June 16 & 17th – Kemano Bay

Where did the fisherman go

Scenic Gunkholing with Mikey

Totem at Kitlope

Jade Green Water

Teeny Mike in Snow Cave

When the Kemano Kids leave town, they nail runners to this tree

Start of 1/4 mile tunnel to Control Room

As the sign says

Kemano bowling Alley

Kemano Curling Rink

Shoes in Bowling Alley - just waiting for some League Bowling

Our Tour Master to the Power Station in the mountain

Our Boats in the Kemano Yacht Club

Estuary on other side of the Road from Yacht Club

Lupin all over the side of the road

Look in distance to see Grizz with three cubs

Church in center of town

The scenery in this canal when it’s sunny has got to be one of the most spectacular sights we have ever seen. We have run out of metaphors when describing this area. Snowfields down to the water, snow capped granite mountain tops, glacier bowls by the dozen, jade green water, magnificent 3000’ waterfalls, crevasses carved into the mountains like the mountains are going to split apart, snow bowls with avalanche caps just waiting to fall and the list goes on. The words “magnificent, awe inspiring, beautiful” pale to what we visually saw. Dave decides it time for a photo shoot with the boats lined up in front of a waterfall. We are the first to arrive and I happen to look up to the right of the waterfall and see a mother mountain goat with two fairly new kids. Another sight we have never seen before. Just when you think you have seen it all, Mother Nature doles out another visual morsel for us to feast on.
We find Kemano Bay and ask for permission from two fellows working on the docks to tie up to the floats formerly known as the “Kemano Bay Yacht Club”. Alcan did a nice job of building docks that have outlasted around 10 years of the elements.
The Kemano Completion project was and still is a controversial project with Alcan pitted against the environmentalists and various other interested groups. To this day, it has not been completed, with 2 tunnels being 2/3 complete to meeting up. These tunnels were to have met up and would have been 12 kilometers through the mountain, transporting more water for the generating plant in Kemano for the Alcan facility in Kitimat (plus excess power). There would have been more turbines etc built and the output of potential power would have been almost doubled. The crew that are here (approx 50 people) are here to do upgrades to the existing transmission lines that run to Kitimat.
On shore, you have to be careful where you walk as there are huge mounds of grizzly bear scat. There are a few munching on marsh grass across the street from the yacht Club and we were later told not to have food outside as they will come down the docks to get same. Its happy hour and some fellows come down to see what we are all about, turns out we have mutual acquaintances in Port Moody. The first fellow works for Pacific Blasting (Cory) and knows our friend Craig (who bought our last boat “Big Easy” from us and a fellow DCYC member), soon another fellow comes down and then a third. Another dock party in the making. They tell us that they are “Clagged in” as they were being chauffeured up the mountain by helicopter to install a “Catinary system” – some definitions are in order here….. Clagged = too cloudy and foggy to land a helicopter in the mountains. Catinary = electrical transmission lines suspended from one mountain top to another via mountainside platforms. When complete, these transmission lines will span almost 4000’. It’s now six o’clock and the fellows have to head back to camp for dinner. While sitting on the docks with these fellows we heard an avalanche somewhere off in the distance, it sounds like one very long thunder clap.
After dinner we are sitting up on the bridge of Shaman. We see a very distinguished gentleman come down the ramp and we invite him up for a glass of wine. Adam C has been working in Kemano since 1953 and is now on contract to them (after retirement) to oversee the installation of a new catinary. He had lived in Kemano from 1953 to 1970 and was then transferred to the Kitimat division of Alcan. Adam has the honor of being the first man in Kemano to be married under the Alcan Flag back in 1955 and somewhere in the bowels of the garbage dump is his brand new, ordered in 1955 Buick. Adam now lives with his wife in Yaletown in Vancouver, has 5 adult children scattered around the province and only takes on projects that are of interest to him. He is extremely knowledgeable about the transmission lines and he would have been a huge loss to Alcan upon his retirement. He knows every mile between Kemano and Kitimat and every transmission tower standing in between like the back of his hand. His anniversary with the transmission lines will be 55 years in August.
We exchange email addresses and eagerly await the printing of a book he is working on about his life story. If his book is anything like the stories he entertained us with last night, it will be extremely good reading. Adam will try and make arrangements for a tour of the power plant during our stay here! We will keep our fingers crossed on the tour.
Its Monday morning now, Mike attempts to take his motorbike up the road prior to going fishing but gets only about ¼ mile before he is stopped by a big grizzly that won’t get off the road. Mike comes back and goes out to try his hand at catching some fish. Betty drops crab traps and everyone else is puttering on projects.
After lunch, Mike and Dave take the motorbikes and go in to town (about 16 km down the road). The photos above show what is still left of town; a fully working bowling alley, curling rink, recreation center, medical center, church, town homes (being used as bunkhouses), golf course and the power generating plant itself. Mike plays a few frame of bowling and then carries on to catch up with Dave. Mike and Dave make it as far as 10 km down a dirt road to the end of the road when they are stopped by a Momma Grizz and her triplets. Turnaround time and back to town they go.
Adam comes down as promised after dinner and has permission to take us into the power plant. We all pile into the van and head to town. The tunnel where the power plant is ¼ mile long into the rock mountainside, with the generating plant ¼ mile in. This ¼ mile section of tunnel was hand dug right into the mountain. At its peak, there were approximately 500 full time residents in Kemano. At the buildup back in the 50’s there were almost 6000 people in the valley. As each part of the project was completed, the established buildings like the church were moved closer to the town site. Soon all the other buildings were built around it and houses were built to accommodate the families that lived in Kemano. All that remains to day of the houses are the driveways and some beautiful flowering hawthorn trees planted 30-50 years ago.
Tuesday morning, it’s a bit windy and cold, so the ladies opt to stay behind in the big boats while the boys go exploring 20 nm up to the head of Gardner Canal to Kitlope and Chief Matthews Bay by dinghy. Along the way, Dave and Wayne find a “Fishing Belly Boat” floating on its own in the channel. They are, needless to say, concerned that someone may have fallen from the dinghy or may be camping and the dinghy has floated off and left them stranded. They scour the shoreline for many miles and even find a totem pole not mentioned in any of our books. Their search meets with success when they meet up with a boat carrying two chaps who have been looking all day for the lost Belly boat. Mission completed. Back in Kemano, its turnaround day for the workers, so we expect to see the 90’ Nechako coming in sometime this morning. Otters have been playing around the boats since 6:00 am and the rain is mixed with some sunshine and a cold brisk wind.