Ci siamo: The 100 Mile Hyatt

A quick recap – I have now moved temporarily home to Sidney, BC to enjoy some time with family and friends before I head to Washington DC in mid-August to complete the second year of my Masters. Tania will stay in Haiti for the remainder of my program.

Wild sage dots the view looking towards the Fraser river valley

It’s not often that close friends and I are all in the same country, let alone the same city, so it’s important to take of advantage of it when it happens. A couple of weeks ago, I went up to 100 Mile House with three of my closest friends as a mini-UBC reunion. Mylan, who had just flown in from China, was hosting us at his parents’ ranch in central British Columbia (about 6 hours from Vancouver). Neil, Paul and I were treated to four days of fantastic food, activities and sightseeing while we stayed at Mylan's ever welcoming homestead - hereby named The 100 Mile Hyatt.

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Manhood Falls

Every meal was strictly non-vegetarian, as we devoured delicious grass fed beef in dry-rub, roast, and burger form. When we weren’t eating, reminiscing, heckling or debating at the house, we were “out and about” exploring the area known as the Cariboo District. On our first day, we took Paul’s Mazda 3 out to the Manhood Falls. Though the unpaved roads were flat enough, we decided that for Paul’s stress levels, we should probably ride in Mylan’s Dad’s (Don) truck for any extended travel in the area! Sure enough, the next day we were off with Don (and his truck) to Churn Creek Park – a protected rare grassland ecosystem about two hours west of 100 Mile House.

We were surprised at the beautiful colours and vistas of the area – it was truly different from the pine forest mountains we’re so accustomed to in BC. But we also found that the seemingly gentle greeny-gold grass held a few surprises. Every few yards there were stubby cacti poking out from the ground. And shin-high “Needle-grass” also lurked everywhere, scarcely missing an opportunity to lodge a sharp-pointed seed into your sock, shoe or skin. Of course, we took these minor pricks and scrapes as a pretty reasonable price to pay for exploring such a unique area. Unfortunately, Mylan’s dog Penny was less impressed. Over the next two days, the poor thing needed to be hand plucked of all the burrs, grass and cacti that hitched a ride on her coat throughout the hike.

Neil and Penny in a gentler part of the grass lands

Time at the ranch would not have been complete however without some shootin’. Don patiently explained to Paul and me (the city boys) how to shoot the .22, ,308 and the shotgun. Our target? Beer cans, of course! We also used particle board pieces as skeet to shoot with the shotgun (with very little success).

Could this scene look any more redneck?

You can never be too careful with your ear drums

The trip rounded out with a visit to Mylan’s friends house on Green Lake where we were welcomed with more Cariboo hospitality – beer, great food and a great view... what more could you want?

It was a great trip and certainly a wonderful reminder of why it’s great to be back in BC with friends in the summer.