2014: Crystal Waters Guest Ranch, British Columbia

My old ADB buddies, Rich Schatz and Wayne Rusch, and my good self set out on our 7th Annual Road Trip on July 14 from Rich's Bussard Lake home in Washington State. This year we headed up to northern British Columbia for some horseback riding, fishing and epic scenery. It was a magnificent trip in every respect; but it was unusual in that everything went according to plan.  

No 5 hour plane delays in Minneapolis. No police stopping us for doing 43 mph on a deserted Spokane street in the middle of the night.  No run-in with the Canadian Border Patrol.  And no bear attacks.  I will have to leave it to the photos to tell most of the story this year.  It seems that only misfortune gives an edge to story-telling.

Early this March, I started talking to Rich and Wayne about a possible 2014 road trip.  Rich immediately suggested a place that he had "discovered" by happenstance sometime last year near the Wells Gray National Park area in northern British Columbia.

It was late in the evening and Rich (and his dog, Bobbie) were looking for a place to hook up their small truck camper for the night.  He had driven for miles and miles along a narrow dirt road which seemed to be going nowhere.  It was getting dark and he was worried about camping out alone in this remote wilderness.  He decided to drive "one more mile" before turning back to the now distant main road.  Lo and behold, he turned a corner and there was a big sign:  Crystal Waters Guest Ranch.

Rich waxed eloquent about the idyllic location, a beautiful lake full of rainbow trout, fantastic horses, cabins by the lake, miles of hiking trails etc, etc.  Crystal Waters was a mere 800 km northwest of Rich's home--an easy drive, he said.  He also mentioned "a beautiful German woman who ran the place" with the help of young folks from Germany in summer.  What more could you want?  Wayne and I signed up without further discussion.

Accordingly, Rich sent an e-mail to his beautiful German lady in the following terms: "I will not be bringing my camper but rather, there will be three of us (older guys) who want to stay in your log cabins, eat your great German food, ride your horses and do some fishing. Can you take us in mid-July"?

Apart from the "older guys" reference, Rich did not disappoint us.  Everything he had told us, as always, was absolutely true.

It was an "idyllic location."  Here's the view from our cabin.

There was a "beautiful German woman (Nicole) who ran the place." 

There were "older guys" at the ranch.

We did "stay in log cabins." 

We did "eat great German food."

And we did "ride horses."

Unfortunately, I have no photos of us fishing because I have a tendency to drop my cameras in lakes and shrimp bisque soups.  However, you should know that Wayne caught a beautiful rainbow trout within five minutes of hitting the lake on our first afternoon; and Rich, early on the last morning, brought aboard two 16-17 inch rainbows.  We gave them to Thilo, our wonderful German chef, to cook for his next group of guests.  I hope they appreciate that our B.C. fishing license expenses meant that each of the 3 fish we caught cost approximately $52.47!!

Speaking of photos, you will see that there is quite a grey haze in a number of the photos in this blog.  Sadly, there were forest fires raging about 120 kms west of the ranch and a lot of smoke was blowing our way.  However, one evening the wind changed direction and for a couple of hours we saw the stunning green foliage and the bright blue lake. Magnifique!  After all that smoke inhalation and horse riding we were real Marlboro men!

We checked into our cabin at about 1 pm on Tuesday, July 15.  The cabin was just what we needed: right down on the lake, spacious, quiet, and reasonably secluded.  Just the place for a good afternoon nap.  Of course, Wayne immediately started trying to call clients and work out Russian sanctions with the State Department but there was no wi-fi.  He was out of range and out of luck.  When he realized that he couldn't work or bill anybody, he was actually quite relieved.  Force majeure--it works wonders for lawyers.

Interestingly, there was no water in the cabin but we did have our own private dunny (very clean) out in the woods behind our cabin.  It was a bit eerie going out there at night.  Would there be bears or worse?  What was that slithering around my feet in the dark?  No wonder our wives didn't want to come with us!  Communing with nature took on a whole new meaning.

We had arranged to ride horses that first afternoon but it was 95F and Nicole said it was far too hot for the horses.  It was far too hot for the humans as well.  So, we decided to go fishing for those vaunted rainbow trout.  Dennis, one of the young Germans helping Nicole at the ranch, put our boat in the water with the help of his nifty tractor.  Within the first five minutes, Wayne caught a beautiful rainbow trout.  This was the life.

However, we soon discovered that 95F was too hot for all the other fish in the lake.  Nothing happened after Wayne's first catch and we chugged back to shore after about two hours.  Strange.  Wayne and I had caught about 20 small bass in Lake Bussard on the day we left.  It seems that the further we drive, the fewer the fish we catch (e.g. Montana last year).  Is there some natural law on the subject that we have overlooked?

What else do you do in a heat wave?  You swim.  We swam out to the platform where there was a water slide and sat in the waning sunlight discussing life, Nietzsche, the sad state of the world and why there were no Canadians in this part of the world.

Yes, that's right.  Canada, in this part at least, is totally European and we loved it.  Hey, you even have to take a passport to get into Canada these days--just like Europe!  On the way up, we had met a Swiss German gentleman on the Galina ferry as well as a Scot from Glasgow who worked on the ferry.  (We could understand the Swiss guy much better than the Glaswegian).

Nearer Crystal Waters, we had some small home-made cakes, cappuccino and latte (above) at a little Italian restaurant by the side of a lake.  It looked like a Swiss chalet.  The owner, Mario, hailed from from Milano.  I think dear Mario charged us Milan prices because Wayne had had the temerity to order a Diet Coke.  $49.00 for the above??  As the Treasurer on the trip, I caught a lot of grief for this unexpected expense.  That was 25% of the trip budget!

From R to L above: Charlotte, Kurt (the father of Thilo the Chef), Dennis, Friederike and, beyond Wayne and Rich, our lovely Swiss Family

Nicole ran the whole ranch--with the help of Charlotte, Friederike and Dennis (above) who had come from Germany for the summer to work on the ranch.  Thereafter, Charlotte was taking off for San Francisco and Australia while Friederike and Dennis (who were married) had bought a truck and were heading for Yukon and Alaska.  These were very adventurous people and we loved talking to them about their proposed travels.  The chef was Thilo (sadly, no photo) who had a background in graphic design and advertising in Germany.  His father, Kurt, was also staying at Crystal Waters.  He was a charming gentleman who had to "rescue" Schatz and our boat when Schatz attempted to go fishing without us.

The "Campers" (as opposed to us "Cabinieri") were mostly Swiss, German or Ukrainian.  This wonderful Swiss family above had dinner with us on the last night.  They had been touring Canada in a rented camper van for over 3 months.  Together with Nicole, Charlotte, Friederike, Dennis and Kurt, we had an uproarious evening.  There was much wine, laughter and a superb dinner cooked by Thilo.  The two kids probably thought the Amerikaner were crazy but they got used to us and by the end of the evening Schatz had reduced them to fits of giggling.

The only native Canadian who seemed to live in these parts was Gary whom we met on the second night.  He had established the ranch some years ago and still helped Nicole with the cattle and horses.  He was a genuine Canadian cowboy whose family had come to British Columbia in the 1900s from, wait for it, Europe! I don't have a photograph of him but just imagine John Wayne crossed with Rhett Butler in a big cowboy hat and you will get the general idea. Eh?

(You also have to remember that Schatz's family hails from Germany and that Rusch is of Swiss descent.  They just fitted right in with their countrymen and countrywomen.  I had to introduce myself as Jan von Tropwen wherever I went just to avoid embarrassment).

There were a colony of loons on the lake and at night you could hear their lonely, haunting calls floating across the lake, accompanied by the odd coyote howl.  The Call of the Wild indeed.

The second day we went for our first 3-hour ride with Nicole.  The horses were mellow, the temperature was cooler and the scenery was amazing.  We passed through ever-changing scenery as if we were on the sets of about five different movies.  The were some "Dr. Zhivago" moments (white birch trees) and some "Jeremiah Johnson" moments (looking down over endless forests from an escarpment).  And judging by the way Nicole looked back at us all the time, she was probably channeling "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and wondering: "Who are those guys?"

Nicole understood that I was the only one familiar with horses and took great care of the "older" Schatz and Rusch, stopping frequently to check their saddles and stirrups and to help them back on their horses.  I didn't have to get off my horse (Blaze) because my knees had totally seized up!!

My greatest regret that first ride was that I didn't bring my camera.  I was more concerned about staying on my horse rather than taking a lot of photos.  Big mistake.  At one point, we passed through a beautiful glade where all Nicole's mares with their foals were pastured.  The sight of these magnificent animals in a white birch clearing with their nine foals out in the wild cried out for a photograph.  Several of the mares came out to meet us but they were really telling us to move on and leave them alone.  It was one of the most wonderful moments of the whole trip for me.  Memory, though imperfect, is sometimes better than a Kodak moment.

We passed through mighty stands of white birch, aspen, pine and fir.  We skirted lakes and climbed up steep hills overlooking marshland and ducks.  We trudged through deep mud and sank into marshland.  And on the second ride, we passed trough bright green Alpine meadows full of flowers and distant stands of pine and aspen.  That day we cantered along the narrow trail and it was truly exhilarating.  You could almost believe that you were young again.  Older guys, Schatz?

Back at the ranch, Nicole and Charlotte (who had led another group of riders) helped us to dismount and put all our gear away.  After three hours in the saddle my knees were not working and I felt like Rooster Cogburn at the end of "True Grit".  Nicole and Charlotte lovingly cared for the horses and we were blessed to have them as our guides and companions.

Back at the ranch, Dennis and Friederike greeted us with lunch and we enjoyed many hours talking to them about their life in Germany and their plans for the future.  We were always joined on our rides and on the ranch deck in the evening by Bronco, Nicole's Australian Shepherd puppy.  He ran about three times the distance that we covered on our various rides and would then play all afternoon with the kids from the camp, chasing balls and hurling himself into the lake after sticks.  Indefatigable.

Our three days at the ranch seemed to pass so quickly that I couldn't believe that we were heading off again on Friday morning.  With lots of hugs all around, we reluctantly left our new-found friends at Crystal Waters and sincerely hope that we will see them all again at some grand reunion in the future.

Our thanks to Nicole and to everyone else at Crystal Waters who made our stay so memorable. And, of course, our thanks to Rich for "discovering" this amazing part of the world and for all the planning and equipment he so generously supplies on our trips.  With a friend like this, Wayne and I will be forever returning to Bussard Lake and places north like Crystal Waters.

If any of you want to experience life on the ranch, you can book through:

www.crystalwatersranch.com


NOTE: the original blog was published on July 24, 2014.