Sunny Walbran Saturday

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franken60

franken60

10 Year
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
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108
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1,242
Location
Victoria BC
Took a run with the gf up to Carmanah Walbran on Saturday I search of the protesting hippies. Packed some wood and supplies I drop off to them. Followed the signs to get there and they dragged us all the way to Nitinat, (wanted Caycuse main) oh well. Rode the hump over on Walbran main. Got within spitting distance of the protestors but the snow was growing deeper and I was all by my lonesome. Made the executive decision to turn around and try again another day.
Ended up being a 500km round trip which made for a great day exploring new roads, views an seeing some cool trees. Gonna try again sometime this month now that I know the way I should take! I will find the treehuggers.

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Awesome man! Nice pictures and sounds like a good trip. I have company in town this week and was thinking of taking a day off (maybe tomorrow) to head out there. I was worried there might be lots of snow. It's possible to get to Walbran from Port Renfrew; about 30kms (1hr driving) or so. Is that the route you were looking for? Went there in November with my son. Some nice hippy camping spots down in the valley with gravity feed water etc.
 
I heard bugaboo main is washed out pretty bad recently if that's the route you took. I was wanting to go Caycuse main to McClure main to Walbran main. I ended up going South Shore main, to Nitinat and backwards down Haddron/Walbran main towards McClure. Snow isn't bad, but at 3:00, an hour drive from Nitinat and by myself I wasn't taking any chances, in hindsight seeing a map when I got home I should have been fine, but without a map I was unsure. Got about 2km from McClure main apparently, where I would have been in the clear
 
franken60 said:
I heard bugaboo main is washed out pretty bad recently if that's the route you took. I was wanting to go Caycuse main to McClure main to Walbran main. I ended up going South Shore main, to Nitinat and backwards down Haddron/Walbran main towards McClure. Snow isn't bad, but at 3:00, an hour drive from Nitinat and by myself I wasn't taking any chances, in hindsight seeing a map when I got home I should have been fine, but without a map I was unsure. Got about 2km from McClure main apparently, where I would have been in the clear
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Yeah, I think the Bugaboo one is what I did. Too bad that is washed out now. I saw a sign that said it washed out when I went there, but I did not see any washout. So not sure if it was repaired, or maybe it's happened again since.

Good call on not pushing things while out alone. Especially with these short days and cold nights.

Heres the map I went by (from my gps).

Walbran.webp
 
GTSSportCoupe said:
Yeah, I think the Bugaboo one is what I did. Too bad that is washed out now. I saw a sign that said it washed out when I went there, but I did not see any washout. So not sure if it was repaired, or maybe it's happened again since.

Good call on not pushing things while out alone. Especially with these short days and cold nights.
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Ya, I had posted on VI toyota and had been told not to go for bugaboo, so took from the it north instead

and ya my thoughts exactly, the :princess: enjoys taking trips down fsr's and such but doesnt much like getting into situations that could be bad like getting bogged down in wet snow 75km from the next person at night. So now I know where to go, so next time
 
Rigpig said:
That looks like a cool run. What are the dirty hippies doing out there anyway, aside from squatting...??? Is that the protest keeping logging from happening just outside of Port Renfrew with one of the last stands of old growth Sitka Spruce??
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ya exactly, provincial government is actually pushing the park boundary to allow logging in some select areas in the walbran valley. part of the remaining 5% of old growth. i support logging as an industry, but go log some second growth for gods sake, leave the last good stuff alone for people to enjoy.
I loaded up with some firewood and grabbed some groceries to drop off. will go again tho
 
franken60 said:
I heard bugaboo main is washed out pretty bad recently if that's the route you took.
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I don't think it's a washout. According to said protesting hippies, the logging company filled a km or so of it with rubble and logs to make it completely impassable.

Franken60 - if that's the bridge I think it is, that's where the main camp was when I was up there a couple months ago (when the bugaboo was open). Maybe it's just a similar looking bridge.

Yup, logging the last of the old growth, in a "special management buffer zone" that was supposed to be protected after the protests in the 90s etc. Sneaky bastards. They say it's a roofing shingle company called Teal Jones. Not even beautiful furniture or big timbers... roofing shingles.
 
Rigpig said:
Is that the protest keeping logging from happening just outside of Port Renfrew with one of the last stands of old growth Sitka Spruce??
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I think you may be thinking of the place called Avatar Grove just outside of Port Renfrew that got protected a few years ago, just before it was about to be logged.

The Walbran is a few hours from Renfrew. No squatters, and I only saw one actual hippie when I went up. It was mostly a bunch of hikers, tradespeople types, hunters etc., volunteering time to build trails up there and keep an eye on the logging company to make sure it stays out of the park boundaries.

There is apparently a camp of squatters outside of Jordan River, but they're nowhere near any oldgrowth and have been there for years, and probably don't care to protest anything.
 
joshoisasleep said:
I think you may be thinking of the place called Avatar Grove just outside of Port Renfrew that got protected a few years ago, just before it was about to be logged.
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there are protesters set up in walbran who have erected a couple structures to stay dry and such for the time being, very end of walbran main

joshoisasleep said:
I don't think it's a washout. According to said protesting hippies, the logging company filled a km or so of it with rubble and logs to make it completely impassable.

Franken60 - if that's the bridge I think it is, that's where the main camp was when I was up there a couple months ago (when the bugaboo was open). Maybe it's just a similar looking bridge.
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the bridge in the pic is near the end of caycuse main about a 5min drive from nitinat
 
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