Nestled in the beautiful Bulkley Valley amongst some of BC’s finest outdoor recreational opportunities is the town of Houston. If you are an outdoor enthusiast, there is always room on the riverbank or the many scenic nearby lakes for fishing and boating, or you can enjoy walking and hiking on the many trails in the area.

I invite visitors to our community to stop and relax in our beautiful Steelhead Park along Highway 16 which is the home of, and showcases the magnificent 975 lbs Hungry Hill Grizzly Bear in its natural habitat for all to see and can be viewed 24 hours per day.

In Steelhead Park you will also see the World’s largest fly fishing rod constructed entirely of aluminum and is anodized bronze to simulate graphite. It is 60 ft. long, weighs approx. 800 lbs. The reel has a diameter of 36 inches. The fly is a florescent orange “Skykomish Sunrise” and is 21 inches long.

If its nature you like, you can take a leisurely walk at the Duck Pond. There is a viewing platform from which you can view the many species that make this their home for the summer and include: Common Goldeneye, American Coot, Pintail, Mallard, Blue-Winged Teal, and Wood Duck.

Owen Hat, a popular climbing area south of Houston, is all that remains of an ancient volcano. Great rock features, including bolted and top-roped climbing routes.

While in Houston, be sure to visit our brand new state of the art Leisure Facility open year round, which has a 25m four lane pool, leisure pool with lazy river, hot tub, steam room and fitness gym.

There are numerous geocaches in Houston and surrounding area for year round adventure. Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which participants use a GPS receiver to hide and seek containers called geocaches anywhere in the world.

Our friendly merchants are always willing to help you with your shopping needs and dining.

Whatever your interests, we are sure to have something to keep you and your family entertained.

Hope to see you
in Houston!

The Village is accessible by the only paved road into Babine Lake and has a marina with moorage slips, a concrete boat launch, day use picnic areas on the beach, Copperview Park in the centre of town and a Visitor Information Centre with laundry, washroom and shower facilities, as well as a sani-dump. Accommodation, gasoline, and groceries are available in Granisle.

Volcanoes, mammoths, trading posts, pictographs, mining for gold, silver and copper – this area is as rich in history as it is in natural beauty.

Many visitors catch a glimpse of moose, deer, bear, fox, coyote, wolf, eagle, geese and ducks – so bring your camera along! Whether your interests lay in hiking, fishing, boating, camping or just relaxing – our area is waiting for you.

The largest Sockeye, Spawning Channels in the world are located within 10 kms of Granisle.

The Sockeye return to spawn in late August, early September and the river mouth runs red with fish. Also within a 10 km radius you will find Red Bluff Provincial Park which is maintained by the Village of Granisle (reservations available through the Village of Granisle Office), small lakes and non-serviced campgrounds, restaurant, pub, full service campgrounds, and an extremely rustic 9- hole, par 3 golf course.

Mountains and beautiful scenery surround Babine Lake, while the shoreline is dotted with secluded sandy beaches.

Fly fisherman flock to the lake to get their chance at catching one of its large cutthroat and rainbow trout. If fly-fishing isn’t what you were aiming for, trolling for lake char and kokanee is another option.

2. Attractions: Check out the World’s Largest Flyrod, which stands at 60 feet long and 64 kg. Check out the enormous grizzly bear that weighs almost 1000 pounds, it can be seen 24 hours a day at the Chamber of Commerce.

3. Baseball/Softball: Playing fields are located throughout the town. Get a group together for a game.

4. Bird Watching: A variety of species unique to Northern BC can be sighted. These species include bald eagles, Canadian geese, Stellar’s jays and many more.

5. Boating, Canoeing & Kayaking: Enjoy boating on one of our many lakes in the area. Bring your fishing rod and camera, sit back ad take in the wilderness beauty.

6. Bowling: Six lanes of 5 pin, cosmic bowling on weekends, reservations required.

7. Camping: Enjoy spending a weekend in one of Houston’s municipal campgrounds, or one of the many forestry campgrounds found on our beautiful lakes and rivers.

8. Circle Tours: Enjoy scenic tours from Houston to Babine Lake, or from Houston to Francois Lake.

9. Community Events: Check out what is happening by calling the Houston Chamber of Commerce.

10. Farmers Market: Open to everyone during the summer months at the Chamber of Commerce.

11. Forestry Tours: Take a guided tour and see for yourself how the forests are being reforested, harvested and utilized.

12. Four Seasons Park: Rodeo grounds and baseball diamonds are located here.

13. Freshwater Fishing: Fish our lakes and rivers for species such as trout, salmon & steelhead.

14. Golf: Golf at one of our local nine hole courses or try our mini-golf.

15. Helicopter Tours: Call ahead of time and book a tour with one of our local helicopter companies.

16. Hiking Trails: An abundance of hiking trails offer breath taking scenery, and a chance to enjoy wildlife.

17. Join a class: Our community hosts a wide variety of classes from beginner to advanced levels. A few classes include: Yoga, Kickboxing, Tae Kwan Do, Gymnastics, Swimming and Photography.

18. Mill Tours: Join us for a one to three hour tour of one of our local saw-mills, HFP or the World’s Largest, Canfor.

19. Mountain Biking: Bike along Houston’s community walking trails, or try some of the trails on the local mountains and take in the beautiful scenery.

20. Nightlife: Enjoy our pub and bar for a friendly atmosphere and good food.

21. Photography: What better way to remember your vacation than with your own photos? Take advantage of our beautiful mountain ranges and wildlife.

22. Playgrounds: Houston has several playgrounds located throughout town, they offer fun and relaxation for all.

23. Public Library: The pubic Library offers a wide variety of information about the town, free internet service and reading activities for kids.

24. Restaurants: Enjoy a variety of choices from Ethnic to Western, casual to fine, pizza or sandwiches in one of our local restaurants.

25. Rock Climbing: Owen Hat offers great rock climbing.

26. Shopping: Houston Shopping Mall and downtown Houston offers you a variety of stores to fit your needs.

27. Skateboarding: Check out the Skateboard Park found behind the clinic.

28. Soccer: Gather some friends and a soccer ball for a great game of soccer.

29. Swimming: Go swimming in one of the local lakes or take an Aquafit class in the Houston Leisure Facility.

30. Tennis: Bring your rackets and have fun in the summer weather.

31. Workout: Keep in shape by working out in Steelhead Fitness Center, the Leisure Facility gym, or take an Aquafit, Kickboxing or aerobics class.;

Elwyn Lake – From Highway 16, turn south on the road at Topley, four-wheel drive access to the lake.

Goosely Lake – Drive 1km north of Houston on highway 16 and turn west on Buck Flats Road, turn left at 34km and drive 13km.

Helen Lake – Turn east off Highway 16 at 27km north of Houston onto the Summit Lake road. Turn left 6.5km past the farm and go 5km. The lake is on the left. Rough road.

Irrigation Lake – Turn west off of Highway 16, 14km north of Houston.

Klinger Lake – Go west 2km from Houston on Highway 16 to the Morice River forest road headed south. Drive 2.5km and turn right. Turn right again after 3km on the Telkwa Forest Service road. You’ll see a turnout at 4.3km. The trail follows a fence line.

Lamprey Lake – Go west 2km from Houston on Highway 16 to the Morice River forest road. Drive south 65km and turn left on to the Morice-Lamprey forest road and go 8km to Lamprey Lake.

McBride Lake – Go west 2km from Houston on highway 16 to the Morice River forest road. Turn right (west) at 27km onto the Morice west FSR to 44km and then turn left on the Morice river FSR to 65km and keep right.

Morice Lake – 84km southwest of Houston follow the Morice River road which starts at the west end of Houston, turn right (west) at 27km and left at 44km.

Morice River – Go west 2km from Houston on Highway 16 to the Morice River road. Turn right (west) at 27km onto the morice west FSR. Road follows the river.

Nadina Lake – Go west 2km from Houston on Highway 16 to the MoriceRiver forest road then straight on the Morice Owen FSR to the Morice Nadina FSR and right at 81km and right again to the lake at the spawning channels.

Owen Lake – Go west 2km from Houston on highway 16 to the Morice River forest road keep straight at 27km on the Morice Owen FSR. You’ll see the lake on the right at 40km.

Parrott Lake – Go west 1km from Houston and turn south (left) on the Buck Flats Road. Bear right and go to 42km on the Parrott Lake road.

Shoestring Lake – Turn east off highway 16 at 26km north of Houston onto Summit Lake road, drive to 8km, then turn right at 4km then left at 5km.

Summit Lake – Turn east off highway 16 at 26km north of Houston onto summit lake road, bear right at 6.5km and bear right again.

Sunset Lake – Turn south off highway 16 at Topley. Cross the tracks. Turn right at 5km on sunset lake road.

Sweeney Lake – Go west 2km from Houston on highway 16 to the Morice River forest road. Keep straight at 27km on the morice Owen FSR. Turn right at 56km on the Morice Tahtsa FSR and go 16km south of Twinkle Lake turnoff.

Twinkle Lake – Go west 2km from Houston on Highway 16 to the Morice River forest road. Keep straight at 27km on the Morice Owen FSR. Turn right at 56km on the Morice Tahtsa FSR and go 13km past the Nadina Lake turnoff.;

We are also going to work at expanding our trail system to improve access for hikers, bikers, snow mobiles, and quads.

We are working hard with BC Parks to keep Red Bluff Park as the gem of Babine Lake. A BMX park is also in the plans for this year with the hopes of hosting races next year. Our area is world famous for our great fishing and out door adventure opportunities.

The Fathers day Fishing Derby is always very popular and we are expecting a great turn out this year as well. In August we will be hosting an adventure race for the first time. These are just a few of the attractions that Granisle and Area have to offer.

If you have never been here or have not had a chance to experience our hospitality for a while I encourage you to visit us and see for yourself the wonders of the area.

On behalf of the Council and citizens of Granisle I wish you a safe and happy summer and hope to see you here.;

The adventure race is being coordinated by Mark Aussem, general manager of Mammoth Lodge in Granisle, with involvement from EcoSpirit Adventures, based out of Vancouver.

EcoSpirit Adventures is a well-established organization that operates as an adventure club, created for people who love the outdoors and want to share their adventures with others.

The club is member driven and volunteer based.

In the future, the adventure race in Granisle may be planned as part of a racing series organized by Eco-Spirit called ‘The Lunatic Fringe’.

“I am looking forward to 2006 to develop The Lunatic Fringe ‘Recreation Revolution’ in the Granisle area.

We are planning to incorporate local industry as a key part of our event. It is our intent to demonstrate that recreation and industry can co-exist while we promote the recreational tourism opportunities in the Houston/Granisle area,” said Murray Comley of EcoSpirit Adventures.

The race would be open to 100 teams of 4-person co-ed and solos. Skill levels can range from novice to intermediate.

“Next year we hope to offer races both for the serious racer and less serious racer,” said Aussem.

As a point to point race, the teams would compete from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon, with a stop overnight. Winners are determined based on accumulated time.

“We would like to make this series a more social event,” Aussem said. “So people come out to spend the weekend and support the racers.”If you would like any more information on the adventure race, contact Mark Aussem locally at Mammoth Lodge, (250) 697-2900, or for further information EcoSpirit races, check out the web site www.thelunaticfringe.ca;

By May 15, all of the pamphlets, desks, and telephone lines should be transferred out of the barnstyle building on Highway 118 in Granisle to the Mammoth Lodge.

Mark Aussem, general manager of Mammoth Lodge, said that the move was a joint decision by the District of Granisle and Mammoth Lodge.

“The main reason it is being moved is to provide better hours of service,” Aussem explained.

“The village doesn’t have a lot of money, and when the Visitor Info Centre was operating long hours, it would be an expense on the budget. By us taking it here, we are saving the village money because we are not charging anything for it to be here and we can offer more hours.”

The Visitor Information Centre will be operating independently out of the old gift shop in the hotel.

Gerald Ewald, mayor of Granisle, said that they have been trying to get grants from Tourism BC for the past few years, but they haven’t had the number of visitors needed to get grants.

“We told them, ‘We’re moving it. If you don’t like it, too bad,’ and now the grants start coming in,” he said.

Edie Hargrove has been the Visitor Info Centre manager for the past 6 years and is looking forward to the relocation.

“I think it will be a good move,” she said. “We have quite a few people that come in during the summer, and people who come back every year.”

So the next time you are in Granisle, you can fi nd all the information you need at the Visitor Information Centre in Mammoth Lodge.;

Jamaican squash soup, recommended by general manager Mark Aussem, is not the only intriguing item on the new menu at Mammoth Lodge.

From cafe specials, such as Reubens and Buffalo Burgers, to dining room entrees of cilantro pesto skewered prawns and marinated pork loin chops in dijon mustard and sage, Mammoth Lodge is offering a plethora of tastes to the residents and visitors of Granisle.

Mammoth Lodge, formerly known as Lakeside Lodge, was purchased by Granisle Development Corporation in January 2005.

Mark Aussem and the Granisle Development Corp. have big plans for Mammoth Lodge.

The lodge is now open seven days a week from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Coffee Garden cafe, and the dining room is open for dinner. When the liquor license is approved, the lounge will be open later hours.

Mammoth Lodge has 37 rooms available, as well as a conference room and banquet facility, which, after renovations, will be able to accommodate 200 seated guests.

Granisle Development Corp. is expecting to spend over $1 million in renovations over the next three years.

The rooms, lounge, banquet room, conference room, and library and business offi ce will receive renovations. In addition the deck will be extended and personal balconies and jacuzzi tubs will be added to lakefront rooms.

In the future, Aussem is planning to build a day spa and covered pool, and to develop the waterfront area as a park. The exterior of the building will receive some alterations, as the roof will be changed to maximize window view.

With the kitchen, cafe and dining room in full operation, Aussem has brought in staff to cook and serve. Benedict Kiely, who was trained in London and worked in Hampton Court Palace and the Canary Islands, is the off-site executive chef. Maureen Newman, head chef onsite, is a Dubrulle trained chef who was the personal chef for Mrs. L.L. Bentley, wife of the founder of Canfor.

Kim Kennedy is the breakfast cook and baker.

Assistant manager Ian Booth was drawn out to Granisle for the outdoor environment. He has over 25 years experience in the tourism and recreation industry.

Prior to the purchase of Mammoth Lodge, Aussem had been living in Vancouver.

“My brother knew about the arena and he found out about this place,” he said.

Lakeside Lodge had become the property of the Village of Granisle when the former owners failed to pay taxes.

“We couldn’t make an agreement with the former owners or the mortgage holders so we had to wait to buy it from the Village,” said Aussem.

And the Village is pleased to have Granisle Development Corp. on board.

“They are willing to work with the Village to create commerce in Granisle,” said Granisle mayor Gerald Ewald. “They come from a tourism background, and know that you don’t just sit and wait, you need to get out there and advertise.” In addition to the purchase of the lodge, Granisle Development Corp. has also bought some condos in Granisle, which they hope to use as student housing for hockey camps.

The idea for residential hockey schools stems from the management of Granisle Development Corp.

Mark Aussem’s brother, Wayne, is part of the company and he has extensive experience in the arena and recreation fi eld. The Village of Granisle has also received government grants to revitalize the arena.;

The Village of Granisle is hoping to construct a bull, cow, and calf mammoth as a stamp on the community. The mammoth statues would be a tribute to the Columbia mammoth remains found at Noranda’s Bell copper mine site in 1971.

“We are hoping to encorporate the statues into an interpretive area that could be informative and educational,” said Mark Aussem, general manager of Mammoth Lodge.

The statues would be made of fibreglass and would be life-size, about 13ft high to the shoulders of the bull mammoth.;

“People asked me in high school if I had ever considered the modelling thing, and I said, nah, that’s a little girl dream. Sure, I had done the little red plastic high heels and all that when I was small, but I had never considered it as something I could really do,” she says.

But one day a photographer asked her the same question – had she considered being a model?

So, more out of curiosity than anything else, Andrea looked up some agents on the Internet. She found an agency in Prince George and checked it out with her mother. To her amazement the agent, Carolyn, immediately said she was interested in taking Andrea on.

Apparently she has “the look.”

“I don’t know what ‘the look’ is,” Andrea says. “You can’t really describe it. It changes all the time.”

Whatever it is, she has what modelling agencies are after. It has landed her an international contract. She has already made her way down countless runways in B.C., has acted in two movies, and on May 22 she is leaving for a modelling job in New York, where other doors are expected to open for her.

Her first job was a fashion show in Prince George in the fall of 2000.

“I was so nervous I thought for sure I was going to trip and fall off the runway,” she remembers, chuckling.

She has a professional modelling certificate, which she earned after about two months of daily classes in self-confidence, etiquette, personal hygiene, and, of course, runway walking.

What’s a typical day like for a model?

“Well, each day is different,” Andrea says. “It’s really not as glamorous as people think. On-location shoots mean you get up early and the days are very long. There’s a lot of time in hair and makeup and there’s a lot of time just waiting around while they set up. My shortest day was about six hours, and I’ve worked lots of 14 hour days.”

While she waits, she reads and works on courses she’s taking. She’s studying business management.

The New York contract is a big thing. She’s there as one of a group of about half a dozen from the Prince George agency. Unlike some of the others, however, Andrea already has work booked there. She’ll be a fitting model for designers, and will probably model the finished products, says Andrea’s mother, Susan Stringfellow, who gave her daughter a foot up by driving her to Prince George many weekends so Andrea could pursue her modelling career.

While in New York Andrea expects to be doing castings or auditions for other jobs.

“If she does well she could be staying down there,” says her mother.

Other agents have expressed interest in Andrea as well. One is from Barcelona, and that “is still up in the air,” Susan says, but it could mean a contract for a job in Spain. Also, there’s an agency in Vancouver interested in Andrea for movie parts, says her mother.

She adds that Andrea has completed a three-day acting workshop with executive producer Jordan Randell, the former head casting director for Star Search America and the person responsible for the careers of LeAnn Rimes, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

Andrea landed a non-speaking part in a movie in Vancouver early in her career.

That led to a bigger part in the movie Pestilence, shot in Prince George earlier this year. Andrea was there for more than a month and finished her part in April.

Andrea, now 18, began her modelling and acting career relatively late. Many models begin at 13 or 14 or even younger.

She says there are common misconceptions about being a model.

“What most people don’t understand is that modelling is a job. People think you are what they see, but that’s not who I am in everyday life. It’s separate. Modelling, acting, they’re really not that different.”

She talks about how she shows up in the morning in her jeans or sweat pants, and how, after hair and makeup, she is transformed into someone else’s perception of what she needs to look like to sell a product or play a part. “That’s not me,” she stresses.

Another misconception about models is that most of them have eating disorders, she says.

“Sure, I have met models with eating disorders – it’s definitely there. But that doesn’t mean it affects everyone. Carolyn (my agent) is really good about having us keep a healthy lifestyle.”

The other models she works with are like family to her. They function as a support group to handle the various stresses of the job. They travel to conventions together, and will be in New York as a group.

It’s been about a year and a half since Andrea first stepped onto a runway, but she still gets excited every time she gets a call for work.

“The first time I was asked for an autograph it felt so strange. I thought, why are they asking me?”

She’s realistic about her job and knows that one day she’ll be too old to do what she’s enjoying right now.

“I also want to work with special needs children, and maybe I will still do that one day,” she says. “But for now I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”

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