Friday, so after a bit of work, last second preparations and alteration to the truck, packing and hoping I did not forget anything, Sopel and I met at his place and were off by 2pm. Fresh coffee in hand the “get me out of town” itch was starting to subside. We arrived at the Churn Creek site by seven and got busy with catching up with every body and to everybody. Saturday we waited for the last member of our expedition to arrive and by Eleven Robert, Sopel and I were off to explore. We headed West from the site on 3100 rd and some trails that led off it, which at times appeared to be forgotten. We started heading towards Gaspard Lake, warned that there will be a lot of mud in the area and surprisingly found very little of it. Amazing views and fun little trails occupied the journey nicely. We arrive at Gaspard before 2pm and enjoyed the scenery of this beautiful lake, worth coming to! Since the day was still young we ventured on Gaspard FSR west. Either the trail has not been used or we side tracked but we found an amazing trail that led in the general direction that has not been used in ages. At times we had to stop to find where it used to go. We met up with the main Gaspard Rd briefly in search of a further trail West but were disappointed by all the dead ends. So after a couple of misses we found an abandoned and by the looks of it deactivated FSR that headed in the right direction. After some arguments with logs blocking the trails we finally found that it did not connect with the FSR we needed but was only 60 meters away from us. So we drove across a clear cut field where no road existed to meet up with it. Further on the trail we passed through a marsh field with a creek crossing where we needed to rebuild what may have been a bridge once. After some creatively positioned logs we got through it, it luckily was not wide, but fairly deep.
We finally emerged, not where expected, onto a main FSR, as it was already getting close to 5pm we decided that we should bite the bullet and as opposed to continue on a road we were not sure of head North to the beginning of it in hopes that it would lead us to a lake. Later we figured out that it was the Mons – Gaspard FSR after all. We ended up at the closest lake which was Fletcher, not our first choice but it had water and a place to crash.
In the morning the plans changed, as opposed to heading West towards Chilko we decided to head North, We took the Fletcher FSR (the old smaller one on the West side of the lake) in search of adventure. More amazing views, more marsh fields and forgotten trails, some mud crossings an empty Ranch with some cabins, more amazing views, more searching for trails, and we arrived at the Minton Creek FSR. We noticed we were close to Hanceville and decided that some coffee and fuel might be a good idea. After the trucks and drivers were refueled (diesel prices were bad here) we venture further North towards Mount Alex Graham. This trail like the prievious has not been used in some time. We had great challenges of rocky terrain, mud, snow, fallen trees, and a lake size mud puddle which Sopel was courteous enough to venture into first. The shovel and chainsaw became our good friends. We drove up to the peak in hopes of a good view and were not disappointed. To our surprise there is a “house” up there where a lady works in watching for fires, her job really sucks, waking up every morning to a view from over 1600 meters. We were welcomed and greeted by her 2 – 4 pound “guard dogs”. After some advice on the local lakes and the time yet again running out we headed off the mountain in search of a place with no campers and water. Some more dead ends and marsh lakes that we could not get to we decided to take up residence at Raven Lake. Regrettably, swamped with campers (with brand new RVs and satellite TV) we were just about to bite the bullet and camp there when I decided to explore some more. We managed to finally find a spot between Raven main and Raven North that has not seen any campers. Sopel venture further but came back with no results (to which I will comment later) so we stayed there. The water was full of fish, you could actually catch them with your hands as it was a spawning channel, a bit of catch and release and Sopel and Robert were happy. The next morning Sopel headed back to town (not willingly) while Robert and I headed off in search of adventure. The destination was Meldrum Lake. We took off the Graham – Raven FSR up the 1500 rd to the east side of Ross Lake. This trail was amazing, small, untouched, more marsh and water crossings, great terrain! Views of beautiful lakes and channels, an abandoned and broken down range cabin with the cots and stove still in there. The chainsaw was used the most on this trail as there has not been a soul here in a while. We were aiming at getting to Renner Lake but the logging in the area blocked off the trails there, so after some rerouting we headed towards the IR 7 trail in hopes of a way through. We were disappointed (but not too much) to find out that every trail in that direction was closed, or not passable. We decided to head back after some more water crossings to Raven and our old site as we were running out of time again. We got there by 4pm and since the campers were still there we headed for our previous spot. I decided to venture into the trails the Sopel explored and found an amazing spot overlooking the entire Lake. Sopel has now been fired from finding camp sites. Once camp was set up we were visited by the local rangers, curious about our presence, they politely asked if we were fishing, when we said no they asked if we were hunting, when we again said no they asked what we were doing there. Shocked by the response that we were just camping and exploring the local trails, they left us alone. Another amazing meal by Robert (who cooked this entire trip and did an awesome job!) we decided that the –1C temp was enough to drive us to our trucks to sleep. In the morning we decided that reality, regrettably had to be visited again and we headed for Williams Lake and home.
I did pass on some details but I figured this was long enough as it is. All in all, the dust off the FSRs, the dead ends and u-turns, all that included, this was one of the best trips ever. We came home with only a couple of cracked lights, some new scratches, mud covered trucks, and amazing memories.
So to all those who chickened out
I am already planning a next adventure
Pics will be available soon.
We finally emerged, not where expected, onto a main FSR, as it was already getting close to 5pm we decided that we should bite the bullet and as opposed to continue on a road we were not sure of head North to the beginning of it in hopes that it would lead us to a lake. Later we figured out that it was the Mons – Gaspard FSR after all. We ended up at the closest lake which was Fletcher, not our first choice but it had water and a place to crash.
In the morning the plans changed, as opposed to heading West towards Chilko we decided to head North, We took the Fletcher FSR (the old smaller one on the West side of the lake) in search of adventure. More amazing views, more marsh fields and forgotten trails, some mud crossings an empty Ranch with some cabins, more amazing views, more searching for trails, and we arrived at the Minton Creek FSR. We noticed we were close to Hanceville and decided that some coffee and fuel might be a good idea. After the trucks and drivers were refueled (diesel prices were bad here) we venture further North towards Mount Alex Graham. This trail like the prievious has not been used in some time. We had great challenges of rocky terrain, mud, snow, fallen trees, and a lake size mud puddle which Sopel was courteous enough to venture into first. The shovel and chainsaw became our good friends. We drove up to the peak in hopes of a good view and were not disappointed. To our surprise there is a “house” up there where a lady works in watching for fires, her job really sucks, waking up every morning to a view from over 1600 meters. We were welcomed and greeted by her 2 – 4 pound “guard dogs”. After some advice on the local lakes and the time yet again running out we headed off the mountain in search of a place with no campers and water. Some more dead ends and marsh lakes that we could not get to we decided to take up residence at Raven Lake. Regrettably, swamped with campers (with brand new RVs and satellite TV) we were just about to bite the bullet and camp there when I decided to explore some more. We managed to finally find a spot between Raven main and Raven North that has not seen any campers. Sopel venture further but came back with no results (to which I will comment later) so we stayed there. The water was full of fish, you could actually catch them with your hands as it was a spawning channel, a bit of catch and release and Sopel and Robert were happy. The next morning Sopel headed back to town (not willingly) while Robert and I headed off in search of adventure. The destination was Meldrum Lake. We took off the Graham – Raven FSR up the 1500 rd to the east side of Ross Lake. This trail was amazing, small, untouched, more marsh and water crossings, great terrain! Views of beautiful lakes and channels, an abandoned and broken down range cabin with the cots and stove still in there. The chainsaw was used the most on this trail as there has not been a soul here in a while. We were aiming at getting to Renner Lake but the logging in the area blocked off the trails there, so after some rerouting we headed towards the IR 7 trail in hopes of a way through. We were disappointed (but not too much) to find out that every trail in that direction was closed, or not passable. We decided to head back after some more water crossings to Raven and our old site as we were running out of time again. We got there by 4pm and since the campers were still there we headed for our previous spot. I decided to venture into the trails the Sopel explored and found an amazing spot overlooking the entire Lake. Sopel has now been fired from finding camp sites. Once camp was set up we were visited by the local rangers, curious about our presence, they politely asked if we were fishing, when we said no they asked if we were hunting, when we again said no they asked what we were doing there. Shocked by the response that we were just camping and exploring the local trails, they left us alone. Another amazing meal by Robert (who cooked this entire trip and did an awesome job!) we decided that the –1C temp was enough to drive us to our trucks to sleep. In the morning we decided that reality, regrettably had to be visited again and we headed for Williams Lake and home.
I did pass on some details but I figured this was long enough as it is. All in all, the dust off the FSRs, the dead ends and u-turns, all that included, this was one of the best trips ever. We came home with only a couple of cracked lights, some new scratches, mud covered trucks, and amazing memories.
So to all those who chickened out
I am already planning a next adventure
Pics will be available soon.
