Totem Pole created by the Coast Salish First Nations in Powell River.
Reached by ferry from the Lower Sunshine Coast or Vancouver Island, this is an even more remote and laidback part of the BC coast.
The area nestled between the ocean and forested mountains had been populated by up to 20,000 Coast Salish First Nations until the early 1900's when a Paper & Pulp Mill was built. When fully operational the mill was the largest of its kind in the world, although now only the Paper Mill is still running. When the mill was built a huge 'planned community' was built nearby to house the workers - kind of an early 1900's version of Milton Keynes ! Many of the original buildings are still intact and the townsite has been designated a National Historic District.
View of Powell River Marina with Powell Lake beyond.
Reached by ferry from the Lower Sunshine Coast or Vancouver Island, this is an even more remote and laidback part of the BC coast.
The area nestled between the ocean and forested mountains had been populated by up to 20,000 Coast Salish First Nations until the early 1900's when a Paper & Pulp Mill was built. When fully operational the mill was the largest of its kind in the world, although now only the Paper Mill is still running. When the mill was built a huge 'planned community' was built nearby to house the workers - kind of an early 1900's version of Milton Keynes ! Many of the original buildings are still intact and the townsite has been designated a National Historic District.
View of Powell River Marina with Powell Lake beyond. Nowadays there is a large tourism industry with many people having holiday homes on the Upper Sunshine Coast. Often the properties are cabins or cottages located on lakes and rivers - frequently with no road access. On a Friday night the local marinas are busy with people pulling up in their 4x4's with their boat on the back, loading the boat with food & supplies for the weekend and then speeding off up the lake.
Coastline in the Saltery Bay Marine Park.
We didn't get to do a lot of hiking on the Upper Coast because there were several 'bear warnings' which although that doesn't mean you shouldn't hike, it does mean to you should be prepared and we didn't have any bear spray, bells or so on with us and felt it best to do the hikes another time.
Views from Powell River. The green land in the foreground is Texada Island and the snow-capped mountains in the distance are on Vancouver Island.
A & D
1 comment:
I know it has been some time since your posting, but I have a blog about Powell River and Powell Lake that you might find interesting http://powellriverbooks.blogspot.com. There's information about lots of the topics you mentioned. I love the area and have one of the cabins on the lake you mentioned. It's great.
Margy
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