Mt. Nusatsum

Mt. Nusatsum

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Road Widening


 If you've driven Highway 20 into Bella Coola then "The Hill" is an integral part of that trip.  It's a piece of road about 20 kms long that winds and switches its way from Heckman Pass at 5200' down into the Atnarko River Valley at 800 feet.  For a number a years a piece near where the "bulldozers met" on one of the narrowest rock cut portions has been slowly getting narrower (at least my wife insists that every time we drive it).  This fall with a lot of big machinery available some work has been done to improve that situation a little bit, so next spring and summer look forward to that piece around where the sign is at commemorating the meeting of the bulldozers from the top and bottom in 1953 to be just a little bit better.  

Our weather in the Bella Coola Valley today was bland.  There was a uniform thick cloud cover all day, no precipitation of any significance and a high temperature of 1 C  bouncing up and down between 0 C an 1 C. Grizzly

4 comments:

  1. Funny; I've never seen the sign. Must have been concentrating on the road, I guess.

    :)

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  2. I was in BC last summer and almost came up your way, but the HIll discouraged me, as I don't like heights, even though I grew up in the Colorado mtns. I may have to reconsider, as I'm coming up again next summer, if they're improving the road, even just a bit. It's just a matter of courage...

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  3. Susannah - the "Bulldozers Meeting" sign was only put up in 2003 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the road completion, and it's not posted at right angles to the road like a normal sign - so you have to watch for it - bolted to the rock cut on the narrow straighter stretch after the top of the last switch back. Grizzly

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  4. I'm looking forward to the drive this spring up to Bella Coola. I drive up every spring to check up on my house and tenants and if they have improved that spot I will be so happy. Last spring as we were driving down the "Hill" we came up behind a huge prefab house being taken into the valley and we had to pass it....whew! That was a bit scary!

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