There is about an acre of gently sloping, unmaintained alfalfa field/ grassland that is currently unfenced. The field grows high with alfalfa in late spring/ summer, without irrigation and then dries out and goes to seed or feeds our goats. The uncultivated grassland acreage is a gradually more sloping (10-15 degrees), open bench. It is unfenced and used to be sagebrush-bunchgrass, but all of the sage burned in 2021 so now it’s just a sparsely covered, unbroken ground with uneven topsoil/ rocky areas. The open forested area by the creek isn’t big (maybe 0.5 acres), but it’d be a good and sheltered spot for bees or an option for the right use case.
The alfalfa field has been a hayfield for horses. The rest has been occasional livestock pasture and wildlife range.
THE PROPERTY We live remotely and off-grid on 160 acres in the semi-arid ponderosa-sagebrush grasslands of the Fraser Canyon. We’re one of only two inhabited properties on the little-known 20+ km of High Bar Road. We came to this area seven years ago, and have been living at this particular property for three years. We’ve been working hard to completely overhaul the run-down, rodent-infested log cabin, to design and build smart power, water and waste systems, and to nurture our soil, gardens, forests, critters, ourselves, and others from the land. The views are vast and jaw-dropping, the night skies are big and dark, and you can walk as far as your legs can take you in multiple directions with a near zero chance of ever running into anyone else. This place is not for the faint of heart: • It’s hot in summer, cold in winter, and extremely windy in between. It’s not a desert, but it’s very arid and the sun is hot. On the plus side, it’s sunny most days, all months of the year. • This property has been touched by three fires in the past 15 years(!): one caused by lightning that started near Clinton in 2009, one started in the yard by the then-owner of this property in 2012, and one of 2021’s massive wildfires. In 2021, on the fourth day of the heat dome, the McKay Creek wildfire jumped the Fraser River just south of the property, burned most of our property and then stopped just past our property boundaries. The main areas we irrigate around the house survived, and because it was still early in the summer lots of the less-affected terrain got a good start regrowing with vigour in the following months. But fire risk is high, factors into all planning, and requires vigilance. • We’re about 45 minutes from the closest cell phone signal, an hour from the closest small town, and 2.5-3 hours from the nearest city (Kamloops) and hospital. The road to civilization includes a steep, rocky, partly-maintained gravel road that’s primarily used by off-road vehicle clubs or gravel-bikers in the summer months and hunters in the fall. • There are no public utilities and few conveniences of modern life other than what we set up and maintain ourselves. The satellite internet is off unless we decide to turn it on. • There are hostile plants, bugs, and wild animals (bears, cougars, coyotes, foxes, mule deer, moose, bighorn sheep), and if an illness, injury, animal attack, mechanical issue, natural disaster or anything else occurs, we need to stay calm and figure it out. THE AREA We’re bordered on two sides by Edge Hills Park, a rarely-used wilderness area essential to the annual migration of local Bighorn Sheep herds. The park also houses the peaks that feed Butcher Creek, the year-round water source that traverses and feeds the property. The other sides of the property share a border with our only neighbor: a cattle ranch about a 10 minute drive away. Beyond that, High Bar Road winds breathtakingly through 20+ km of stunning, remote High Bar First Nation lands along the Fraser River. We’re rich in space, and only limited by our time and energy. We’d love to have more of the land put to use by a couple with the resources, drive and grit to squeeze some productivity out of these acres, and enjoy this beautiful, rugged place.