A Beauty Day

Today the weather in the Bella Coola Valley was perfect.  Crystal clear blue skies, -6 C this morning and no wind.  The fresh snow from the last few days was hanging in all the trees and the air still and calm.  We had one more day of family time before adult children start returning to their places so we spent the day hiking along the Atnarko River.  We checked out the area along what is known as the "Tote Road", it's a rough dirt/gravel/rock road about 11 km long that starts right at the bottom of "The Hill" on Highway 20.  It goes along the Atnarko River and Valley upstream to the confluence of the Hotnarko River.  Normally it's a beautiful walk in the winter,  drive or bike ride in the summer, because you are going along the spectacular stetting of the Atnarko River and often see bears and other wildlife.  It's a rough ride, but now it's not accessible.  After the Great Flood of 2010, where Young Creek crosses the road about 1 km in, there are two bridges completely blown out and several hundred metres of road missing.  The alluvial fan of the outflow of Young Creek dramatically changed the landscape, so for the time being at least the "Tote Road" is not drivable.  Hopefully it gets fixed because it's a real treasure of an area and it accesses some important hiking areas like the Hunlen Falls Trail.  Grizzly