Once we woke up and established that we were, in fact, going to make it on the bikes another day, and bouyed by the knowledge that today we needed only to make it to the end of the lake, we were better able to ignore the presence of rain. Mom herself was much rejuvenated after her 10 hours of immobile heavy slumber and was back in form, meeting some of the interesting fellow campers. A real live prospector, for one. Poor fellow, he had tried to make conversation the night before, but there was no way he was going to get anywhere with us in our state of almost complete exhaustion.
Breakfast was oatmeal and coffee and we were off at what could be considered dawn, in that the light was still dim, even if the clock said 10am.
Our ride down Carpenter Lake saw us avoid almost all the rain. We were surrounded by heavy rainclouds, and the pavement clearly showed signs of recent tempest, but only a few drops caressed our sore muscles. Ican't remember when we first noticed the fresh snow up in the mountains. The very mountains we had come through the day before. Thank goodness we pressed on to Gun Creek. I shiver to think of it. Not that mom would have noticed, mind you, sleeping away like that.
The road follows the Bridge River as it becomes Carpenter Lake. The dam that makes Carpenter Lake was completed in the '50s and flooded some beautiful farmland. What an environmental sacrifice was made. We think that there must be fish in the lake today as we saw a few osprey's and bald eagles, but you can't spend too much time on the shores of that lake and not be aware of the fact that a lot of damage was done here.
There are 3 dams in this area, and a significant percentage of BC's energy needs are produced. Many mountain streams empty into the lake and it fills up over the summer.
In the summer, when the water is being collected, we buy electricity from elsewhere (coal or natural gas- cheaper to buy in the summer, probably), so that we don't have to use up the water too fast. In the winter, the massive quantity of water is used to make electricity so that we don't have to buy any. So the lake represents stored electricity. The lake gives us power in the winter, which is when we need it most and when supplies from elsewhere are far more expensive. And if we have more water than we need, then we can sell the power it generates for a good price. BC Hydro, a BC government entity, runs the system. The profit goes back to the province.
What I realized while cruising along the shore, was that "sustainability" means that we can no longer make this kind of sacrifice. If we can't meet the rising demand for electricity with the existing infrastructure, then we have to say no. When Obama says "yes, you can" he means "no, you can't". Really. We can't cause this kind of environmental damage in order to light up Las Vegas, or run a TV in every room. Or replace our gas-fuelled cars with electric cars. No we can't.
I also realized, that this is OUR damage, to OUR environment. There is no place for private enterprise in a sacrifice of public property. And don't be fooled into thinking that IPP's (Independent Power Projects are power generation facilities on streams and rivers in BC that are built and owned by companies contracted to sell power to BC Hydro) are different. Many are producing the same amount of power as these dams do. Their damage will be similar. Added to that, they are going to cost a bomb, because it costs more for a private company to borrow money than the government, and so when we buy that electricity from them, we are paying for that, plus their profit. So not only do we allow an environmental sacrifice of our own crown land, we have to pay someone for the product. The only thing we get out of it is a few short-lived jobs in construction and (ironically) environmental impact assessment.
By the way, the Gun Creek campsite is operated by our government-owned corporation BC Hydro. It was clean, interesting, well serviced, and in a great location.
I obviously had a little too much time to ponder things as we cruised along the lake. Mostly the road was good, although there is some re-paving work going on during the last 12 km or so and it was that awful loose gravel that covered the road.
At the dam, we turned right and rode right over it, towards Seton Portage and Shelath. Highway 40 to Lillooet (future trip) kept straight and I could see that it was gravel as well, although soon it will be paved properly.
We stayed at a little Provincial Rec Site about 400m from the dam. 2 picnic tables and an outhouse and lots of garbage, which mom picked up. We made a great little fire from driftwood. There was a boatramp down to the lake and we both bathed. Absolutely deserted, and by now quite sunny. We read our books and ate risotto, which took a long time to cook.
I took along an Anne Mustoe book. She was that amazing teacher from Britain who set forth on her first world journey at some advanced age and has never looked back. Wrote great travel books. She passed away in Syria in November from an infection while heading east on her bike. i think she was 76? I had heard about her passing just before we left for this trip, and I decided that I would make this trip in honour of her. A hero of mine. She would never rant and rail against ridiculous government policies allowing more ridiculous dams. She would just matter-of-factly deliver the goods. When I am in my 70's perhaps I will be able to do that too. Until then, write your own journal if you don't want to read what is in mine.
