Lytton

Last week we went for a drive to the Thompson river so check out the salmon spawning. I'm not sure at what part of the cycle they were in - towards the end or the beginning - those that we saw were steel blue for the most part with the odd red tinged one. I believe there are several different species coming up the river and their numbers are reportedly low.
It was about this time in 1990 that I first saw the salmon coming up this river. I used to go swimming in this deep pool near Big Horn in the late summer when I lived there and the day after I decided it was to cold to swim any longer was the day they started coming up. I clearly recall looking over the edge of the embankment and seeing a scarlet line running along the southern side of the river and then I dashed down the dirt track to see it closer. I wish I had had a camera with me back then- it must have been a meter wide of hook-nosed red coloured salmon in varying states of wear and tear mindlessly swimming up river against a rough current- all along the length of the river. I would guess at least 500 fish were passing by per minute back then- unlike what I saw recently...maybe a hundred in a minute.

After that we drove out to Lytton hoping for better viewing but couldn't find good access to the river and I took very few photos as the weather was so dreary. Lytton is interesting- I was there once back in 1990 and didn't have much of an impression about the place other than it's setting and how rustic everything looked but today it looks like a lot of effort has been made in improving the towns appearance- fresh paint on some of the historic buildings, neatly kept lawns but there are some things that are in dire need of fixing up; particularly a really old church that practically sits against the street. I couldn't even bring myself to photograph it because it looked so pathetic.


Click on the picture to see the whole thing- don't know why Blogger chopped it.

Lytton is also the place where the green waters of the Thompson River converge with the muddy Fraser and you can clearly see this- even if you can't see any salmon! There's a bridge that crosses the Thompson and a small ferry that goes over the Fraser but if you keep going past the ferry the road ( Highway 12 ) will take you to Lillooet and eventually circles back down to Vancouver. It's a road trip I wanted to do this summer but will have to wait till next year as I understand the road gets horrendous in winter time.

We passed by lots of properties that had ( I don't know what to call them except animal-gallows ) set up for what I imagine is for game cutting. I thought this was very striking and admirable that there they were in the open although somewhat careless in placement. I suppose it's for convenience that they are located at the front of house rather than rear. I believe there is good hunting out that way- at least when I lived in that area there were lots of bighorn sheep and deer to be seen.

Some of the ladies hats.


Some of the men's hats

Afterward we drove back to Big Horn and talked with the owner who I know from years back and admired all the lovely items in her gift shop which really has to be the best one in the Thompson-Okanagan. She has a huge assortment of clothing, hats, ornaments, hand crafted goods and art but the really striking thing are the period hats. Anyone who is into civil war reenactments, cos-play and the like should check out her place- I mean REALLY gorgeous stuff. Big Horn ( formerly an Esso station ) is located just a few kilometers south of Spences Bridge on Highway 1 ( Trans-Canada ).


Bigger view at DA

Hope everyone is having a good long weekend!