The next morning the horses, having been stampeded the night before, are found at the far end of the valley and brought in to be packed or saddled. It's time to move on.

Travelling south up the Mackenzie Valley we follow a trade route Carrier Indians from the interior used for centuries in trading with the Bella Coola Indians on the coast.

This is also the same trail that Alexander Mackenzie walked in 1793 as he became the first white man to accomplish an overland crossing of the continent to the shores of the Pacific.

In July, 1988, Tweedsmuir Park celebrated its 50th anniversary in combination with the dedication of the Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail. The trail, 420 kilometres in length, stretches from the confluence of the Fraser and Blackwater rivers, near Quesnel, into and through the park to the trailhead on Highway 20 and then to Bella Coola. The trail continues another 60 kilometres into Dean Channel where, at the entrance to Elcho Harbour, Mackenzie inscribed his feat on a rock. Using vermilion in melted grease, he wrote: "Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand, seven hundred and ninety-three."

Designated as the first heritage trail in B.C., Mackenzie's route is gaining international recognition with hikers. The 80-kilometre section within the park, which takes five to seven days to travel, is, perhaps, the most scenic of the entire trail.

At the valley's south end we pull into an old cabin recently fixed up by the Valley Ridge Riders Horse Club out of Bella Coola for hikers or riders on the trail.

From the Rainbow Cabin we gain altitude. At midday a chorus of marmots whistle at our progress as we cross a large snowfield and come to stop in the notch of Mackenzie Pass. From the 2,146-metre vantage point, we're afforded a commanding view of the Rainbow Range behind and the jagged Coast Mountains ahead. The ice-blanketed peaks seem to move, sliding in and out of view, as we ride across treeless alpine through the yellows, reds, and purples of the high-country wildflowers. Stone cairns mark the trail through this open country.

Our last day takes us down and into the timber. Near the junction of the Mackenzie and Capoose trails the forest opens and below we can see Sitkatapa Lake, its beautiful valley surrounded by fog-shrouded mountains. In the final descent, the trail knifes across near-vertical slopes and we steal tentative glances into the Bella Coola Valley far below.

Addresses and final goodbyes are exchanged before I retire to the Atnarko campground to prepare for a trip with former Park Superintendent Gary Gale to see Hunlen Falls - perhaps the best-known feature of Tweedsmuir. With a total drop of 360 metres, Hunlen Falls is one of Canada's highest waterfalls. It drops from the north end of Turner Lake, the largest of seven lakes, stretching 25 kilometres along the valley. Incredibly, this large lake lies 666 metres above famous Lonesome Lake.

Photography and Text © Gary Fiegehen

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