The Caves of Capreol...revisited.

Today, I received an email from "anonymous" from Capreol, my home town of so many years ago.  Anonymous wanted to know if there was any truth to the rumour that there are 'caves' hidden in the woods somewhere around Capreol and I want to say ... absolutely, there are!   Well, not caves exactly, but there is a rocky uprising in the bush that forms a cliff and there are very large slabs of rock that are piled on top of each other forming cavities inside, under and around this piles of rock.

My memories of this magical place are those of a child, as I was about 10 or 11 years old when I was last there and I'm much older than that now.  The fact that I was only four feet tall at the time would cause me to seem to exaggerate when it comes to the size of these slabs of rock, as well as the size of the 'rooms' that exist beneath them.  Also, my memory is not clear enough to be able to tell you exactly how to find "the caves", but I can point you in the general direction.

In 1954, my Aunt Shirley Dasti gave me her two-wheeled bicycle...my first bike.  It was old and it was a girls bike, but most striking of all was the fact that it had balloon tires and a frame that would knock a tank off the road.  It took a substantial effort for my little legs to get that bike in motion, but once moving, it would go anywhere...and it did.

The photo above shows 8 year old Bruce Harvey riding his aunt Shirley's bike.  My dad has only just let go of the bike, allowing me to fly down the road for the first time...my solo, caught on film.  How about that???   The road, by the way is Vaughn street.  The house in the background is Tom Rupert's house and it sat on the corner of Vaughn and Chapman streets.   The young fellow in the foreground is probably Mike Corrigan.  Mike and I spent a lot of time playing together around Capreol's east side.

I rode Aunt Shirley's bike to a great many destinations within a couple of hours ride of my house on Vaughn Street.  I rode to Ella Lake, First Creek and Second Creek, Green Lake, Suez gravel pit, Hanmer store, Mud Lake and Milnet.  One of my favourite places to go fishing was Mud Lake.  Now, this is what it was called in the '50's, and it may have a different name today, but when I was heading out the door with my fishing rod, my lunch and my dog, Roxy...I left a note on the table telling my mom that we were going to Mud Lake.  

One day, I was looking through my parents' family photo album and came across the picture you see below.  I didn't recognize the scene, so I asked my dad who the kids in the photo might be and where the picture was taken.  He told me that the two boys were himself and his brother John, and the picture was taken at "the caves" in 1928 when my dad was 10 years old and my uncle John was just a couple of years older.

Now, at this point, my dad might have chosen to tell me that he didn't know where the picture was taken.  He might have figured that if I didn't know about "the caves", I would never find them, thus reducing the risk that I might get seriously injured climbing around on these rocks.  Instead, he told me that he would take me out one day soon and show me how to find them and how to climb into them.

He kept his promise and "the caves" became one of my favourite places to hide out.

If you look at the picture carefully, you'll see a 'slash' through the trees at the left edge of the photo...that is Selwood Road at a point that is South, I think, of Mud Lake, about a mile short of the lake.

A note to "Anonymous"... I know you're going to want to find these caves and explore them, so I'm bound to give you a friendly warning.  Once you find the location, there are three ways into the 'rooms'.  One from the top of the cliff; one from the base of the cliff and one from the north side.  Each will present a mildly challenging approach, but it's not the climb in or out that one may find troublesome.  It's the interior of the rooms.  I found a large amount of dried pack-rat dung and mummified animals inside the rooms.  When you're  inside, check your footing carefully until you're sure of the cave floors.


I'm not sure why I included the photo below...except that it says so much about my childhood in the hills around Capreol.  From the right ... Mike Corrigan, Roxy and me.  Thanks again for the picture, Mike....