Churn Creek/Blackdome Mountain Trip May 19-22, 2006.
Friday morning, May 19, most Cruisers headed up the Fraser Canyon by 9:00 am in warm sunny weather conditions. After refueling in Clinton, we hit the high speed gravel Meadow Lakes and Canoe Creek FSR roads. We crossed the Gang Ranch suspension bridge and camped about a kilometre south of the bridge on the sandbar complete with the log outhouse by 4:00 pm. Local conditions were sunny, warm & very windy with high river levels. We settled in and built a great campfire for the evening tall stories. We went to bed with clear skies and lots of stars, so tent flies were not even needed. About 2:00 am it started to rain and by 4:00 several members were waking up cursing with wet tents and soaked sleeping bags. Even Phil, who slept in his BJ60, had left his tailgate down and wound up with a wet bag,….er, I mean damp sleeping bag.
Members participating were:
Steve T., Dan M., Barry P., Chris H and sons Lochlin & Connor, Mike McT., Craig E., Jan & Angelica H., Steve S., Phil S., Gary T., Greg B., and Bill W.
Guests present: Traci D., Rojo, & Mat R..
Saturday morning, in bright sunshine, we headed up the Empire Valley road, past the corals and Brown Lake, and on up Blackdome Mtn. Road conditions were good and we crawled up some unused back roads. Since we didn’t see any signs to keep us out, we found ourselves up at the mine and the summit without much problem. Some vehicles went through the tank traps and some by-passed them. The mining property has been shut down for years and we saw nobody around, although apparently it is for sale and there are surveyors examining the works and documenting its potential for possible future development. The views from the peaks were stunningly beautiful and we took lots of pictures. I will contact Garry B. in Squamish to try to add pictures to the
www.coastalcruisers.ca
Blackdome Mountain is a very interesting geological structure. It is a basalt bedrock formed from volcanic activity at least 50 million years ago. It is located on the intersection of the Fraser Fault and the Hungry Valley Fault line. Over the last 25 million years, movements in the fault lines have fractured the basalt and left cracks throughout it. Steam from below has brought up minerals up the cracks (dykes), including gold, silver and quartz and slowly deposited them in these dykes to become inclusion veins of silica bearing ore. This geological process is called low temperature epithermal mineralization. The biggest veins of gold were high-grade mined in the 1986-1991 period and it was the largest producing gold mine in Western Canada at that time. After the best gold was taken, and the price of gold dropped in the 1990s, the mine was shut down. Now that the price of gold is up again, owners are hoping that the remaining smaller gold veins will attract new money and enthusiasm to restart the mine. There are several underground mineshafts around the property and they are boarded up. There is also a mill for ore processing and floatation which is also closed. The original diesel power plants have been removed. For more detailed info about this mine, look up Blackdome Mountain on Google.
On Sunday, the remaining Cruisers arrived and some wanted to visit the mine and camp up on the higher ground. Those who had already been there, chose to go North beyond the Gang Ranch. So Sunday the group split with Mike McT. leading several Cruisers back past the mine and beyond to Windy Ridge, and I believe over the hump, camp on the high ground, and take the back roads south and home. The other group went through the Gang Ranch, which incidentally has a public store, and on way up to beautiful Farwell Canyon and the Junction Sheep Range Prov Park. Returning to Churn Creek later, we found that both the Mussio Back road Map Book as well as the MapArt B.C. Road Atlas were inaccurate and can not be trusted.
It was another great weekend and Monday morning the Churn Creek group slowly shook off the sand dune dust and broke camp. One by one, the clattering oil burners chugged off in clouds of diesel, while meanwhile, the Snow Geese flocks honked northward, winging slowly to their rendezvous with H5N1.
~Bill
