Big Bar Cancelled, Its Now Churn Creek

Scalp · 05-11-07, 08:06 AM

The May long weekend trip has been shifted to Churn Creek in stead of Big Bar. Our concerns were that the ferry may or may not have been running due to high flow on the Fraser River, as well as the danger of debris coming down the flood waters and also the sand bar we usually stay on would probably be under water now or in the near future.
So, NOW the plan is to go about 30 kilometres north of Big Bar to the Gang Ranch/Churn Creek protected area and stay where we were last year, if possible.
I will post a basic map here but this is no substitute for a real roadmap. Basically, you drive past Clinton on Highway 97 for approximately 7 kilometres and bear left at Meadow Lake FSR and follow the signs all the way to the Gang Ranch bridge over the Fraser. You will pass Canoe Creek Indian Reservation on the way and the name of the road changes to Canoe Creek Road and Fraser-Canoe Road. In any case, you head in the direction of the Gang Ranch. You cross the suspension bridge, loop around uphill to the right and at that point, instead of going right toward the Gang Ranch, you instead go left, downstream, along the river, across the wooden Churn Creek bridge, and soon you will see our CC sign and yellow tape marker.
Going Thursday will be Rod McD, Steve T, Craig E, and others and will set up campsite.
Friday morning or mid-day Barry P, Chris H, Arron K, and Phil S will head up past Whistler and hopefully meet Bill W and Gary T at the McDonald's restaurant at about 4 pm in Pemberton. They will then carry on up the Duffy L road to Lillooet, on to Clinton, and the route stated above to Churn Creek. Nobody present at the meeting said they were going on Saturday but I expect somebody might.
More info to come in the days ahead.
~Bill

toynut · 05-12-07, 08:54 AM

i would like to come up on saturday with the wife and kids , can i haul a tent trailer in or would i be better off with just my tent ?

tjflex · 05-12-07, 09:13 AM

For Churn Creek, a tent trailer might be better. Easy access to base camp.

toynut · 05-12-07, 09:20 AM

it might be a bit too far of a drive for me with a 3 year old and seven moth old , :( but i will see .

tjflex · 05-12-07, 09:21 AM

It's about 6.5 hrs to base camp.

toynut · 05-12-07, 10:52 AM

6.5 hours with a 3 year old and seven month thats like a 9 hour trip , thats 4 potty breaks 6 diaper changes 3 meal breaks , lol . going to see if i can get the old lady to drive part way up on friday night maybe swing into a motel then head in on saturday morning .

Fantom · 05-13-07, 01:47 AM

Are there any plans for trips from there. It would be nice to explore some new stuff. Anyone have any ideas already?

tjflex · 05-13-07, 09:38 AM

I think we're relatively limited there (mostly private land), that's why I thought Big Bar would be better. One side trip would be towards gang Ranch. I don't recommend Blackdome again.

tjflex · 05-13-07, 09:43 AM

Rod: Change of plans. Meet at Steve's house at 8 on Thurs. He's riding with me.

Rod McD · 05-13-07, 10:49 AM

Knew that

Scalp · 05-13-07, 09:02 PM

We could head up the Gang Ranch road and head West in a circle behind Big Dome and explore the Gaspard Creek area, maybe up to Koster Lake. Too bad we couldn't head down to Poison Mountain and the Mud Lakes but I don't know whether any roads go through and the snow will probably be too deep anyway. We'd have to return the same way we went in.
Last year Gary T and I went north through the Gang Ranch all the way up to Junction Sheep Range Provincial Park. There was lots of game on the way like bears, hawks, and deer, and some specatular views of the Chilcotin river and hoodoos in the canyons. Unfortunately there was way way too much gravel travel, and then when we tried to come back through the Gang Ranch along the Fraser, all the side roads on the map petered out and we had to keep backtracking and finally went back the same way we went in, and that was a drag. One possibility would be to go up through the Gang Ranch and the Sheep Range, camp at the Sheep Range, then head out through Riske Creek, Williams Lake, and down the Cariboo Highway 97 home. The problem with all this is that there is too much gravel and blacktop and not enough decent offroad wheeling.
Anybody else got some ideas? Mike McT?
~Bill

crawlin cruiser · 05-13-07, 10:45 PM

windy ridge. one of the best trails I have done

Scalp · 05-13-07, 10:55 PM

Well, what does Steve say about Windy Ridge?

Granite Grinder · 05-13-07, 11:17 PM

I believe Windy will be buried in snow. When we went up last year there were still pockets of snow and the snowpack was low. When I looked at some pictures of the trip recently, there was ice on the lakes up there.
Others could chime in.

Scalp · 05-14-07, 11:45 AM

The weather forecasts for Clinton keep changing, but its looks OK for the most part. Possibly some showers on Friday, it will keep the dust down. Sunny Saturday, cloudy Sunday.

Glenn-BJ74 · 05-14-07, 12:02 PM

Hey the Churn Creek trip this coming weekend looks interesting.

Would you guys mind if I joined the trip? My name is Glenn, I have a BJ74 (from Outback imports ), located in Victoria. If I came I would probably take the Nanaimo-Horse Shoe Bay ferry and travel up through Whistler, Duffy to Lillooet. To avoid the week end ferry congestion - I would have to come maybe Thursday or Friday.

Mud_Guppie · 05-14-07, 12:07 PM

steve don't care
I'm on chef duties this weekend

tjflex · 05-14-07, 01:09 PM

Sounds good Glenn.

Scalp · 05-16-07, 10:19 AM

Glenn:
You are welcome to come to Churn Creek with us. Bring a gerry can of extra fuel and top up your fuel tank in Clinton. Use CB channel 4.
See map on thread "May Long Weekend".

Fantom · 05-16-07, 10:43 PM

So Robert, Sopel and I have been toying with the idea of expanding the trip and heading into somewhat unexplored areas (well at least by us).
I will be at Chrun creek on Friday evening (hopefully not too late) and Sopel I think will be coming with me. Robert is going to try leaving around 4 am Saturday to be there for Saturday morning.
The idea I came up with, it is still unclear if it sucks, is to head out Saturday morning, past Gang Ranch heading West.
William Meadow Rd to Churn Creek FSR, take some small trails to Gaspard FSR. Then from Gaspard to Mons - Gaspard Creek FSR, some more small trails to Rocky Lake FSR, @ Big Creek FSR head West towards Willan Lake. Possibly crash there for the night or keep going depending on the time we get there. From Willan Lake keep going on Big Creek FSR to Tasenko Lake/Valley Rd., to Chilko Lake. Possibility of a camp here since it is very nice. From there we have some options including a trip up to Tatla Lake and back on Hwy 20.
Now there is always the possibility that there is too much snow in a lot of these areas, I was trying to pick some lower trails but as we all know the maps do lie.
Now there are always many other trails that lead up to larger FSRs and over to HWY 20 from almost any location along this path, I was planning on not coming back to Churn Creek as the above trip is going to be around 250Km. At that point a return on Monday late in the evening into Vancouver should be realistic. Like I said there is the option of heading back earlier and going up to Hwy 20. Now I don't know what condition the trails are going to be, there could (and probably will) be snow, washouts, trees fallen, all the good stuff. There is likely going to be some u-turns or back-tracking and I don't know if stock vehicles will make it. I am currently setting up waypoint to help with the trip on the GPS and I should be able to print out a couple of copies of a map. So if anyone is interested we can talk about it Friday evening when I get there.