We’ve been roaming the wilds of northern British Columbia for over a week now. Epic grandeur abounds – gargantuan mountains rearing on all sides, we’ve been crisscrossing the mighty Fraser River as it loops across the province, makings its way down to Vancouver. Yestarday we came to its source, Moose Lake, a massive body of water folded in between dignified peaks, marbled in snow, topped by their own cloud formations. We’ve seen bear, moose, and plenty of other wild animals, particularly in the Zoo at Fort St James.
This bar well deserves the title, from the outside it looks like a derelict building. Inside, stuffed wolves, cougars and mountain goats glare at the patrons, a rogues gallery whose antics caused the bar to be given the honorific of ‘bar where you’re most likely to have your ear bitten off” in a BC magazine. Joey Only, the punk-rock country redneck we’ve been touring with, knows them all and they treated us kindly, engaging in a blood sport known locally as ‘dancing’ – to us it looked like a rabid pack of werewolves fighting to see who gets to rush the stage first.
We’re on the trail of Aurora Jane out here, she toured recently through these parts and played the Dunster Music festival last year. Yesterday we dropped into the site, a gorgeous setting directly under the mountains, encircled by the looping river.
Mick Daley - Travelling musician and author 