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Tweedsmuir Park was designated a park back in 1938. At 981,000 hectares, roughly the same area as the country of France, it is the largest provincial park in British Columbia. The park was named after the 15th Governor General of Canada, Baron Tweedsmuir (aka John Buchanan). After extensive travels through the park in 1936, he was moved to comment “I have now traveled over most of Canada and have seen many wonderful things, but I have seen nothing more beautiful and more wonderful than the great park which British Columbia has done me the honour to call by my name”. Perhaps more revealing are the comments made by Lady Tweedsmuir of Elsfield, the Lord’s wife and traveling companion in her contribution to a National Geographic Article:
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“To those whose heart is in the kind of sport which involves skill and hardihood and loneliness, and who regard wildlife as a sacred thing, and will never divulge the shy secrets of the wilds, the Tweedsmuir Park reserve is like the gift of a fairy godmother. It is one of the few remaining earthly paradises for the sportsman and lover of nature. It is largely unexplored, and even unmapped. I hope it will remain remote, though accessible to visitor, and with proper accommodations at a base like Point Susan (named after the Lady herself), I shall always think of it as I saw it last summer and fall, a place exquisite and far away, where life still goes on as in the morning of the world”
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The park encompasses an astounding diversity of landscapes and conditions. Because access, facilities and activities differ from north to south, the park is divided into two sections. South Tweedsmuir, accessible by road, is by far the most developed and utilized by the public. North Tweedsmuir, stretching from the Nechako Plateau on the East to the heart of the rugged Coast Mountain Range on the west is blessed with extremely limited access. Eutsuk Lake and Tetachuk Lake are accessible by water and the remainder is the exclusive domain of the float plane. Most of the northern half of the park is encircled by the lakes that comprise the Nechako Reservoir. Ootsa Lake and Whitesail Lake define the north and west boundaries of the park respectively, while Eutsuk Lake bisects the park, turning North Tweedsmuir into a huge, unpopulated near-island.
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