A semi-wilderness of forests, mountains, lakes and prairie, the Cariboo is a land where towns are small, few and far between. What many call the Real West is a land where cattle outnumber people and dreams grow as big as the sky is broad. East of the Fraser River lie lakes and dense evergreens that stretch to the Cariboo Mountains. West lies the Chilcotin ('people of the young man's river' in Tsilhqot'in), a vast rolling plain rising from the mighty Fraser and running to the foothills of the Coast Mountains. The region contains vast tracts of protected parkland that are barely mapped. Farther west is the glacial crown of the Coast Range, dropping precipitously into deep fiords which cut inland up to 70km from the Pacific Ocean. This land called Cariboo Country conjures up images of those brave early explorers who travelled along the rugged Grease Trail. Excerpted from Drive Around Canadian Rockies: Alberta and British Columbia by Helena Zukowski, Donald L. Telfer All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.