Fort St John August 16 2023
Dam visiting today. We go to WAC Bennett dam first and take a tour. Unfortunately, security means no access to the dam and it’s workings anymore. Built in the 1960s this dam produces 30% of BC’s electricity, it is also one of the world’s largest earth-filled structures and one of the largest reservoirs.
We carry on to the much smaller Peace Canyon Dam which produces the same amount of power, but uses fewer and larger turbines. It also uses the Peace River to turn the turbines.
Downstream near Fort St John is the site c dam started in 2015 and still under construction. It will also utilize the reservoir waters at the WAC Bennett Dam and thus will have a much smaller footprint.
We are now definitely in farmland, lots of cultivation and harvesting if gay and grains along the river in the valley around Hudson’s Hope. We see deer today and one large black bear trotting down a gravel work site and scrambling over the highway barrier to reach the hillside.
Overnight at our favorite place, Walmart in Fort St John.