Gatcho Lake Fish Camp – Day 2
Sunday morning we awoke to see Gary’s BJ74 had arrived sometime during the night. We chatted briefly had a hasty breakfast and broke camp at 9:00am. We set off heading west along Hwy 20 and stopped at Lee’s Corner to take in some Chilcotin ambience and gasp at the outrageously high prices for fuel and food at this well know tourist trap.
We continued down Hwy 20 and just before Tatla Lake we turned toward Tatlayoko Lake and then down an old cattle trail to find a scenic lunch spot near Suds Lake. After lunch we completed the loop back to Hwy 20 and briefly stopped at Tatla Lake to check out the store and check on the rusting 40 series Landcruiser that has been there forever.
The next stop was Grandma’s at Anahim Lake to fuel up and get last minute overpriced supplies in town. This was our last point of supply for the next 10 days and the locals came out to check out the big truck invasion. Spare fuel cans were retrieve from roof racks and backseats and the 4Runner’s custom double gas tanks were filled to the brim. Following a last ‘look around’ we headed back past Grandma’s and over the bridge north along Christenson Road and then to the Dean River FSR and after a few hours found the poorly marked turnoff to Gatcho Lake.
We followed the muddy trail, which was usually wet, and eventual saw faint glimpses of the lake through the trees and finally entered a clearing which opened up to the fish camp on the north lake edge. We then drove up to the original Ulkatcho town site above the lake. There stood the half-completed framed log house which was being built in 2010 and never completed. That log framed building is etched into my mind because it was the first sign of civilization when we emerged from the Krestinuk’s Horse Trail trail in 2010.
The Ulkatcho people are related to the South Carrier people, who lived a nomadic life, who summered in the Itcha and Ilgachuz mountains. They traded furs, hides, and obsidian with the Nuxalk in the Bella Coola, in exchange for salmon and the oil (grease) of the eulachon, which is where the Grease Trail got its name. An archaeological site of the Ulkatcho peoples has been found near an obsidian quarry in the Itcha Ilgachuz area, where large pit houses are visible, evidence of their migratory lifestyle through the area.
We looked around in the grassy town site and Mike pointed out the cemetery below. Within a few minutes a dark native fellow on his quad and his girl emerged out of the bush to greet us. We went back to the Gatcho fish camp Rob, Dan and Glenn went for a quick swim in the brisk lake water before dinner. We sat around the campfire marvelling at the quietness and stillness of this remote place and later hit our sleeping bags tired from the first big day.
The map shows the Krestinuk Horse Trail bypass over top the hiking trail noted in yellow.
4x4ing & tree plowing is the same thing to them. Sounds like our armour fabbing businesses will want to get a new product out on the market ASAP. I might even let them have a look at the OEM one on the Safari. 
