An epic walk above Hazelton in the remote North Western BC

Walking through BC's Northwest rainforest up the mountain

The Skeena River (one of the most famous Salmon runs taking place). People come from all over the to fish here.

Mount Rochee

August 31^st weekend, me and my friend Devin decided to tackle something we promised each other we would do 3 years ago. Devin is from a small town in Northwestern BC called Hazleton (population 7000 including outlying areas). Hazelton is about 500km west of Prince George on highway 16 on the way to Prince Rupert. The town used to be big into forestry until the economy had a downturn, and since then the town has been struggling economically (like a lot of small towns in BC). Devin grew up in Hazelton, and has since moved away for school. The last time we past through Hazelton (3 years ago) there is this huge mountain shooting out of the ground staring over the city, and after seeing it for the first time I have wanted to climb it. Devin did it a long time ago and knows the way up. So for the labor day weekend we decided we would go to Hazelton and climb Mount Rochee 6,500 ft. Devin is also a stand up comedian buddy, and were gonna be doing a competition together at a Casino in PG on October 3rd so bring your tomatoes for me and whips and handcuffs for Devin.

We started out at 7am, and it took a long, long time. The beginning of the hike went through rainforest, crossing rivers, climbing over boulders, and trail walking. The second half of the hike was above the alpine, and got pretty scary at points because rocks would move and fall a long ways down sometimes, and we had to pass beside very high cliffs. We made it up by about 2pm, chilled at the top for about 40 minutes, and then got back by about 7pm (didn't see anyone else). I'll let the pictures do the talking:

The bridge we had to cross, mission impossible style!

A view of Hazelton in the afternoon

Devin in his favorite position

At the top of the world

This is why I hang out with kids, flying paper airplanes off a cliff

On the way up with Devin in the lead

Devin's dad is a famous hunter and had some crazy grizzly bear stories, and was featured as hunter of the year in a famous magazine. The salmon run was on going through the Skeena River while I was there (one of the largest salmon runs in the world). Devin's family had caught a lot of big salmon. They gave me two salmon to take back home with me, which was awesome.

Some of the animals he got!

a VIEW of Hazelton and the area

Hazelton is a town I really like. I found the people to be really friendly, a ton of mountains and rivers around with big trees makes it remind me of Vancouver but without people and much infrastructure. It would definitely be a great place to have a family as property is cheap, there is a ton of outdoors stuff to do, and it seems like the community that is pretty close in a lot of ways. One thing I have come to realize is that when you have few options you become a lot more content with what you are doing, and I have noticed in small towns like Hazelton people have a lot more time to talk with you and hang out, something that is often lost in cities.

 

This was my scariest moment of the year, to my right was a very high drop, and I had to get to wear the camera was, Devin was fine with it, because I think he stuck to many crayons up his nose as a kid.