It's always incredible to hear the amazing feedback left by those visiting our beautiful little town for the first time. This letter, from a wonderful Australian really stood out as something the whole community can be proud of! Keep the letters coming in! We love to read and post them!
TUMBLER RIDGE BRITISH COLUMBIA –Is it really worth the visit?
My Husband Alan & I had the opportunity to go exploring North of Prince George BC, in June 2016.
As new comers to the Prince George area and with a limited time to see the sights, we asked people, “What do you recommend we see?”
People were helpful, telling us all the gorgeous places to see down South – which got us to thinking what’s up North. As the saying goes do the opposite and you might be surprised; - this, as we now know was an understatement.
The brochures we found weren’t really detailed and exciting enough to get us there; however we did further research on the internet and decided to give it a visit.
We arrived late in the afternoon to what seemed to be an almost deserted town and headed to the Information centre.
The Visitor Info Councillor Gladys was good – suggesting a few things that might be of interest.
One of the locals Gabriel, who works at the Dinosaur museum came into the information centre and we overheard him chatting about a night time tour to see the dinosaur tracks. That sounded great so we decided we would book in .
What we realised was there was a wealth of interesting things to do in Tumbler Ridge and there was no tours available for what we wanted to do – which was hiking.
Now, if you have grown up in bear country, you would probably take off on your own and be cool calm and collected about the hike. Well not so for Alan & I. We had tried to go hiking in the forest in PG and because we got such a wide variety of different comments about bears, we just didn’t feel easy about going on our own.
Enter Jerrilyn and Sarah at the Info Centre. Well things speed up from there, the girls where onto finding a local to take us on a hike. We were amazed at their willingness to help us get to see Tumbler ridge in all its beauty.
Now things get interesting – the chappie they decided to ask had just returned from his work up North, yet they insisted he would be perfect. We left the Info centre having given our details and hoped they would reach the guy.
Within an hour Collin Ball was on the phone and we arranged to meet at the Dinosaur centre to have a brief chat.
That chat lead to the most amazing day we could have ever had in Tumbler Ridge – with Collin and Jewell – his gorgeous dog.
Collin picked us up at 6am the following morning (we didn’t think t was early – however we didn’t realise Collin and Jewell had already been on a massive hike the day before) and we headed to the Boulder gardens. Collin’s 1st choice to show off the sites of Tumbler Ridge.
The drive out was good and we were relaxed and so happy to be with someone who knew where to hike, and also we believed, could handle any bear issue – well were we all in for a treat – I guess f anything is going to happen it may as well happen at the beginning of the day – right- and it did.
We rounded the shingle road to where Collin would park the car and we jolly near freaked out –THE BIGGEST GRIZZLE ran right in front of Collin’s vehicle – it was so close we could see its muscles move as it ran off – Gripes I couldn’t believe what we had just seen at the beginning of the day – it was fabulous and a little frightening all at the same timeJ We just didn’t expect that and we didn’t have the camera ready. However as Collin said – that was meant just for us – we agree it was fabulous and what a great way to start the day – yet here is the thing – had Collin not been with us, Alan & I would have been a mess, we would have probably gone off the road trying to get out of there. Haha – Honestly if you haven’t dealt with bears before, you need to have someone who has – or you’ll miss out on so much.
The time we spent at Boulder gardens was nothing short of magical – how does all this happen you keep asking yourself – or in this case Collin – who comes up with a different answer each timeJ
We spent 5 and a half hours taking in this breathtaking site before we headed off to The ShipYard, Titanic, Tarn and Tower trails- yes we kept going – and we are thankful Collin was enthusiastic enough to stay with us.
Once again we were in awe of what was but a few hours away from Prince George.
The sights were once again magnificent and spell binding all at the same time. The fresh air, the flowers - THE PEACE – was incredible.
Our day didn’t end there – no, with only a limited amount of time in Tumbler Ridge , Collin felt we should see Badcock Falls – well are we pleased we did . It was totally different to where we had spent the past 7 and a half hours and held a beauty all of its own.
There was one other place that I had wanted to see – the Kinuseo Falls – the brochure looked fabulous and Collin was willing to oblige and drove the long distance on an unsealed road so we could experience the falls.
Wow, what a site and how magical it would have been if we had taken a picnic there – just to end the 12 hour day at such a place was perfect. We don’t believe that our photos can do it justice – Collin’s, on the other hand do it more than that – you just need to take a look: https://www.facebook.com/collinatplay
In one day we saw more than most people will ever see if they visit Tumbler Ridge – for that we thank Collin, Jerrilyn, Sarah , Gladys & Jewell . We so appreciate your help in organising this Jerrilyn and Sarah.
Collin and Jewell how do words do it justice as to the day we enjoyed with you both – thanks so very much Regards Sandy & Alan Harding
P.S We would like to say to the tourist who questions whether they should visit Tumbler Ridge,
The answer is definitely YES – you are so close to a beautiful part of the world that you may never experience again. Regardless of whether you like to hike or not, Tumbler Ridge is set to impress you.
