9 minute read
Wonderment in the Wilderness
The Chilko Experience
Written by Bridget Williams / Photography by Craig Sutherland
It was so quiet that I could hear flesh tearing from bone as one of nature’s predominant predators, standing upright in the water less than 50 feet from the nose of my kayak, gorged on sockeye salmon. At that moment, grizzly bears outnumbered humans as I watched, my mouth agape, as a mother bear roared in protest as one of her cubs snatched a freshly snagged salmon from her mouth and triumphantly tromped back to shore. Engrossed in a moment of motherly camaraderie with this mighty creature, I was brought back to reality by a firm warning from my guide, reminding me that bears are capable swimmers and to maintain a respectable distance. After watching the family dynamic play out for some time, we paddled on in the misty morning, observing bald eagles soaring overhead, spying additional grizzlies on the opposite shore of Chilko Lake, and enjoying the solitude afforded by this pristine parcel of the Canadian wilderness.
For decades, I have regarded the area in and around Yellowstone National Park as the bellwether for all that I love about the great outdoors. I mention this only after having had some time to reflect on my five days at the Chilko Experience this past September, which was followed by a trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming a few weeks later. Comparing the two, I can state with absolute certainty (and with my apologies to Wyoming and Montana), that this was the most soul-satisfying wilderness adventure that I have ever been privy to. While wildlife is abundant in the Chilcotin throughout the year, from August through October it is estimated that one million sockeyes complete a 500-mile journey to reach the spot where the Chilko River meets glacier-fed Chilko Lake, making easy work of scouting sleuths of bears.
There are several routes for rambling about in this remoteness, but I am now at a point in my life where I prefer indoor plumbing over roughing it. At the Chilko Experience, which occupies 25 of the five million acres that comprise the Chilko Valley (approximately 150 air miles north of Vancouver), I was able to have the best of both worlds: enjoying the greatness of the great outdoors by foot, water, ATV and horseback, and then having the luxury of returning to the comfortable confines of my expansive log home.
The Tower House
The adventure begins with the arrival. Although it is possible to get to Chilko Lake by driving eight hours along mountainous roads from Vancouver, I’d advise opting for the 90-minute charter flight in a prop plane. While in flight you can spy verdant mountaintops peeking out from thin blankets of white clouds roiling about like the froth on a witches’ brew, as well as taller naked peaks wearing tiaras of snow that sparkle like diamonds in the sunlight. Awestruck as I soared above the creeping glacier fields, I felt intoxicated by the thought of what laid in store in the coming days and wondered how anything as luxurious at the Chilko Experience could come to be in this remoteness.
Phil Huston, founder, and jack-of-all-trades at the Chilko Experience, met us at the grass runway strip, located a short and bumpy ride away from the resort (stretches of unpaved roads are a given in the wilderness). A native of Kansas who now lives in Omaha (his next-door neighbor is Warren Buffett), Phil first heard of the Chilko region in the 1970s, when a hitchhiker he picked up on the way back from a car camping expedition in Alaska told him the area was worth checking out. He heeded the advice and was instantly smitten. The romance was rekindled in the late 1990s when Phil returned to Chilko Lake for a fishing trip, prompting him to purchase a derelict guest ranch for what was intended to be just a vacation home for his family. Some things, Phil soon decided, are simply too special to keep all to yourself.
Carl's House
Referring to an endeavor as a labor of love is done so often that the sentiment is often lost, but at the Chilko Experience, I can think of no better way to describe Phil and his wife Anne’s level of involvement and enduring passion for what they have created. Phil makes no bones about the monumental effort it took to build and then operate a property of this scope in such a remote area. “You have to be resourceful and self-sufficient,” he said. For emphasis, he pointed out that five tons of gravel were crushed on-site for the roads, and the nearest grocery store is three hours away by car. The property, which can accommodate a maximum of 22 guests at a time, derives ninety-five percent of its energy from the sun.
The Main House
Construction commenced in 2002 and took five years. An architecture buff, Phil jokes that he had to build seven homes on the property so that Anne, a former Miss Nebraska and Miss World finalist, and now an antique aficionado, could empty out a warehouse of furniture and accessories she’d collected over the years. The four log and three timber frame homes were built by Pioneer Log Homes and featured on the HGTV show Timber Kings. Phil remarked that the entire project was carried out with “a handshake and no bids.” “I have never had so much fun in all of my life,” he reminisced.
Sharing only a blue metal roof in common, each of the guest cabins is uniquely outfitted in an eclectic and rustic fashion with custom-built furniture cozying up to a mix of antiques hailing from different continents and periods. Positioned near the entry of each building at the Chilko Experience is a brass plaque naming both the builder and the sentimental name given to each structure. I stayed in Carl’s House, a two-story, two-bedroom cabin designed by Phil so that his friend Carl, a paraplegic, could experience the beauty of the Chilcotin.
Situated at the head of a verdant lawn that terminates at a 10-acre lake, the Main House also called Tim’s House, is a central gathering place where guests congregate for meals, socialize at the lower level bar, and connect with the outside world, as it is the only place where Wi-Fi is available. There are two guest rooms in the lodge, with a third-floor suite boasting an exquisite canopy bed crafted from 800-year-old Juniper logs. A lighthearted hand-painted mural in the Main House took 10 days to finish and depicts fly fishing bears with human characteristics reflective of important people in the Hustons’ lives.
An architectural marvel, the 2,500-square-foot, three-story, one-bedroom Tower House was built as a private residence for Phil and Anne but has since entered the lodging portfolio due to demand. Built onsite without plans and at a cost of $1,400 per square foot, Huston refers to the Tower House’s head carpenter as “the Michelangelo of logs,” and beams with pride as he recounts how the sinuous deck rail was carved with a chainsaw.
Phil is on the property all season (June through October), and likens a stay at Chilko to an “estate experience”. “You get to deal with the owner like an insider...it’s like going to Disney as a friend of Walt,” he explained. The Chilko Experience operates like a family compound, with Phil and Anne joining guests around the communal dinner table each evening. Phil’s mandate to the chef that “flavorful, upscale food be served in a casual fashion,” results in a diverse and abundant lineup of hearty fare apropos for fueling myriad outdoor pursuits. During dinner, guests chat with Phil and his affable and über-organized general manager, New Zealand Native Craig Sutherland, about what they’d like to do the next day, based on their interests/abilities and weather conditions.
Opportunities for making oneself temporarily inaccessible are hard to come by these days; at Chilko they come in spades. With just 1,000 stalwart souls spread out over 32-million acres, don’t expect cell service until you return to the Main House. During a day-long fishing expedition, we traveled the entire length of the 50-mile Chilko Lake (the largest natural high-elevation lake in North America), and didn’t see another soul. Stopping at an inlet, Phil led our group up a loosely defined trail over spongy moss-covered rocks to Muir Lake, a secret oasis ringed by mountains that is open to anyone who knows its whereabouts. We could just discern the rumbling echoes of a 200-foot waterfall obscured by acres of pine forest. A 1980s-era cabin built by a family who leased the land from the park service sits at the edge of the lake. Phil unbolted the cabin’s door and pulled out two volumes of a logbook; I felt like I was joining a naturalists’ equivalent of a secret society as I added my name to the registry.
Night sky above the Main House
Later that day we dropped anchor at a popular fishing spot where a newbie fisherman in our group snagged a bull trout on his first cast. I was content with checking out bear and moose tracks along the shoreline with Anne, and picking up flat rocks to skip along water so blue and clear it prompted me to reminisce about a snorkeling trip in the Grenadines.
Because he is so immersed in the local community, Phil knows the most colorful places and people to visit. Among these is Chendi, aka Frank Tannenbaum, a Philadelphia native who came to the area in the 1970s and has been living off of the land in the same picturesque plot ever since (and in spite of several deportation attempts by Canadian authorities). Sporting a Santa-style beard, often shoeless if the temps are above freezing, and amazingly sane to those of us who could not imagine living in such a primitive fashion, Chendi tends an organic garden, pulls driftwood from the lake for building materials, has a cell phone and internet access, fashions and sells beautiful kitchen implements from exotic woods, and would give the Dos Equis pitchman a run for his money as the most interesting man in the world (albeit for different reasons). I arrived at Chendi’s compound wondering how anyone could live so simply and departed feeling slightly envious of his simple subsistence existence.
Hiking with BooBoo on trails above the Chilko River. Photo by Bridget Williams.
The Chilko Experience is an adventure adaptable for people of all ages and abilities, with Phil and his staff committed to delivering each guest with a once-in-a-lifetime experience tailored to their interests and expectations.
All-inclusive rates at the Chilko Experience begin at $2,950 per person for 3 nights/4 days. For more information visit thechilkoexperience.com.
