4th of July in Hudson's Hope at 56 Degrees north

We are off the AlCan Highway in Hudson’s Hope on the Peace River, a lovely little town with a great history.  The Cree and Beaver peoples made a peace treaty in this area at Peace Point which gave the river its name.  Alexander Mackenzie traveled long the Peace River in his search of a route to the Pacific Ocean in 1793.  In 1805, Simon Frazer, a fur trader, established a fur trading post at this point, called “Rocky Mountain Portage House.”  In 1861 and 1862, there was a small gold rush in the area when gold was found on the gravel bars of the Peace River and its tributaries.  Coal mining began in 1903 and continued until after WW II when it became uneconomical with the lack of a train.  In 1903 the first sternwheeler made its first voyage up the Peace to Hudson’s Hope.  The last voyage by a sternwheeler was in 1930.

Interestingly, the Peace River is the only river to bridge the Rocky Mountains.  The Finley River and the Parsnip River flow together to form the Peace.  The Peace first flows west to east on its 1,293 kilometer journey. Then it flows north to Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River to empty into the Arctic Ocean.  So as I sit by Lake Williston, I am in the Arctic water shed. Jasper Park is also in the Arctic water shed.

In 1922, dinosaur prints were found along the shore of the Peace River.  Five species of herbivores and four species of carnivores were identified.  More than 100 trackways and 1700 footprints were counted.  Later a Plesiosaur was found in these Cretaceous beds (125 my).  In 1979, bird prints were found.  These are one of oldest records of birds.  Sadly, you won’t be able to visit these trackways.  Casts have been made of these tracks, but now they lie beneath water.  The Peace was dammed by the W.A.C. Benet Dam and the lake named, Dinosaur Lake.  The Benet Dam is the largest earthen structure on earth.  We drove across the dam and looked up the river with its magnificent walls.

The first Dew Berries seen on the trip

Our first boulder spotted

Today we headed up the road to Bull Head Mountain but took the Y road that soon was grass.  We crossed through a gate into a small pasture surrounded by trees.  The lane led up to a ridge.  We had had a little shower and the ruts were filled with water that showered the Expedition.  Four times Anders got out to direct Berto through the narrow trail around rocks and deep ruts.  Berto even had to drive over a log about six inches in diameter.  Cows grazing gathered to watch us.  The ruts were way too deep.  Carefully, waggled around backing up and out.  We had seen a possible boulder from the road.  So we stopped to check it out.

Eventually we could go no further.

This is bear country.  In town they had mentioned the number of bears seen and their activity.  So we armed ourselves with bear spray and got out the shot gun to have ready. 

As we walk into the trees, we call out “here bear,” clap and make a variety of calls. The boulder sat with prairie roses around and was a good 4-5 feet tall.  Great.  Berto and I headed up the ridge in the trees behind the boulder. 

We found two more uphill and before we left had five good boulders and had been welcomed by a heard of cows and calves all before noon.

Indian Pipes

After our picnic lunch along the Peace River at the local museum  in Hudson’s Bay we headed out along the south side of Peace and Lake Moberly to head up Moberly Mountain.  Roads were better and worse.  We finally made it to the top of the ridge.  We made several forays into the underbrush on top of the ridge.  Brush so thick that in places we absolutely could not walk.  Alder, spruce, and aspen grew thick with many downed huge trees uprooted.  The large root mats filled with soil from a distance looked like boulders from a distance. We were finding no boulders, but we found instead several trees with bark scraped off and scratches visible.  I saw an Indian pipe, a plant with no chlorophyll (I have only once before seen them in northern Wisconsin) and then a beautiful carpet of my favorite Linneas. Scrambling over brush and logs, Heather looked down as she stepped over a log.  There beside her foot was a bear print.  We saw three prints. 

She and I took pictures and expeditiously worked our way out of the brush and back to the Expedition.  Driving down the road we found a dead moose.  The legs had been removed but all the entrails and head remained.  The bedrock on Moberly Mountain was sandstone and thinly bedded sandy shale.  Along the road was a small quarry in the road cut.  We stopped to check for fossils and found a few.  Moberly Mountain produced no boulders but proved interesting.

Linneas

We are camped along the Williston Lake tonight near the Williston Resort, a beautiful log chalet, old fashioned style building.  We ate our burritos on our red and blue camp plates tonight.  Happy 4^th of July.