Gold Country - Logan Lake Shovel Traditional Geocache

At the hub of Logan Lake's active recreation lifestyle sits a monument to its history and economic livelihood. The shovel, as locals refer to it, is a 195B Bucyrus Erie mining shovel with a 13-metre bucket, parked next to a 235-ton ore haulage truck. It's pretty hard to miss!

Located in the parking lot for the recreation centre, this monument doubles as the visitor information centre, and offers kids and kids at heart the chance to get an up close look at machinery that was designed to move massive amounts of rock in the mining industry. Venture up the stairs and you'll learn about all that the Logan Lake area has to offer visitor and guests. It's hard to resist the temptation to keep climbing and sit in the cab and imagine operating this massive machine. For any child, or adult, who has owned a toy truck, visiting the shovel is the ultimate thrill.

The shovel and the Wabco # 50 truck were a gift to the District of Logan Lake by the Highland Valley Copper Mine in February 1990. They were placed on the site on February 2nd of that year and have been a popular tourist attraction, as well as the local visitor centre, ever since.
The stairs on the shovel take visitors to what was once the operator's cab. Below, on the landing, a door leads to a 3 meter (10 ft) by 3.7 meter (12 ft) room that was once the engine and winch room. Now it functions as the visitor information centre.

Standing approximately 6.1 meters (19 ft 11 in) tall, the shovel is 7.3 meters (24 ft 1 in) wide, and 16.5 meters (54 ft 3 in) long. It weighs 187.3 short tons (374,600 pounds) and is made of steel. When it was operational, the shovel boasted an impressive 2500 horsepower GM Electromotive engine. The total payload capacity of the truck was 235 short tons (470,000 pounds).

The shovel can easily be seen as visitors drive into town from either Ashcroft or the Coquihalla Highway. It sits in the heart of Logan Lake's recreation area where visitors and locals enjoy fishing, camping, golf, walking around the lake, mountain biking, hiking, and cross country skiing. Archery and a world-class disc golf course are also nearby, and the area is dotted with fun and interesting geocaches. The western pond hockey championships and the annual polar carnival take place every January when the frozen lake is groomed for multiple pond hockey rinks and a skating loop. Hockey players and curlers from other communities regularly descend on the recreation centre for tournaments and bonspiels as well. Each year nearly 6,500 visitors learn about all of these opportunities for fun and recreation when they visit the helpful staff at the shovel. Of course, they can get their picture taken while sitting at the controls in the cab!