Buck Hill (British Columbia) facts for kids

Buck Hill is a cool hill in central British Columbia, Canada. It's about 17 kilometers (11 miles) north of a town called Clearwater. This hill stands tall on the side of Trophy Mountain and is very close to the edge of Wells Gray Provincial Park.

Buck Hill: A Volcano's Story

Buck Hill is a special type of volcano called a cinder cone. Imagine a cone-shaped hill made from bits of hardened lava and ash. It's part of the Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field, an area with many volcanoes.

The last time Buck Hill erupted was about 10,000 years ago. This was during the last ice age, when huge glaciers covered the land. When the volcano erupted, a mix of lava pieces and water flowed down. This mix hardened in nearby areas like Second and Third Canyons.

After the eruption, a large glacier moved over Buck Hill. This glacier helped to smooth out its sides. If you look at the west side of the hill, you can still find several bowl-shaped craters from its volcanic past.

How to Get to Buck Hill

Buck Hill is one of the easiest volcanoes to reach in the Wells Gray Park area. You can drive almost all the way to its base! To get there, you take Trophy Mountain Road. This road branches off Clearwater Valley Road, which is also known as Wells Gray Park Road.

From Trophy Mountain Road, you'll follow some older logging and mining roads. These roads lead to places where people used to dig for decorative lava rock. However, it's not safe to climb Buck Hill right now. Many trees died between 2005 and 2007 because of tiny bugs called pine bark beetles. These dead trees can fall over very easily, even when there's just a light breeze.

The History Behind the Name

Buck Hill got its name in the 1960s from a woman named Ida DeKelver. She was a sheep rancher and guide from Clearwater. Ida named the hill "Buck Hill" because she saw so many deer (male deer are called bucks) in the area.

Ida and her husband, Emil DeKelver, moved to the Clearwater Valley in 1959. They started a farm near Candle Creek. At first, they raised dairy cows. In 1962, they bought land on Trophy Mountain for their animals. They also bought 100 sheep and grew their herd to 300! The sheep loved the green meadows on Trophy Mountain.

The DeKelvers had a trail they used to move their sheep between their farm and the mountain meadows. This trip took three days each spring and fall. Later, they changed their business to guiding and trail-riding on Trophy Mountain. They built a new, shorter trail up Spahats Creek.

When logging started on Trophy Mountain in 1979, new roads were built. These roads went almost to the top of the mountain. This made it hard for the DeKelvers to continue their guiding business, so they retired. Ida DeKelver became a local historian and even started the Yellowhead Museum, which is now closed.