Bella Coola

  We drove out to Bella Coola one day he and I. We had two littles back then and one in the womb. It was summer as we drove. Driving to Bella Coola is an experience all ones own. When you leave Williams Lake and head into the Chilcotin times slows a little, and one could feel transported back in time. As you drive for hours through mountains and experience gravel roads, split rail fences, free range cattle, cowboys checking fences, falling down log cabins with deer eating grass out of walls, beauty floods your soul. If you get stuck our here it may be a while before someone comes by. Then all of a sudden after all these hours of driving you are at the top of something slightly crazy making. To get into Bella Coola there is a hill that you must inch down in your vehicle. It is a mostly one lane hill with a massive drop off on the one side and cliff on the other. It is actually terrifying if you really stop and think about it. Especially if its your first go round. It's a good rush. Once you get there you have Hagensborg, Saloompt and a couple other little places to drive through before you get to the actual town of Bella Coola. You drive past many picturesque properties and the river winds beside you. You see bears in people's front yards and lush forest surrounding you. Mountains tower above you and if you keep driving you end up in the Ocean. When we were going to Bella Coola that summer we noticed the glow of a wild fire up top that seemed far off. We stopped and took some pictures and joked about getting stuck in the valley. We promised each other we'd check the news and make sure that that wouldn't happen. We had good intentions, but, well it did. Eventually we made it out but our vacation was a leeeeetle longer than planned!

Everybody's idea of beauty is different but if you have eyes to see....this is the stuff dreams are made of

We would hear a rumor that we might be let out of the Valley and we'd line up only to be disappointed. Then one day we did get out.

We had to have a police escort up top. We drove past still smoking road sides in some places with helicopters and fire fighters parked on the sides. Animals were in the streets of the small towns we drove through having escaped there from fires.

                The contrast of the valley below with its beautiful bounty to the vast barrenness above.

The first time I visited Bella Coola I was was only a teenager and the people I met and the beauty I experienced impacted me for a life time. I cant seem to find words to describe all that Bella Coola is. You'd have to experience it yourself to understand. It casts a spell on your while you are there and when you leave you realize your heart will always forever have a longing to feel again how you felt there.