week we had a run-in with some mules that escaped and followed us down the road. It was quite a fiasco to get them rounded up again. There were three of them, two of whom jumped over a low point in the fence as they followed our horses while we were riding alongside the fence. The third mule we locked up in a part of the yard with a higher fence, and luckily the other two came back to get her and Barry got them into the field the next morning.

A mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey, and they are sterile. Barry was saying that they are exceptionally smart, have tough hooves and can survive on much less food than a horse, and can keep working into their 40s, making them an ideal animal for packing in the bush. Their smarts can make them a bit of a hassle, though, as we found out. The mule that was left kept calling for her friends to come back for her, which I found supremely amusing: part whinny, part hee-haw. Hilarious! If only I had my camera to get the whole thing on video.

Things at the school have been BUSY, as they always seem to be in May and June. A couple of weeks ago I took the kids out to visit Sk’il’ Mountain Community School in Shalath, about 75 kilometers away, among other trips out. We hung out with Mr. K and his grade 5/6/7 class. They took us on a hike to a beautiful waterfall and we got to see the spring flowers in bloom. At the top of the hike we saw where the water is piped from Carpenter Lake through the mountain to the power generators below. Carpenter Lake is the gigantic lake that is cupped in the bridge river valley by a dam that I believe was built in the 50s. The Bridge River is called this because there used to be over 25 bridges over the river that travelers to the area would have to cross to get to Gold Bridge. Now the vast valley is a large reservoir that the snaking highway 40 follows for 45 minutes, and water from the reservoir is pumped through the mountain before generating power and spewing out into Anderson Lake. Apparently the power from this plant used to supply 25 % of the electrical energy to power Vancouver.

My flower book is at the school, and unfortunately I forget the names of these beautiful things. There are SO MANY wildflowers in this part of BC. It's amazing to watch them all come into bloom: orchids, lilies, wild roses, balsam root. More flower pictures to come!

Students at the water fall.

The water that is pumped through Mission Mountain. You can see the power plant--the small grey building at the bottom of the green tubes--and where the water feeds back into the Anderson Lake.

Gold Bridge students and Sk'il' kids pose for a picture.

I’ll post some more pictures and info about the other exciting events that have been happening up here with the little school when I get the chance, but for now I’m off for another ride in the hills.