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Exploring PrincetonPrinceton and Hedley AreasMarch 10-13/05 Written by Ozark Girl Owen (a.k.a. Oweee) and I took one of our quads up to Princeton for a weekend to do some exploring. We picked up a new Backroad Mapbook from Mussio Ventures, which has all of Southern BC in it. This new one was coil-bound!  We stayed at the Princeton Castle Resort, which we highly recommend. One of the good things about it was... it had the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) running through the property. We checked in around 1:00 pm. I had done some reading about Princeton before we left, and it seems that the "Gentleman Bandit" Billy Miner was a resident of Princeton around 1904. I now had a picture of Billy Miner in my mind. As we entered the office for the Resort, I noticed right away that the clerk resembled Billy Miner! Hmmm, I thought to myself, there is no way the Famous Train Robber is still around, but hey, it could have been a relative. I would ask him later about the resemblance he has to this old timer.We headed out for some quick exploring before it got dark. We chatted with one of the employees at the Princeton Castle Resort, and he told us about a few trails. We took a right out of the resort, and headed out on the KVR, looking for the Iron Mountain Road. As far as we could tell on the map, it was not far from the Resort. I believe we crossed the main road twice and thought we must have gone too far. We turned back and sure enough, we found the road just shortly past the Resort. It was a gravel road with some trails off of the main road. It took us to the top of Iron Mountain, where we had a good view of Princeton. We also came across a herd of 20 mule deer! The upper road was very slick as the spring thaw was in progress. On Friday we took the KVR to Tulameen. The locals were very friendly, and even told us of a few trails that led off from the KVR. The views were great along the way. Shortly out of Princeton we ran into a part of KVR that had been washed away in a mud slide. They were currently fixing it up and we were able to go through. Along the way, we spotted mine shafts, super sleuths, and old mining cabins. Obviously, there is still gold in the area. When we reached a campsite along the river, we took a trail that headed up. We found ourselves at the main highway, which we crossed then had a look at our map book. It seems the trail heads out to the ski hill in Princeton, and we spotted snowmobile signs on the trees. We went back to the KVR and headed to Coalmont. We stopped for a quick picture and continued on. The nice weather was now turning to rain. The stretch from Coalmont to Tulameen is not as beautiful as it is from Princeton to Coalmont. Hence no pictures! We arrived at Otter Lake to find that it was still frozen. 
We headed back to Princeton, and took a trail off the KVR that one of the locals had told us about. It was a hill climb and looked steep to me. I asked, "You're not going up that way are you?" So we took the less-steep way, to Owen's dismay. The trail ended at a private home. If you want to have some fun off the KVR, there are some nice hill climbs here. We headed back to Princeton and loaded up the quad up as it started to rain! WOW, perfect timing. We ran into the same local as when we left. I guess he just wanted to know how our trip was. On Friday evening, Mike (a.k.a. "The House") and his wife Darci (a.k.a. "The House Wife") joined us Friday evening and spent the rest of weekend with us. On Saturday, we checked out Nickel Plate Mine in Hedley. This was all road riding, with a few short excursions off of the main road. We went to the top of the mine, but were not able to go the original workings as the Similkameen Indian Band is now offering tours (want to see the original mine... must pay.) This had to be the coldest day, and I am sure Darci would agree with me on this. We arrived at the top and took some pictures. The best pictures are the ones we took on the way down. The view was AWESOME! Now I needed to warm up! We headed back to the chalet to add some extra socks to my frozen feet, and an extra pullover and some warm gloves. Hey wait a minute, that's why my hands were so cold... I was not wearing gloves... this of course was due to my husband telling me it wouldn't be cold outside because it was a beautiful sunny day. 
 Once back at the chalet, we headed out towards Osprey lake. This is where some excitement happened. Most of it was pretty tame until we came to a hill climb. Darci and I got off the quads and the boys were now going to have some real fun! We could hear their quads climbing, followed by some more climbing. Owen came back, but without Mike. We thought it sounded pretty quiet and Darci had already assumed that Mikey might have flipped (he has a reputation for doing that). Owen called out to Mike and no answer. We then spotted Mike as he rounded the corner... walking! He had a sheepish grin on his face, and confessed that yes he did flip the quad! No injuries, except maybe his pride a little! We all went up to where Mike was and I was able to take a picture before they could they could right it up. WOW that was close; I needed at least one exciting picture for Quads.ca.We continued along to Osprey Lake, and stopped in at Chain Lake for a break, and yes ladies, they had an outhouse... Yay! After reaching Osprey Lake, we decided it was time to turn back. There was one more place I wanted to check out, Jellicoe Station Inn Bed & Breakfast. They were not open yet, but they were happy to show us the house. The owners built it themselves! Very nice! We took a short-cut back down to the KVR that the owner has told us about. We got back in time and headed out to Santos Greek and Pizza Restaurant. Great food and great friends to share dinner with! 
Still lots of roads and trails to explore, there's never enough time, is there! I guess we'll just have to save it for another time, so we'll have something to share in another trip report! Oh yeah, I almost forgot... I never got around to asking the clerk if he was a relative of Billy Miner. I guess I'll never know! If any of you head up to the Princeton Castle Resort, check it out for yourself :) The resemblance is almost scary. |
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