Monday, June 17, 2013 (Monkman RV Park, Tumbler Ridge, BC)

With bad weather forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, we decided that we should get out and do some hiking today...and of course, we wanted to go see the dinosaur footprints.  So shortly after 9:00 we headed out with our hiking boots on, ready for a good hike.  We thought we would start by going to the museum where the Dinosaur Discovery Gallery was located.  The literature that we received says a self-guiding brochure is available, but a daytime trip with a museum guide is highly recommended for a superior experience.  The fellow at the museum said that they were taking out a group of school kids this afternoon but the trail is well marked and we would have no problems going by ourselves.  We decided to leave a visit through the gallery for another day...that is more of a rainy day activity and today, the sun was shining and it was beautiful out.

We drove the short distance to the trailhead, just off highway 29.  We gathered the backpack... water and snacks--check; cameras--check-- personal alarm--check ( Pull the pin and you get an ear piercing sound ); bear spray--check; bear bell--check (it has been suggested it's a dinner bell for the bears)....oh, oh...no sunscreen...and more importantly, no mosquito repellant!  We are up north, now....we have to get into the habit of carrying "bug spray"!

We found what we thought was the start of the trail...we thought it was a pretty poor start, but we went up it anyway...

However. once we got up top, we realized that we were joining another path...obviously, we had taken the wrong path to start! 

That is the Murray River down there...and where we are headed...

We came across an old cabin...

The path took us down...and down...

Almost there...

The final trek down to the river...

There are picnic tables and a fire pit near the Cabin Pool rock, which contains just under 200 prints (the largest collection of prints in BC).  Some of these are well preserved, others are partly eroded and fainter, and thus identifiable only to experts. The river was too high to access all of the prints.
If you stayed too long in the same place the flies and mosquitos find you...they weren't really bad just annoying.

This first footprint is from Ankylosaurs (Steve's boot is size 9).  These armoured dinosaurs walked on all fours; the hind feet had four toes, and the front footprint resembles a crescent moon, with five toes.

The next two pictures are from Theropods.  These meat-eating dinosaurs were built for speed.  Their trackways are narrow and show three-toed prints that are often longer than they are wide, often with claws at the end of the toes.

The last two prints are from Ornithopods.  These herbivorous dinosaurs left wider trackways; their footprints are wider than they are long, with three fairly blunt toes.  They occasionally left tiny hand prints.

The area is very pretty...

After seeing the tracks and having a bit of a rest, it was time to head back...up, this time.

Part of the trail was quite narrow, with drop-offs on either side...hmmm, I didn't really like that part...

Steve took more 'distance' pictures...

...as well as an Indian Paintbrush flower...

We were back at the truck just before noon...the whole hike and time at the river took just under 2 hours.  It is a 4 km return hike.

We decided to take a drive along highway 52...according to the map, it remains paved for quite a distance and then turns into a gravel road.  Here are a few pictures I took (please excuse the bug splatter on the windshield!)...

 We saw more bear poop on this highway than we have ever seen on any logging roads...

 

After driving 53 kms, we turned around and headed back to Tumbler Ridge.  We had hoped to go into Stony Lake but like all of the other lakes and hiking areas, they are quite a ways off the main road and would require a long drive on gravel road (and what we saw at the start, looked very pothole-y). This is one of the downsides of not having a second vehicle that is off road capable.

Back in Tumbler Ridge, we took a drive around town.  It's really a very clean, very small modern town...you can tell that it isn't very old.  This is the Town Hall.

We drove through a residential area, past a new development of very small homes being built, and then back to the highway.  We had passed another campground on our way into town yesterday and we thought we would check it out.  The Lions Campground is $15/night with no hook-ups.  There are sites close to the river but we really wouldn't have fit into any of the sites. Their largest site is 50' but most seemed more suitable to tents, campers and small trailers.

It was around 2:00 by the time we got back to our campsite.  After relaxing for a bit, I decided to bake some trail bars and then work on our blog, while Steve started reading all of the information that we had picked up at the Visitors Centre.

And that was pretty much our day...with the bad weather predicted for the next 2 days, it would be a good time to go to the museum and see the Dinosaur Discovery Centre, however, it's closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays!  Sheesh!

Hopefully, the weather improves...the whole reason we came to this area is to see Kinuseo Falls (we'd like to take a jet-boat ride up the river to see them) and to do some ATV'ing in the area.