Boundary Bay Cuts

This weekend Anne and I went for a paddle down to Boundary Bay. The paddle down was slow. Paddling old whitewater boats on flat water can be a challenge. Walking up the boundary cut to check things out for kayaking revealed a very nice, but intense section of canyon running through the green argillite band.



There are about a half dozen 15-25 foot cascading melts in there plus numerous ledges and big holes. It was really quite spectacular, and an easy hike up the boundary cut.



It was interesting to see the uniformity in trees there. I would have thought things would have grown up much more from teh 1935 fire there. Apparently that fire almost wiped out the townsite. They had already been given exacuation notices, and back in a time when warnings meant something that means things were quite severe. It was a crown fire that spread rapidly and ran out of control. The road crew from the chief mountain highway were conscripted. I believe my Grandfather had a close call there. His crew was sent out to fight the fire and when things got bad, they stayed, tyring to keep it from crossing the corner before the townsite. Being rather stubborn, I can imagine conditions weren't too good. At any rate the chief pulled everyone else back, leaving them without protection and surrounded by flames. He figured they were done for, tried to get to the small creek for protection. Luckily the wind shifted and the fire stopped it's rapid progress. He said it was a good thing the chief had evacuated out as his axe might have gotten put to use on something other than trees.