Today was all about exploring Hope, B.C. I had seen photos this summer of Flood Falls when one of my colleagues from the Bank had visited and decided that since we were staying a 2nd night in Hope we would also head up to Flood Falls. The weather was a nice and balmy +4C with no rain or wind. The trail map where we parked Jerry, said it wasn’t a difficult hike,so we decided to venture up to through the forest to the falls. The nice thing about November is there are NO tourists...just us apparently in town and not another soul on our hike did we see!
The 1km up to Flood Falls had only a 40 meter elevation change.
The vegetation was very lush in the forest. With an average annual rain fall of 1746mm (vs 966 mm in Fort Erie), the smells in the forest were amazingly fresh. I loved the green moss hanging from the trees. It’s so different that the vegetation we have back home.
The hike wasn’t too strenuous even though the path was covered with wet leaves. I was able to manage quite nicely on my reconstructed leg. Thank god for an amazing physio in St. Catherines who pushed me as hard as he did from August to November! I never would have imagined lying in that hospital bed in our family room for 9 weeks this summer with a broken femur, that in November I would be hiking mountain trails In B.C.!
We went around a bend in the trail, and then we came face to face with stunning Flood Falls!
A sheer drop from the top of the mountain.
My able bodied assistant who carried my backpack camera bag!
Shameless selfies....with rosy cheeks!
We could only imagine that this river bed would be overflowing with the spring runoff but in November it was just a little trickle of water flowing down from the falls.
After leaving Flood Falls we headed into the town of Hope, B.C. to explore the downtown. We had seen that there was a a golf club in town so we drove over to check out Hope Golf & Country Club. The pins were still in and green fees were only $20 starting November 1st. We chose not to play today, although we did see other people going out to play. I stole this photo of the web. The course has gorgeous views of the mountains and is right along the beautiful Fraser River. Looks like a little hidden gem!
Last evening when I was researching what else was there to do in Hope besides visit Flood Falls, I learned that Hope, B.C. Is the home of the International Wood Carving Competition held in late summer, every two years. There are 80 plus chainsaw carvings on display if you take the time to walk around the town. When I mentioned this to Richard he said “chainsaw carvings?...really?“ “you’ve been to Musee d’orsay in Paris and the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam and you want to go and see chainsaw carvings?” So that is exactly what we did!
Hope has a beautiful downtown park with huge trees which were probably 80 feet tall!
Imagine the creativity it took this wood carver to visualize what the end result of their carving was going to look like? and using a chain saw to do the carvings!
Looks like a hobbit to me!
Wise old man in a tree...
BEAR!
Wolf!
Eagle!
This statue was called “Stairway to Heaven” and encouraged you to walk up and have your picture taken in it...
Some locals have purchased the carvings and have them displayed on the front lawn of their homes. We thought this carving in particular was very intricate.
Hope has an interesting history having been settled in 1808 by Simon Fraser, the explorer. The Hudson’s Bay Company created Fort Hope in 1848 and the area was transformed by the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush which happened in 1858. Hope is at the eastern most point of BC’s lower mainland and the Fraser River is teeming with migrating salmon from September to October every year.
Fraser River in Hope, B.C.
We also saw a Japanese Friendship garden downtown Hope, which had been dedicated to the people of Hope, by the Japanese-Canadians who were interned nearby at Tashme during WWII. Men from the internment camp were employed during the war building the Hope-Princeton Highway which we traversed through the mountains yesterday.
After walking around downtown Hope it was time for lunch. Richard had a hankering for Sushi and since its made fresh why not?
Now what to do next in Hope???
Love the sculptures.