Harrison West road report

[jcolvin]

Coming back from Sloquet Springs (had them to ourselves, yipee!) yesterday with six Taiwanese tour clients, we decided to return by the Harrison W. FSR instead of my usual West Road-Pemberton-Whistler route.

Just past the logging camp at the North end there is a big red warning sign informing you that the road is closed at km 55.5 due to bridge replacement. It is lying and the bridge is finished (I called on the radio into Port Douglas to confirm this before proceeding).

The North section was pretty rough with a few minor rock falls and some fairly deep washouts to watch for but nothing too sketchy. The southern end was pretty smooth. I was going pretty fast and it took me 1 3/4 hour from Sloquet FSR to the fish hatchery.

I just about caught some air off a hump that was larger than it looked, and showered my clients with raw eggs that we'd bought at a farm in Pemberton. That was amusing! Luckily they broke on the clients and none messed up the HDJ81 .

At one point in the southern section there is the wreckage of an RV that failed to negotiate a turn, split open and scattered all down the drop-off . I don't remember it being there last year, but perhaps I didnt notice it.

We also passed a group in a Tacoma who were shooting at a wrecked car with a shotgun. Looked like fun but didnt have time to stop and join in.

cheers!

 

[A2B in a TLC]

Hi gang,

First, thanks for the report, John. I used it in the plans for my trip.

This weekend, my son Elliott and I drove thru Pemberton to St. Agnes Wells hot springs, camped over night, then did the trip back thru Tipella logging camp at the north end of Harrison Lake to Harrison Mills via the west Harrison FSR road.

St Agnes Well is a real gem. We will go back to spend more time. Beautifully kept by the Tretheway family and apparently respected by all who use. No signs of vandalism. The water is hot hot hot and very clean.

The roads right thru to Harrison Mills were very good. From Tipella they were a bit rough for about 25 kms. At least 2 of the bridges appeared very new - obviously the ones replaced in order to re-open the road.

We took a quick tour of the 20 Mile Bay FS camp site. Much garbage (the attendant was clearing it up) but some really nice wooded camp sites right down on the lake.

We left St Agnes Wells at 9 am and arrived at thh Sasquatch Inn at about 1:30 pm. No speed records in jeopardy here. Just nice, easy-paced driving. If any of you go, be sure to take care - you can go 2 hrs w/o seeing another vehicle and then suddenly come close to a head-on. I had my VHF/UHF radio scanning for local frequencies and was able to pick up traffic thru the the Kent/Harrison RCMP repeater. Very handy in case of trouble.

Elliott and I want to do the trip again - even New Years Eve at St Agnes Well if possible. The road to the springs is maintained in order to allow a school bus in and out of a native village just a km past the spring.

Bruce
A2B

 

[jcolvin]

Glad to hear you had a good trip, Bruce.

Have you tried Sloquet Hot springs? Very close to Tipella, good camping, much nice than Skatin springs because they are "natural" (hot waterfall and all). The Douglas 1st Nation charges $5 or $10 if you are camping in the high season. If you go on a weekday there may well be nobody there.

A bit more hiking involved (5 mins down to the river) but the springs are right next to the river and you can do the good old spring-to-river-back-to-spring dip which get the blood circulating .

cheers