![[Murphy Shewchuk's many books include Coquihalla Country and Okanagan Country. They cover hike trails, cycle routes, backroads and trout fishing lakes in the BC Interior.]](images/biopic-sm.jpg)
The Outdoor Adventurer
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Murphy Shewchuk
World Wide Web Volume 1 Number 1
Take the low road...
I like the new Coquihalla Highway. I like the opportunity to drive from Merritt to Vancouver in well under three hours. I like being able to drive from Merritt to Kamloops in under an hour -- when I must. Most of all, I like the way it has taken much of the traffic off the low road between Merritt and Kamloops.
The low road used to be called Highway 5. It was relegated to secondary status and renamed 5A when Coquihalla Phase II opened a half dozen years ago. Although the snowplows aren't as quick to respond in winter and the speed limit is still 80 kilometres per hour, the low road has much more to offer than the new sterile divided highway over the mountains.
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Murray Church, 8 km north of Merritt, B.C.
© Murphy Shewchuk
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It has history and fishing!
Nicola, a tiny community 10 km northeast of Merritt on 5A, is one of the oldest farming settlements in the province. Nicola was an influential Indian chief. His native name, Hwistesmet-quen, was too much of a mouthful for the fur traders of the early 1800s. They named him Nicholas and the derivative stuck to him and this settlement as well as numerous other local geographic features. In the late 1860s, pioneers such as John Clapperton established a thriving community here. The Murray Church, built in 1876, still stands as an impressive landmark at Nicola.
Side trips abound along the low road. The first diversion is at the foot of Nicola Lake and is a 12 km paved access road to Monck Provincial Park. Sandy beaches and a ponderosa pine setting make this park the summertime favorite of many.
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Quilchena Hotel, 20 km northeast of Merritt, B.C.
© Murphy Shewchuk
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One of my favorite photographic subjects -- and a pleasant place for a meal in the summer -- is the Quilchena Hotel, 22 km northeast of Merritt. The majestic Quilchena Hotel (pronounced quill-shana) first opened its doors in 1908. Built by pioneer rancher Joseph Guichon to serve the carriage trade between Nicola and Kamloops, it was heralded as one of the finest hotels in the B.C. Interior. Polo was THE game in the nearby meadow land where the hackers and duffers now pound at the turf.
Prohibition closed the bar and the Quilchena Hotel in 1919. However, Guy Rose, Old Joe's grandson, reopened it in 1958, keeping much of the flair of the turn of the century.
Two more detours beckon me when I have time to spare. The first, the old Pennask Lake Road, is a shortcut to Peachland and Kelowna that shouldn't take more than a day. Unless, of course, the fishing is good or the mud holes are bad. The second is the Douglas Lake Road. It's not usually too muddy to travel. In fact, dust is more often the problem. Douglas Lake Road does have a few fishing holes and the 200,000 hectare (500,000 acre) Douglas Lake Ranch as a distraction. This vast area of grasslands, lakes and timber contributes significantly to the 15,000-head of beef the Nicola Valley produces each year.
Stump Lake, set in the grasslands roughly halfway between Merritt and Kamloops, is the next major diversion.
When the first settlers came to the valley there were white stumps sticking out of the lake -- thus the name. Now wind surfers and fishermen add color to the blue-black waters on the summer weekends.
Nicola Lake and Stump Lake are the largest along the route, but half a dozen more fishing holes beckon before the low road winds up Cardew Hill and along the plateau at Knutsford. The old store closed here a few years ago and the suburbs of Kamloops creep ever closer, but there is still history in them there hills. A little poking around might reveal an abandoned turn-of-the-century schoolhouse or a stone cairn marking where Constable Johnny Ussher was killed in action in 1879 by the notorious McLean Brothers.
A few minutes more and I'm in downtown Kamloops, ten minutes longer than the new Coquihalla. But that ten minutes can take me back more than a century in time -- the closest thing to a time machine I'm likely to see.
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Adapted for the World Wide Web from
Coquihalla Country, A Guide to BC's North Cascade Mountains & Nicola Valley
by Murphy Shewchuk.
For personal use only. Not for distribution in any form without written permission from the author.
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![[Murray Church, 8 km northeast of Merritt, B.C.. Consult Coquihalla Country for more info on trout fishing, bird watching and water sports in the Nicola Valley - Copyright Murphy Shewchuk.]](images/muc-108b.jpg)
![[Quilchena Hotel, 20 km northeast of Merritt, B.C.. Consult Coquihalla Country for more info on trout fishing, bird watching and water sports in the Nicola Valley - Copyright Murphy Shewchuk.]](images/quil-03.jpg)