|Rolls of hay, winter fodder for cattle.|
|Stony mountain peak. I'm told it's called "The Finger".|
Humans are rare on the Chilcotin Plateau. Driving the highway at the busiest part of the day, I have counted, repeatedly, an average of 4 minutes between cars. At night, I can drive for hours rarely seeing a light. I find the sense of space exhilarating; it's me and the stars and the empty land. I can breathe.
Coming past the town of Kleena Kleene (named after the river) in daylight, I see green fields, a few haystacks, a scattering of houses. About 20 people live here year round. A minute later, the road curves, and I'm alone again.
Kleena Kleene is one of the driest locations in British Columbia because of the rain shadow effect of Coast Mountains located directly to the west. The temperature is cooler than the other similarly dry locations in the province. (From Wikipedia)
In spite of the dryness, the bottom of the valley is green, because the river snakes along gently, winding and looping around the hayfields. The few houses, up on the slopes, sit on dry, baked dust.