It’s dawn on the Harrison River, and I’m out on a forest trail listening to the piercing chorus of bald eagles perched in the tall cottonwood trees around me. The majestic raptors soar above the treetops, filling the air with their eerie, high-pitched song. They’ve come in the thousands from Alaska because in mid-November the Chehalis flats on the river are writhing with spawning salmon. As light breaks across the densely forested mountains, they perch in pairs, watching and waiting for the perfect moment to swoop in for an easy breakfast.
Photo by Sandpiper Resort
Look over the water…
… at the whitecaps created by thrashing fish in their last throes of life, and at the birds waiting to consume them, and you get to witness a primeval cycle of wildlife that inspires stillness, awe and respect.
I’m on the cusp of one of British Columbia’s wildest regions, steps from the foothills of the mountains, flanked by forests and steep vertical rockfaces. But my home base for this weekend of eagle viewing is anything but wild: a woodland cabin at Sandpiper Resort in Harrison Mills. The 160-acre property, formerly the home of the Pretty family, has been an inn since 1995, but its woodland cabins were added in 2022. Each one is a microhome with a kitchenette, a living room with vaulted ceiling and gas fireplace and a large bedroom where a king bed overlooks a glass shower and an oval tub. Refined but understated, the cabins deliver seclusion with fine linens and soft robes.
Their most unique feature is the ofuro, a deep, outdoor Japanese bathtub filled with steaming water. Located on the private, secluded patio of the cabin, the ofuro is steps from the forest, the river, a tumbling creek and the soaring eagles. I sprinkle the water with lavender bath salts and sink into the delicious warmth of the ofuro before bedtime and first thing in the morning, wondering if there could possibly be a more serene way to start and end the day.
Sandpiper Resort has …
… an eagle viewing platform that overlooks the Chehalis Flats, but to get a closer look, I book a boat ride with Harrison Eco Tours, departing from the dock outside Harrison Hot Springs Resort. With Frank Kozel at the steering wheel, the jet boat whizzes along Harrison Lake’s flat water, past harbour seals that have swum 50 miles from the ocean to pursue the salmon run and their next meal. Before long we enter the river and begin to see trees speckled with white eagle heads and gravel sandbars filled with the large birds. Salmon carcasses litter the banks of the lake and around us, large salmon flip their bodies into the air before splashing back in the water.
Their somersaults are all the more amazing considering that the fish are in the final days and weeks of their lives. “It’s going to smell pretty bad around here in the next few weeks,” warns Kozel, as he gazes over the hundreds of rotting salmon carcasses. On our way back he maneuvers the boat close to a rock wall where First Nations have carved a petroglyph and painted pictographs. “They could be hundreds or even thousands of years old, but no-one has carbon dated them, so we don’t know how old they really are,” he says.
Back in the town of Harrison Hot Springs, the cold winter months have chased families from the beach and the driving rain keeps outdoor recreation to a minimum. We walk through town to the public hot springs mineral pool, change into swimsuits and warm up in the 29-degree Celsius water. Built in the 70s, the indoor pool offers a vintage but comfortable soaking experience for locals and visitors who aren’t staying at the hot springs resort, where the mineral pools are exclusively for guests.
Photos by Sandpiper Resort
Later, with tingling, puckered skin,…
… we drive through Agassiz, stopping at farm stands to purchase beets, squash, garlic and other vegetables from the late Fall harvest. The valley is home to two superb creameries that should be on every foodie’s list. At Farmhouse Cheese we savour the smooth, light texture of goat gouda, while at Creekside Creamery we sample La Belle Vallee, a Gruyere-style cheese with a rich, nutty flavour, and Garlic Raclette, which was awarded one of the top three in Canada’s Royal Cheese Competition last year. Before leaving we head to the milk dispenser, where visitors can dispense liters of full-cream milk straight from the dairy. It tastes a hundred times better than anything we’re used to from the grocery store.
At our last stop, Kilby Historic Site, we visit the general store and hotel of the community that lived at Harrison Mills from the 1920s until the 70s. The store is a time capsule that delivers a vivid glimpse of living history and a sense of the lives and shopping habits of the people that lived there during those 50 years.
The Kilby family sold everything from hardware to hats, groceries to drugs, and many of those original items remain on its shelves. Open the cheese case and you can still inhale the aroma of cheddar. In the cupboards, packages still contain baking powder and spices, while jars of pickled vegetables and jam are labeled with the year 1934. In the hotel rooms, chamber pots remain beneath the beds to avoid guests having to walk to the outhouse in the middle of the night.
With renewed gratitude for indoor plumbing, we return to Sandpiper Resort in time for a downpour that leaves the 100-year-old trees on the property dripping with moisture and the mountains hidden behind heavy mist. Retreating to the ofuro, we run a new tub of steaming water and clamber inside, the patter of rain like soft music around us. There’s no question that a weekend in the verdant Harrison Valley, surrounded by the cry of eagles and the replenishing virtues of hot water, is the perfect tonic to winter.
If you go:
Sandpiper Resort’s ofuro tubs are confined to its ‘woodland series’ of cabins, though all of its accommodations, including the rooms in the 1924 lodge, are beautifully and comfortably furnished. The resort’s River’s Edge Restaurant offers casual dining comfort food and is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
sandpiperresort.ca; (877) 796-1001
Harrison Eco Tours offers sightseeing and fishing trips on Harrison Lake and Harrison River all year round, weather permitting. The 90-minute eagle viewing tour costs $129 for adults, $106 for seniors and half price for kids 16 and under.
harrisonecotours.com
The Circle Farm Tour is a guide to exploring the farm stores, cheese makers and artisans of the valley. Get information at the tourism office as you enter town and spend some time browsing its Sasquatch Museum, which contains an interesting history of Sasquatch sightings, footprints, legend and lore.
499 Hot Springs Rd.; tourismharrisonhotsprings.com
Don’t Miss — Kilby Historic Site in Harrison Mills, but plan your visit carefully because its open days and times vary, especially in the winter months. The site has farm animals and a cute café selling great pie.
kilby.ca; (604) 796-9576
Photo by Creekside Cheese + Creamery
Photo by Kilby Historic Site