Ramblings and Explorations - May and June 07

Didn't quite do as much hiking and scrambling as I hoped for this year, but got a couple of nice one day hikes in:

Three Brothers Trail in Manning Park with amazing splendor of flower just after the snow retreated.


Elkridge near Chilliwack treated us to more flowers.


Jones (Wahleach) Lake – a rough 2WD road leads up to lake with stunning backdrop. Peaks from the left are Welch, The Still, Stewart, Baby Munday, Knight, Lady. Cheam is off the right side. Foley is to the left, also not in the picture.



Sumallo Valley from Sunshine Valley east of Hope – Silvertip, Rideout, Rideout's Pup and Payne. Picture coming soon.

Spius Creek, June 2

Spius Creek was good fun! It's a remote +20 km run, flows from the south into the Nicola River, west of Merritt, dissecting the triangle formed by Coquihalla and Fraser Canyon. Thanks to Sandy for showing us this great run!

At the high water level this weekend Spius had several III+ bits and one IV- canyon section (Big Box Canyon), the latter is a mandatory scout which required some scrambling up a steep hill to peek into the canyon and make sure it was free of wood.
In total there are 3 canyons, the Upper (a short squeeze between cliffs), Big Box Canyon (the mandatory scout and about 500 meter long) and Little Box Canyon (nothing much - can be seen from the shuttle road). Below the confluence with Prospect Creek between the Upper and Big Box Canyons is a busy class III+ hole/boulder garden section There were also two log jams that demanded attention.

Pictures at the VKC Forum.

Last Ski Day - May 28

Didn't quite make it into June. May 28th was the last of our after-work ski run on Mt. Seymour. Soft snow - at least until the sun set - and amazing views of Vancouver and the Straight. What an awesome place to live and play!


Taking in the View. Photo K. Serrano


Girls in Red. Photo K. Serrano

Middle Fork Salmon, May 15 - 20

The Middlefork of the Salmon is a much sought after multi-day river trip in Idaho. Compared to the rivers in Northern BC, it’s not quite as remote as labels like “River of no Return Wilderness” and “Largest Road-less Area in the Lower 48” may suggest, but it’s pretty awesome for scenic value. This is also the reason that permits for it are difficult to come by – the chance to win the lottery are less than one in twenty.

The organizer of our trip decided to go for a pre-season permit, which are given out on a first come first serve basis. Pre-season runs can pose a couple of problems: snow on the put-in road may require a flight to access a lower put-in, logs may have accumulated in drops over the winter, levels may be very high and the weather can be very variable.

We were pretty lucky and only had to deal with one of the above. Weather was sunny and warm when we started; the levels around 5 foot made for exciting but still friendly big water, the road opened two days before we showed up, one log jam that would have required an arduous portage washed out just prior to our trip. All that was left was a couple of nasty trees standing in the middle of a newly created river channel – and a couple of hours of portaging rafts and gear around it.

Not a big price to pay for a fantastic trip, thrilling rapids, relaxing hot springs, weird critters (like rubber boas) and wonderful evenings with friends around the campfire. The expected cold front came in on our last day on the river and surprised us with some fresh snow up in the Montana mountain passes.