Telegraph Trail Preservation Society NEWSLETTERS Home | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993

2001

Jan. 6 -- Ventured up the creek trail on the skidoo to work on a detour.

Jan. 7 -- -15C.,clear and calm. Broke trail all the way up to Hidden Valley ranch. Had to cut several trees out of the way of the skidoo. Beautiful moonlight on the snow this evening.

Jan. 15 -- Went for a long walk on the frozen skidoo trail up the creek. Found a better crossing to access the mountain trails.

Jan. 26 -- -20C.,clear as the sun came up. Walked up the creek on the skidoo trail to cut out some young spruce trees to widen the trail along the top of a cut bank.

Feb. 3 -- With Shaun's help, we hooked my old computer up to the internet. Gord came over to help me with a few technical questions.

Feb. 21 -- Received the Adam's and the Smith Diaries as well as the Pope report from the University of Alaska. All are about the Telegraph trail expedition of 1865-7

Feb. 28 -- Found out from Pope's report that the Carrier Indian name for Whittier creek here at the trailhead was Such-a-lee-ko. One translation has it as Big Beaver Meadow creek.

March 5 -- Received the beautiful black and white ink print "Headquarters at Markova", by R.L. Bush done in 1867, from the U. of Alaska. It shows the Telegraph Expedition flag flying above a log building in a snow-bound Siberian scene.

There are only two ways of spreading light in the world:
 You can either be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

April 4 -- Painted the toilet at the park and cleaned the tables and sign.

April 9 -- Al Boyne and I walked over the ridge trail loop. Still quite a bit of snow in the shady areas.

April 16 -- Picked Al up and drove out to clear the Nazko- nate loop up river from the Blackwater bridge. No snow to speak of on the trails out there.

April 20 -- Al and Joe Boyne went out to Blackwater with me. We cleared down to the Beaver pond. Blue sky all day. Wild green onions along the river bank.

April 22 -- Put three more Telegraph trail signs along the road into town.

May 2-- Attended the Telegraph AGM at Betty's. Lorelee Sutton and Ann Stackhouse were also in attendance.

May 3 -- Received a copy of the new book, To Wire the World. It tells the story of the Collins Telegraph from the Civil war perspective.

May 11 -- Went out to Blackwater to clean up the trail for the upcoming hike. Saw a total of seven deer. Watched one group for several minutes.

May 13 -- Met the Caledonia Ramblers hiking group from Prince George at the Blackwater bridge. There were 35 of us in all. Took them on the Mackenzie-Telegraph loop. Saw one bear. Met Bill Miller and his wife from Atlin, B.C. He is writing a book about the Yukon Telegraph.

May 18 -- Cleared a bit of trail at the Blackwater bridge. One deer.

May 20 -- Shaun and I cleared the new trail route down Pantage creek. Sunshine all day.

May 25 -- Don Thompson and I explored down Pantage creek to the Blackwater river. We also moved the big sign over to the end of the bridge to a better location. Saw two small bears and a deer along the road.

June 4 -- Received a trail report from Steve Lockwood at Smithers, B.C on the student work project on the Telegraph trail along the Skeena river north of Kispiox. He writes:

"The field trip went swimmingly. We were three adults and 12 Grade 10 and 11 students. We made camp Thursday night at Upper Kispiox. The next morning we were briefed by Forestry on some of the rules of trail clearing and by a grad student from UNBC on the history of the trail. After a half hour drive we broke into three groups and started work from different points between Deep Canoe Creek and north to the bridge across the Skeena. We did some light brushing though many spots needed a power saw and we photographed artifacts and culturally modified trees, the former being three kinds of insulators and the latter mostly faces axed into trees indicating native encampments, recording the points of all on a GPS.(UTM) Saturday we got back out early enough so that two groups could meet up at Kuldo IR on the trail. From there we bushwhacked together perhaps a kilometer to the road and returned to Smithers by late Saturday after- noon. Overall the trail is good in sections with just the odd bit of devil's club to contend with. At other spots it is dense with young hemlock and windfall. We saw many bear and very few people in the entire area. I am on a years leave next year. I am hoping my partner Ted Schmidt will take a group in next year before my return to Smither Secondary in 2002. Cheers! Stephen"

June 12 -- Met Rob MacDonald from Charleson creek. We went out to Tako road and cleared the canyon loop.

June 15 -- Rob and I started off from Goose lake with the saw. We ran into massive blowdown from the clear-cuts just before Diamond road. Light rain in the afternoon. Saw one deer and one bear.

June 17 -- I drove out to Five Dollar hill and worked my way back along the T. trail to Goose lake. The loggers have done a nice job in cleaning up the trail after their activities in the Sanford woodlot. Saw a moose and a mother bear with cubs. A grouse attacked me when I came too close to her nest.

June 21 -- Ann Stackhouse and I started off at Charleson creek and cleared toward Five Dollar hill. Along the way, at Hidden lake, we came upon a forest fire started by lightning. We called Forestry and battled the flames until a crew arrived. Exhausting day as I have a cold. Saw a deer and a bear.

July 1 -- Cleaned up the section of trail at Five Dollar hill that we didn't finish last time out. Improved the trail at Goose lake. Heavy thunderstorm came over while I was eating lunch in the car.

July 25 -- Ann and I cleared from Mile 34 ranch to Pantage lake on the T. trail. A thunderstorm came over just as we finished. A beautiful section of trail.

Aug. 8 -- Was delighted to meet Mr. and Mrs. Peter Solhjell from Bella Coola who had been out exploring the T. trail at Goose lake.

Aug. 12 -- Explored the 11Q road for a possible relocation of that section of trail. Stopped in at Punjab lake on the way home for a refreshing swim. Very hot weather.

Aug. 14 -- Finished cutting through the blowdown mess at Muskrat meadow. Started at five in the morning while it was still cool. Found a connection to the 11Q road. Plan to relocate the swamp section to the logging road.

Aug. 15 -- Reading Pierre Berton's book "Klondike". He talks about people using the Telegraph trail to get to the Gold Rush.

Aug. 16 -- Went with Ann out to Nazko falls. We then hiked three miles down to the Tautri falls on the old Nazko- Chilcotin Indian trail. We swam in the pool at each of the falls. Very tired when we got back. Very hot and dry, weatherwise.

Aug. 18 -- Relocated the swampy section of trail out to the 11Q road.

Aug. 23 -- Took the saw through from Pantage lake to Frap- pier's. Found heavy blow-down at the north end. Saw one deer.

Sept. 1 -- Journeyed out to Pantage creek. Cleared a jumble of windfalls on the T. trail and upt up some signs. A moose trotted down the road in front of me.

Sept. 8 -- Walked from Mackenzie parking lot to the Tako road with the powersaw on the Escarpment trail. Not too many blow-down. Saw two deer and one bear on the road.

Sept. 16 -- Betty Motherwell and I went out to Baumgartner road and back along the escarpment. Put up a few signs. The trail is badly overgrown. Saw a deer. Took some video of the river.

Oct. 3 -- Took Al and Willy along to Nazko falls. Shot some video along the way. We cleared some on the Indian trail. Still good weather.

Nov. 1 -- Joe and I walked west along the Mackenzie trail to where the Lhtakoh ti trail joins. We then walked back along it. A long, long walk (14 miles). Very tired. Took some video. The fire crew are still burning beetle trees in an effort to control them without logging. Put up a wooden trail sign at Blackwater.

Nov. 19 -- Joe stopped in to tell me that a logging truck lost it's load into the Telegraph park. It wiped out one picnic table and damaged a sign. Highly dangerous to pass a logging truck.

Nov. 21 -- Went out to Punchaw lake with the camera. Also cleared a bit on the Carrier trail.

Nov. 23 -- Went to the meeting of the National Trail com- mittee. Met Roy Howard and Pat Harrison. I am to explore the possibility of using the Pinnacles trail and going over the top of Milburn Mt. before joing up with the T. trail. The National Trail Committee proposes a hiking trail across Canada. We are pleased to be a part of this plan.

Nov. 27 -- Ventured up King Pit road with my car as far as possible toward the top of Milburn Mt. Walked the rest of the way to the top (4,200 ft.). Found a route for the National trail. Nice view near the top. Only a couple inches of snow. Lots of animal tracks.

Dec. 2 -- Had a good day with the skidoo clearing the trail up the creek as far as Hidden Valley ranch.

Dec. 6 -- Cut some alder brush from a section of the skidoo trail that was especially bad. Found a direct route to the Telegraph trail for the National trail.

Dec. 7 -- Received a donation of $100 from Gary Collins Logging for damages to the Telegraph park when the logging truck spilled it's load.

Dec. 30 -- Put up some National trail signs along the Telegraph trail beyond Hidden Valley ranch.

Report from Craig Hooper:

Although Ministry of Forests budgets are very restricted at the present time the Vanderhoof Forest District still managed to conduct trail maintenance in Spring and Fall this year on their fully restored hiking trail section of the Telegraph Trail. They also completed the wood decking on the footbridge across Khai Creek. This is a 10 km. stretch of trail complete with interpretative signs and metal trail markers that starts at the trailhead at Hogsback Lake Forest Service Recreation Site and winds its way along scenic lakeside eskers and past the site of the remains of one of the telegraph linemen's "refuge" cabins that was located halfway between the original Bobtail Lake and Nulki lake telegraph cabins.

This particular section of trail follows the route of the Collins Overland and the Yukon Telegraph as well as the original aboriginal trail route along the esker ridges. When hikers stop to examine the remains of the refuge cabin in a mossy glade they can see home-made nails made out of telegraph wire still in the crumbling logs and they can observe stretches of wire here and there on the trail as well as telegraph wire grown into trees used by trappers long ago to support their traps and snares.

Where the trail winds through mature Lodgepole pine travelers can see the healed scars resulting from the First Nations practice of removing large patches of bark from the living tree to gather the sweet, succulent cambium in the Spring. Some of these scars date to the mid - 1800's. The Lodgepole pines along the trail are presently under threat from the Moluntain Pine Beetle epidemic sweeping the central interior but thus far falling and burning of infected trees is still being effective. This trail was used by many hikers and horseback riders this season and barring the threat of further reductions in budgets or possibly the elimination of the entire recreation program by the provincial government it should continue to provide healthy recreation, education and a glimpse into this areas colourful past.

Happy trails everyone. Dwight Dodge