19-Aug-2001 -- This was my third stop on a 7-day, 3200km confluence hunting trip to the BC interior, covering 51N121W, 52N121W, 52N122W, 52N123W, 52N125W, 52N124W, 54N124W, 54N125W, and 53N123W.

After leaving 52N 121W, I drove back to 100 Mile House, filled up with gas, and departed at 1:20PM, heading north on Highway 97, towards Williams Lake. At 2:15PM I pulled off the highway at the Chief Wil-Yum gas bar. I had just crossed 122W, and the confluence was 13.1km South. The confluence wasn't too far from Chimney Lake, and I was told that I could take the road that was just a few hundred yards back along the highway, at St. Joseph Mission, but that the gravel road that connected to the Chimney Lake road was very rough.

I continued on into Williams Lake, and stopped at the visitor center, where I explained a bit about the project, and confirmed my directions to the Chimney Lake road. I went back onto Highway 97, then west on Chilcotin Highway 20, then left onto Dog Creek road, heading towards Springhouse, and finally left onto Chimney Lake road.

About 11.1km down the road, I pulled over where 52N crossed, and the confluence was 360m to the East (picture #2). Having just passed a driveway, I went back to see if the owners were around. It turned out that there was someone there, but it was the sister of one of the owners, who was waiting for her sister, her sister's husband, and her son to return from quad-biking. I told her about the project, and gave her a landowner's permission letter. It was 4PM, and she thought the owners would be back by 4:30PM, and was sure they wouldn't mind, but she didn't know if it was even on their property. It really looked like it was going to start raining soon, but I decided to go for a drive, and come back after 4:30PM.

I drove further down Chimney Lake road, past Felker Lake, to Chimney Lake, stopping to take some pictures and video. I returned to the house at about 4:45PM, but the owners hadn't returned. I thought they would be there soon, so I decided to wait. I talked to the sister a bit (she was outside with her child, not having a key to the house), played with the dog a bit, and just generally waited. Of course it just kept being windy, with rain clouds approaching. While waiting, I did notice what a beautiful log home the owners had, including a main ridge log that still had the stump and roots attached, and another ridge log that ended in an eagle carving.

At about 5:40PM the owners showed up, so I explained why this stranger was standing in their driveway. It turned out that they knew the area I wanted to get to, which was next to a pond, but that it wasn't on their property! They said that it was probably on the property of a neighbour who doesn't live in the area, but they were sure he wouldn't mind me going there, as they cross-country ski through that area in the winter. Before departing I found out that the husband is in the log home business - there was a log home construction site across the highway from the Chief Wil-Yum gas bar, which is where he works. Apparently the main part of the house(with the 'eagle' ridge beam) is an old heritage log home that was dismantled and rebuilt on this site, along with the addition of other space.

At 6PM I parked next to their driveway, and started my walk to the confluence. At 6:10PM I started my walk to the confluence again, having gone back to the car for the marker flag. At 6:35PM I arrived at the confluence. It was nice to finally get a success this trip! The spot is right next to a small pond, and you can see the earth dam that creates the pond in picture #5. So far, I was lucky with the rain - it was just starting to rain lightly.

At 7:12PM I was back at the car, and decided to head back to Williams Lake to stay in a motel, avoid the rain, and head for 52N123W tomorrow.