As per usual the plans for the weekend came together mid week. I had read up on Cabin Lake and wanted to see it for myself. Here's my long winded trip report:
Friday afternoon. Got home from work and had a few last minute items on the cruiser. Made a makeshift sleep platform from plywood, swapped the 37's for the 33's off my 40 so the hill climbs up the Coq wouldn't be so brutal. Topped up fluids and loaded gear.
Since it was a late start we decided to find camp somewhere by the Coq summit. Followed the pipeline to a place called the 'jump off'. By then it was dark but the beauty of the wagon is no set up time when finding camp. In the morning checked out the view over the Coquihalla canyon and the TCT far below.
Packed up and headed north towards Merritt. Turned off at the Coldwater crossing at Kingsvale and proceeded up to Patchett Rd. Followed that along until we reached Spius Creek where we stopped for a lunch break. Really nice campsites by the creek and nobody was there.
After lunch took the first trail past the bridge and followed it towards Stoyoma. Nothing difficult but it was nice to get off the mainline for a slow paced drive in the shade of the woods. I don't have gps for navigating and the backroads mapbook is notorious for being wrong. So I went hi-tech and made a print out of the area on google earth and penciled in my planned route ahead of time
. Helped out huge when we emerged at a patchwork of clearcuts and road networks.
We continued up through the clearings on the trail to Cabin L. Was expecting it to be rough but it wasn't really. The road gains elevation quickly and you start getting into meadows with some great views. We arrived at Cabin Lake and found out we had timed it just right to share the place with the xterra club
.
It was hot so went for a swim in the lake. The lake is kinda cold. Since it was hot laziness got the best of us so we didn't do the 5 hr return hike to the plane wreck. Just hiked up to the ridge to take in the views. The mosquitos and black flies are brutal right now.
Set up camp at the lake. We weren't sure what to expect being in a camp full of nissans but we all got along just fine ;p. After dark there was quite a lightning show and brief periods of heavy rain so we went to bed early.
Sunday set out to see the other lakes and headed for Fraser Canyon. We followed a quad track a short ways but since we didn't want to be a.holes tearing up a meadow trail we parked early and set off on foot. Steep trail with more good views and more bug bites at the ridge.
Drove down to the north end of lightning lake. I hoped that there would be a trail around the lake but nope. Followed the main road access to the recsite on the south side of the lake. Larger site but quite muddy and buggy.
On the way down we followed a joining trail I've heard called "Little-Whipsaw". Fun little trail that would be a good little challenge heading up. Too bad it's so short.
Stopped at Silver Lake for a while. Continued down to the junction of Spius and Spius South FSRs.
Took the north road hoping to find if it connected through as indicated in the map book. Made it 9km in and the road started getting really heavily overgrown by scrub alder. Kept going for a while then decided that was maddness. There was another 10km or so to the drainage divide before it would start descending towards Boston Bar. Turned around and not 2 minutes later met up with a black 81 plowing his way up the road. Said he'd keep going so we wished him luck and continued back.
Drove Spius South heading towards Utzillus Cr. Checked out an interesting side road and then continued on. Met the same 81 under the powerlines. They had switched off the engine and it wouldn't start. We waited around a few minutes as they fiddled with it and happily the truck started. Again the 81 went one way (towards the Coq) and we set off in the other. Hope they made it back ok.
Must have missed a road junction as we started up some switchbacks towards the powerlines. Hmm, didn't match the map book. Decided to take a chance on the powerline service road continuing over the top of the hill and down the the valley bottom at Utzillus Cr. Made for a really interesting drive and a steep descent on the far side on a somewhat overgrown, little used trail. Saw a logging below and soon met up with a logging road.
Stopped for a cool dip in the creek and continued out to Boston Bar. Aired up and had some ice cream before heading south.
Covered a lot of distance and saw a lot this trip. Not that much wheeling unless you either stumble on to it or know of the connector trails. The 60 did well for the gravel travel but I still prefer my 40 for the rougher spots.
Don't expect anyone read all that but here are a few pics to go with the report.
Friday afternoon. Got home from work and had a few last minute items on the cruiser. Made a makeshift sleep platform from plywood, swapped the 37's for the 33's off my 40 so the hill climbs up the Coq wouldn't be so brutal. Topped up fluids and loaded gear.
Since it was a late start we decided to find camp somewhere by the Coq summit. Followed the pipeline to a place called the 'jump off'. By then it was dark but the beauty of the wagon is no set up time when finding camp. In the morning checked out the view over the Coquihalla canyon and the TCT far below.
Packed up and headed north towards Merritt. Turned off at the Coldwater crossing at Kingsvale and proceeded up to Patchett Rd. Followed that along until we reached Spius Creek where we stopped for a lunch break. Really nice campsites by the creek and nobody was there.
After lunch took the first trail past the bridge and followed it towards Stoyoma. Nothing difficult but it was nice to get off the mainline for a slow paced drive in the shade of the woods. I don't have gps for navigating and the backroads mapbook is notorious for being wrong. So I went hi-tech and made a print out of the area on google earth and penciled in my planned route ahead of time
. Helped out huge when we emerged at a patchwork of clearcuts and road networks.We continued up through the clearings on the trail to Cabin L. Was expecting it to be rough but it wasn't really. The road gains elevation quickly and you start getting into meadows with some great views. We arrived at Cabin Lake and found out we had timed it just right to share the place with the xterra club
.It was hot so went for a swim in the lake. The lake is kinda cold. Since it was hot laziness got the best of us so we didn't do the 5 hr return hike to the plane wreck. Just hiked up to the ridge to take in the views. The mosquitos and black flies are brutal right now.
Set up camp at the lake. We weren't sure what to expect being in a camp full of nissans but we all got along just fine ;p. After dark there was quite a lightning show and brief periods of heavy rain so we went to bed early.
Sunday set out to see the other lakes and headed for Fraser Canyon. We followed a quad track a short ways but since we didn't want to be a.holes tearing up a meadow trail we parked early and set off on foot. Steep trail with more good views and more bug bites at the ridge.
Drove down to the north end of lightning lake. I hoped that there would be a trail around the lake but nope. Followed the main road access to the recsite on the south side of the lake. Larger site but quite muddy and buggy.
On the way down we followed a joining trail I've heard called "Little-Whipsaw". Fun little trail that would be a good little challenge heading up. Too bad it's so short.
Stopped at Silver Lake for a while. Continued down to the junction of Spius and Spius South FSRs.
Took the north road hoping to find if it connected through as indicated in the map book. Made it 9km in and the road started getting really heavily overgrown by scrub alder. Kept going for a while then decided that was maddness. There was another 10km or so to the drainage divide before it would start descending towards Boston Bar. Turned around and not 2 minutes later met up with a black 81 plowing his way up the road. Said he'd keep going so we wished him luck and continued back.
Drove Spius South heading towards Utzillus Cr. Checked out an interesting side road and then continued on. Met the same 81 under the powerlines. They had switched off the engine and it wouldn't start. We waited around a few minutes as they fiddled with it and happily the truck started. Again the 81 went one way (towards the Coq) and we set off in the other. Hope they made it back ok.
Must have missed a road junction as we started up some switchbacks towards the powerlines. Hmm, didn't match the map book. Decided to take a chance on the powerline service road continuing over the top of the hill and down the the valley bottom at Utzillus Cr. Made for a really interesting drive and a steep descent on the far side on a somewhat overgrown, little used trail. Saw a logging below and soon met up with a logging road.
Stopped for a cool dip in the creek and continued out to Boston Bar. Aired up and had some ice cream before heading south.
Covered a lot of distance and saw a lot this trip. Not that much wheeling unless you either stumble on to it or know of the connector trails. The 60 did well for the gravel travel but I still prefer my 40 for the rougher spots.
Don't expect anyone read all that but here are a few pics to go with the report.
.