We are excited to release the dates for our 2019 Adventure Tours and the brochure. Here is a snapshot of the two page brochure. Individual brochures for each tour will be out shortly.
Let us know if you have any questions about this years tours!
New Schedule for 2019
We are excited for the upcoming year of Adventure Tours through UNBC Continuing Studies. Every year the tours get better as we fine tune all the small details. Most tours are only delivered once a year and occasionally twice if sufficient demand well in advance of the tour date. These tours are not geared towards academic students but rather those with an interest in adventure and experiencing northern BC. The tours have a small group size of upto 10-12 guests at he most and rely heavily on guest speakers and authentic locals that share their knowledge about the places we visit. Our average age of our guests is around 60 years old and some as old as 85. We do have younger people join us as well but predominantly it is an older clientele.
I thought I would share 10 photos form last year that highlight some of the trips we did.
Skeena River Journey through Time!
One of the most unique journeys in northern British Columbia is the trip down the Skeena River from Hazelton to Prince Rupert. We retrace the journeys of the First Nations and the early explorers as the Skeena River flows 300 km through the Coast Mountains. The beauty and awe inspiring scenery is truly remarkable! During the five day trip via two jet boats we will overnight at various accommodations adjacent to the river. This all-inclusive expedition includes great culinary meals in some very unique locations.
Don’t miss out!
August 5-10, 2018
Starting in Terrace, BC
The Skeena River Tour!
For those looking for an adventure of a lifetime the 300 km Jet Boat Journey down the Skeena River is a must! This trip begins the 5 day journey down the river in the town of Hazelton and commences in the historic Cassiar Cannery in the Skeena River Estuary. The month of August typically provides great weather for the expedition. The scenery on the trip is unparalleled as the river carves its way through the coastal mountains and snow capped peaks. The history along the river is truly amazing as we visit many places of historical significance. Don’t miss this August 5-10, 2018 trip that is limited to 10 guests on two jet boats!
Westworld Magazine Skeena River Tour Article
Northern BC Adventure Tours Article
The Skeena River and Northwest BC are one of the most beautiful places in the world. We were fortunate enough to share this region with writer Janet Gyenes who gave a very stunning account of her visit to the area. We incorporated a touch of many of our Northern BC Adventure Tours during the few days. Read the online article or the screenshots below.
Online link to the issue Page 11 for the article
Webb Bennett – Kitselas Canyon Historic Site on the Skeena River
The Kitselas Canyon Historic site and home of the Kitselas First Nation is 15 minutes east of Terrace on the banks of the Skeena River. The highlights include the longhouses, petroglyphs, totem poles, lookout, dugout canoe, interpretive signs and the flora and fauna. None of these highlights would be complete without the interpretive knowledge and background provided by the curator Webb Bennett.
Webb is a wealth of knowledge and can tell you anything about the history of the area. He shares his knowledge and shows us the sites as we wind along a path through the beautiful hemlock forest. He talks about the totem poles and longhouses and how totems are a way for the Kitselas and other first nations to tell their stories as their history isn’t written down anywhere. The experience at the site is hands on as Webb mentions “It’s a living cultural centre”. The tour of the longhouses greatly benefits from this belief as the participants can hold and touch the various items on display to get a better feel of the work that went into making them.
We visit the Kitselas Canyon Historic site on a few of our tours.
Skeena River Historic Journey August 1-6, 2017
Ghost Towns of Northwest BC August 20-26, 2017
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Adventure Tour Guide Fred Seiler
Many of our Adventure Tours through Continuing Studies focus on accessing remote and rarely visited sites and to do this we utilize Jet Boats. Running a jet boat with guests who are relying on their guide to bring them back safely after each days adventure requires someone with a vast amount of experience and skill. For our tours in Northwest BC we utilize the services of Fred Seiler who has thousands of hours of jet boating and experience exploring the rivers of this magnificent region. His past experience in delivering eco tours and commercial jet boat services is invaluable. Fred also teaches a Jet Boat safety course for us and has also taught me a vast amount about the safe driving of jet boats and shared all kinds of information about areas to explore and adventure in Northwest BC. Here are a few photos of Fred in action on our tours.
The Port Essington Experience Revealed!
One of the iconic towns of the Skeena River is the town of Port Essington. Founded by Robert Cunningham in 1871 and a fall camping spot of the Tsimshian known as Spokeshute this site has over a wealth of interesting sites and features that will truly amaze you! A jungly 100 year cemetery with hundreds of moss covered headstones, a grisly boneyard of cow skulls and bones, a one km long boardwalk falling into disrepair, pilings protruding out of the brackish river on their last legs, a boiler form the Cunningham sawmill, old bottles, trinkets, and remnants from over 100 years of habitation. The One day Port Essington Experience will jet boat you back in time to a place that few have visited and explored.
May 27, 2017
Terrace, BC
All you ever wanted to know about Sternwheeler Cordwood
A big part of the history of the Skeena River and Upper Fraser River involved the use of Sternwheelers to transport people, equipment, supplies, furs and food up and down the rivers which were the main transportation routes. Almost all of the sternwheelers used wood to fed the boilers which in turn powered the large paddles at the rear of the ship. Wood was a readily available resource that grew adjacent to the river and could easily be cut and split into 3-4 ft sections and piled into cords by local contractors. The term Cordwood became part of everyday language as it was a necessity for every day travel. The cordwood cutters would get around $3-4 a cord for each one that was used by the boats. They would cut it and stack it next to the river at strategic points so that there was always an available supply along the routes that they traveled. The sternwheelers could burn 1-3 cords and hour depending on the size of the boilers and how hard they ran the boat. This was for upstream navigation only as downstream typically used a fraction of this as they used the current for most of their power. Passengers were typically enlisted to help with the loading of the cordwood at the supply points. some boats could hold up to 10 cords of wood at one time. It was one crew members job to continually feed the boilers with wood the entire time the boat was moving.
Ironically the Sternwheelers faded into obscurity in the 1912 -1920′s as the railway replaced the need for them. The last use of the sternwheelers was the assisting with goods and supplies to build the railway.
On the Skeena River the last sternwheeler the “Inlander ” did its last trip in 1912. Why this is interesting is that there are still piles of old cordwood lying along the banks of the river that were never consumed. In one location that we visit there are 6 piles lying adjacent to the river and they are in different stages of rot and decay but they can still be identified. For some reason I find this fascinating that these piles are over 100 years old and are one of the only remnants of the historic Sternwheeler days. If you want to visit these piles you can always join one of our tours that visits them or send me a note and I would be happy to provide you directions to them.
photo courtesy of @simonsees
The Port Essington Hi-Lo
One of the most photographed items on our visits to Port Essington is the abandoned boat lying in the deep sedge grass. I was fortunate enough to find out some more information on the boat and acquire a photo of the boat when it was seaworthy. The boats name is the Hi-Lo and it was a small crab fishing boat that plied the inner water of the coast in search of crabs. The lady who told me about it said that she remembers fishing on it it with her grandfather and rolling out a sleeping mat on top of the warm engine compartment at night time to go to sleep. The boat looks a little worse every year we go back there but still stands out prominently in the dark green sedge grass. We visit Port Essington on a few of our tours and we are doing a Brand New one day tour to Port Essington May 27, 2017. Don’t miss this opportunity to visit the town that still “Stands Guard over the Mouth of the Skeena”
