An avid geocacher from 100 Mile House who was out near Merritt saw firsthand some of the collateral damage of last year’s devastating wildfire season, and brought the evidence to the Gold Country Communities Society office.
Jason Parchomchuk was recently out at Gold Country Geotour’s “Salmon Valley” geocache, which is on the traditional Salmon River fur-trading route between the North Okanagan and Kamloops near Douglas Lake Ranch. The cache itself was a camouflage-covered metal “ammo” box near the end of Salmon Valley Road, and contained a logbook and pen, as well as some items for trading.
The area was hit hard during last year’s fires. The geocache box was still there, but had obviously been scorched during the fires, and its contents were reduced to a charred mass.
Parchomchuk retrieved the box and on July 5 dropped it off at the GCCS office in Cache Creek. He reported that the area had been heavily affected by fire, and that fallen trees and burnt-out roots meant that the footing was at times very precarious.
Brandy Cooper-Chardon, the GCCS marketing manager, says the society does have a maintenance plan for its geocaches, several of which have been affected by the fires of 2017 and 2021.
“We inspect the caches, and replace them if we can. If that’s not possible, we either disable them or archive them. Disabled ones can be reactivated, but archived ones are no longer accessible and are removed from the Geotour.”
She adds that any geocachers or hikers heading out into the back country — particularly areas that have been affected by wildfires — should “know before you go” and be aware of hazards such as danger trees and ash pits. “If you see that an area or park is closed, stay out. Gates are there for a reason. What looks okay on the surface might not be that way underneath.”
A good resource is the BC Parks website at www.bcparks.ca, which will let you know if a provincial park is closed or if there are any off-limits areas. Another good resource is the BC Recreation site at https://bit.ly/3Pay2i6, which has information about motor vehicle prohibitions, recreation sites and trails, alerts, closures, and warnings, and more.
editorial@accjournal.ca
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter