We visited the Ray Farm, an abandoned pioneer homestead. It is very overgrown and the buildings are pretty derelict, but it was still easy to imagine John and Alice Ray building their home and raising their three children here in the 1930s. A very hard life - it took 3 days to travel down the valley to the nearest town of Clearwater - but it's such a beautiful spot.
We hiked for a while from the farm but then met a couple who'd encountered a bear on the trail about 15 minutes out, so we decided not to go too far!
We then explored along the Clearwater River, which is famous for salmon running in late August & September.... too late for us sadly.
Many of the trees in this area were destroyed in a devastating forest fire in 1926, but there is some old growth forest out by the river.
After a few hours out and about we decided to head back to the
gorgeous Clearwater Springs Ranch
We went for a short wander around the meadows and had a sneaky peep at the original trappers cabin which is now used as self catering accommodation.... it's utterly delightful!
Tomorrow we continue on our journey towards the coast with a 6 hour drive to Pemberton, just north of Whistler.
Ray Farm looks an idyllic location, on a nice day! I hope Clearwater Springs Ranch has better facilities, did you try out the hot tub? Hope the long drive today goes well, lots of coffee required!
ReplyDeleteSalmon equals bears I learnt from a Ray Mears programme, so just as well you're too early for the salmon.Unless like Ray you built a monster fire construction and hung your belongings up in a tre about 5 kilometres away: now that's what I call a holiday!!
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