Re: Bike rides
Posted: 23 Aug 2015 16:54
Evening World,
Here is my latest story and pictures of our summer adventure, hope you enjoy. This area is about 500 Km ( 300miles) as the crow flies, takes us 7 hours to get there to the parking area, 30 Km from the historic Bralorne Gold mine, then the hike begins. It is called the Spruce lake Protected Area. As much as there are a variety of user groups that go in there, it is still off the map so to speak, so it is very pristine still, no garbage, far enough away from the red neck blast zone that is the lower mainland and environs.
SPRUCE LAKE 2015
SSssss...snap......!
"Hey..you awake? Did you hear that?"
"Yah, what do you think it was?
Matt and I lay there in total silence, hardly breathing, like two enchiladas wrapped in blue down cocoons, protected by twenty thousand's of an inch of mankind's latest high tech waterproof tent material. We waited for the six inch razor sharp claws of the grizzly bear to rip through our tent, rendering us to so much spaghetti. As our minds wandered to every bad movie with grizzly bears shredding people, the real truth was it was likely a deer mouse running over the ground sheet. Lucky we weren't trampled to death I guess!
We camped the first night at the trailhead, to be as fresh as possible for the next day. The Jewel Bridge on Gun Creek is the entry point for a vast array of trails heading into the mountains. We had checked this area out last year and over the winter planned to do this as a five day hike. I had planned we would do a circuit around an eight thousand foot mountain, transiting along seven thousand foot ridges and then only re-tracing our steps on the last eleven kilometers.
As Matt works at Mountain Equipment Co-Op, a decision was made to lighten up some of our gear. Like a car, power to weight is key, so shedding some weight from the pack lets us take more food and is just easier on the legs, not a bad thing. A new three pound, three season tent was purchased, along with super light ThermoRests. We looked at each piece of gear and made sure we had no other options for lightness.
The first day was a long one, way too long, as I made a mistake on the distance to the first lake, Hummingbird. In my defense, in all the research I did on-line, the sections of trails listed was very confusing. I had calculated 17 Km but it turned out to be 21 Km. Might not sound like much but that last 4 Km was a killer considering how much elevation we had gained, plus the weight of full packs. When we came down the last hill to Hummingbird Lake, all we could think of was getting our boots off and feet into that water. Never had putting our feet into that cold mountain lake ever felt so good! I was really done though, that was a massive outlay of energy for one day.
The campsite was a typical wilderness one, hacked out of the bush next to the lake. At least the Forestry people had put a food cache box there, saving us trying to winch our food up over a branch. As a big bonus, there were no bugs, nor did we encounter any at the lakes we stopped and camped at. We turned in relatively early, to try to rest up, but, really laid there quite wide awake all night. The forest is anything but quiet at night, as our primal instinct kicks back in, listening for ANYTHING that might signal danger. Trees creak and groan, things settle in the slight breeze, and of course, the odd deer mouse decides to check you out.
Over the years we have had all sorts of weapons in our tent at night, knives, axes, guns, and this trip was no exception. I had brought along a bear banger for each of us. If you have never seen these, they are a .22 caliber cartridge, which fires a small pyrotechnic shell some distance, then explodes with a hell of a noise. The reality of having it in the tent really hit me, what with all the synthetic material and down stuffing of our sleeping bags, there would have been a blinding, white light explosion, likely seen from space, and everything within half a kilometer blast zone would cease to exist.
The next day had us heading up to a ridge at 6,000 ft, but, the day before had really gotten to me so we made a decision to go back down and camp at Trigger Lake. I was afraid that the transit across the ridges might take us an additional day and we did not want to miss our phone call to let Betty and Laura know we were out safely. I think we made a good decision, as it turned out some very bad weather was coming and I would not want to be out on that exposed ridge with thunder and lightning .
The campsite at Trigger Lake was really nice, epic views of the mountains around us. The temperatures at night were not too cold, down to 6C at the coldest. We then decided to hike up to Spruce Lake, retracing our steps to a trail junction, where it split to head up to Spruce. The elevation gain was quite doable over another 5 km, to get to the south campsite on Spruce Lake. Along the way we came upon high, grass plain meadows, ending with a quick stop at Cowboy Camp, now long abandoned. All these trails were created by the early miners and cowboys, as they transited over these high mountain passes. I swear at one point, way off in the distance, I saw the Man with No Name, his signature hat and poncho disappearing over the ridge line, sun glinting off his Colt 1851 Navy.
Arriving at Spruce Lake was a treat, another site tucked into the trees at the south end. A nice two point buck wandered by us, not 20 feet away. Just before dinner we walked back down the trail, doing about 3/4 of a kilometer, just to load up on water.
Speaking of water, that became a real issue of planning during our hike, making sure we topped up our water bottles. Water is heavy, a litre weighing two lbs. We took our Camel Bak water bladders, which pack flat and weigh nothing, so we could fill them up at a last water stop before camp. Worked great. The area up there was incredibly dry, even the plants on the side hills, that are used to dry hot weather, were dying.
Our food choices were good also, with us trying some freeze dried PAD THAI one night and LASAGNA another. They were surprisingly good and very tasty. My old vintage stove never missed a beat and as we had lots of fuel, decided to do a water boil test. With the stove running at full throttle, we put 1.5 litres of lake water ( maybe 15C) into our pot and timed how long it took to get to a rolling boil....12 minutes at 5,000 feet.
That night we saw the first signs of high cloud coming in, the potential for a storm. The next morning was high overcast, which provided a perfect temperature for our 15 km hike back to the Tracker. The views again were incredible on the hike out, as the first 5 km had us on a very steep downhill, but out on exposed side hills, so we could look back up the valley where we had come from, at Trigger lake, and then look down to the headland we had to go around to get back. When you looked at the distances it was quite amazing to think we had just walked them. By the third day, my energy was fully back, making us realize that the first day was just too long. We could have done the ridge route, but, when in the mountains this far from any help, good decisions have to be made at times. Matt was right about hiking into shape, trips like this where you constantly move, show how the human body is meant to move, not sit in front of TV or a computer all day. After our five days, my legs were fine, not one ache.
Our Garmin Etrex 20 GPS came in handy, as the trails on the map were off a bit. At least between the two and our own sense of direction, we had no problems at trail junctions, etc.. At least for the water creeks, the map and the GPS were spot on, so we could rely on when we would get to the water. The map guys took a B.C. Topographical map and then laid the trails over that, so while a good guide, our map position put us some 100 - 300 meters OFF the trail, at one point putting us in the middle of a canyon and river, compared to the actual GPS position.
Our hike out only took us about 4 hours, with a snack stop and a pack-off stop to rest our backs. The sun had broken through the clouds for the last hour, so we beat the days heat no problem. In that five days we saw no one and at the point that we were furthest from the Tracker, some 27 km as the crow flies, we truly had that sense of remoteness and that we were a long way from anywhere.
Arriving at the Tracker just after noon hour had Matt fishing our two Sleemans honey brown beer out of the rushing Gun Creek, that we had hidden five days before. Those, along with a bag of Miss Vickie's Jalapeño chips were a taste treat beyond compare.
What a fantastic hike, 62 KM into the wilderness, perfect weather, and, almost best of all, no blisters! After we came out of our Cape Scott hike, I had some good blisters on a few toes. After really studying the mechanics of my toes, and what they were doing, I could see that if they were separated more, the friction issue would not be. Thanks to the running community, there are now socks that have individual toes, just like a glove. Last Christmas I got a pair and spent the spring and early summer during my training walks using them. I highly recommend them if you have blister issues! I wore them with a light sock over top of them. I had not one blister, not even a hot spot. They feel a bit funny when first put on, but, I don't even notice them now. Having each toe both separated and of course there are two layers of material just ended the blister issue. What a treat to finish such a long hike and not face days of your feet healing up, let alone the comfort of not dealing with pain on the trail, which can really ruin a hike.
And about the bears, we did not see one, only saw one sign that was at least three days old, so if there are grizzly's up there, they must be camping somewhere else.
Keith Law
August 16, 2015
Here is my latest story and pictures of our summer adventure, hope you enjoy. This area is about 500 Km ( 300miles) as the crow flies, takes us 7 hours to get there to the parking area, 30 Km from the historic Bralorne Gold mine, then the hike begins. It is called the Spruce lake Protected Area. As much as there are a variety of user groups that go in there, it is still off the map so to speak, so it is very pristine still, no garbage, far enough away from the red neck blast zone that is the lower mainland and environs.
SPRUCE LAKE 2015
SSssss...snap......!
"Hey..you awake? Did you hear that?"
"Yah, what do you think it was?
Matt and I lay there in total silence, hardly breathing, like two enchiladas wrapped in blue down cocoons, protected by twenty thousand's of an inch of mankind's latest high tech waterproof tent material. We waited for the six inch razor sharp claws of the grizzly bear to rip through our tent, rendering us to so much spaghetti. As our minds wandered to every bad movie with grizzly bears shredding people, the real truth was it was likely a deer mouse running over the ground sheet. Lucky we weren't trampled to death I guess!
We camped the first night at the trailhead, to be as fresh as possible for the next day. The Jewel Bridge on Gun Creek is the entry point for a vast array of trails heading into the mountains. We had checked this area out last year and over the winter planned to do this as a five day hike. I had planned we would do a circuit around an eight thousand foot mountain, transiting along seven thousand foot ridges and then only re-tracing our steps on the last eleven kilometers.
As Matt works at Mountain Equipment Co-Op, a decision was made to lighten up some of our gear. Like a car, power to weight is key, so shedding some weight from the pack lets us take more food and is just easier on the legs, not a bad thing. A new three pound, three season tent was purchased, along with super light ThermoRests. We looked at each piece of gear and made sure we had no other options for lightness.
The first day was a long one, way too long, as I made a mistake on the distance to the first lake, Hummingbird. In my defense, in all the research I did on-line, the sections of trails listed was very confusing. I had calculated 17 Km but it turned out to be 21 Km. Might not sound like much but that last 4 Km was a killer considering how much elevation we had gained, plus the weight of full packs. When we came down the last hill to Hummingbird Lake, all we could think of was getting our boots off and feet into that water. Never had putting our feet into that cold mountain lake ever felt so good! I was really done though, that was a massive outlay of energy for one day.
The campsite was a typical wilderness one, hacked out of the bush next to the lake. At least the Forestry people had put a food cache box there, saving us trying to winch our food up over a branch. As a big bonus, there were no bugs, nor did we encounter any at the lakes we stopped and camped at. We turned in relatively early, to try to rest up, but, really laid there quite wide awake all night. The forest is anything but quiet at night, as our primal instinct kicks back in, listening for ANYTHING that might signal danger. Trees creak and groan, things settle in the slight breeze, and of course, the odd deer mouse decides to check you out.
Over the years we have had all sorts of weapons in our tent at night, knives, axes, guns, and this trip was no exception. I had brought along a bear banger for each of us. If you have never seen these, they are a .22 caliber cartridge, which fires a small pyrotechnic shell some distance, then explodes with a hell of a noise. The reality of having it in the tent really hit me, what with all the synthetic material and down stuffing of our sleeping bags, there would have been a blinding, white light explosion, likely seen from space, and everything within half a kilometer blast zone would cease to exist.
The next day had us heading up to a ridge at 6,000 ft, but, the day before had really gotten to me so we made a decision to go back down and camp at Trigger Lake. I was afraid that the transit across the ridges might take us an additional day and we did not want to miss our phone call to let Betty and Laura know we were out safely. I think we made a good decision, as it turned out some very bad weather was coming and I would not want to be out on that exposed ridge with thunder and lightning .
The campsite at Trigger Lake was really nice, epic views of the mountains around us. The temperatures at night were not too cold, down to 6C at the coldest. We then decided to hike up to Spruce Lake, retracing our steps to a trail junction, where it split to head up to Spruce. The elevation gain was quite doable over another 5 km, to get to the south campsite on Spruce Lake. Along the way we came upon high, grass plain meadows, ending with a quick stop at Cowboy Camp, now long abandoned. All these trails were created by the early miners and cowboys, as they transited over these high mountain passes. I swear at one point, way off in the distance, I saw the Man with No Name, his signature hat and poncho disappearing over the ridge line, sun glinting off his Colt 1851 Navy.
Arriving at Spruce Lake was a treat, another site tucked into the trees at the south end. A nice two point buck wandered by us, not 20 feet away. Just before dinner we walked back down the trail, doing about 3/4 of a kilometer, just to load up on water.
Speaking of water, that became a real issue of planning during our hike, making sure we topped up our water bottles. Water is heavy, a litre weighing two lbs. We took our Camel Bak water bladders, which pack flat and weigh nothing, so we could fill them up at a last water stop before camp. Worked great. The area up there was incredibly dry, even the plants on the side hills, that are used to dry hot weather, were dying.
Our food choices were good also, with us trying some freeze dried PAD THAI one night and LASAGNA another. They were surprisingly good and very tasty. My old vintage stove never missed a beat and as we had lots of fuel, decided to do a water boil test. With the stove running at full throttle, we put 1.5 litres of lake water ( maybe 15C) into our pot and timed how long it took to get to a rolling boil....12 minutes at 5,000 feet.
That night we saw the first signs of high cloud coming in, the potential for a storm. The next morning was high overcast, which provided a perfect temperature for our 15 km hike back to the Tracker. The views again were incredible on the hike out, as the first 5 km had us on a very steep downhill, but out on exposed side hills, so we could look back up the valley where we had come from, at Trigger lake, and then look down to the headland we had to go around to get back. When you looked at the distances it was quite amazing to think we had just walked them. By the third day, my energy was fully back, making us realize that the first day was just too long. We could have done the ridge route, but, when in the mountains this far from any help, good decisions have to be made at times. Matt was right about hiking into shape, trips like this where you constantly move, show how the human body is meant to move, not sit in front of TV or a computer all day. After our five days, my legs were fine, not one ache.
Our Garmin Etrex 20 GPS came in handy, as the trails on the map were off a bit. At least between the two and our own sense of direction, we had no problems at trail junctions, etc.. At least for the water creeks, the map and the GPS were spot on, so we could rely on when we would get to the water. The map guys took a B.C. Topographical map and then laid the trails over that, so while a good guide, our map position put us some 100 - 300 meters OFF the trail, at one point putting us in the middle of a canyon and river, compared to the actual GPS position.
Our hike out only took us about 4 hours, with a snack stop and a pack-off stop to rest our backs. The sun had broken through the clouds for the last hour, so we beat the days heat no problem. In that five days we saw no one and at the point that we were furthest from the Tracker, some 27 km as the crow flies, we truly had that sense of remoteness and that we were a long way from anywhere.
Arriving at the Tracker just after noon hour had Matt fishing our two Sleemans honey brown beer out of the rushing Gun Creek, that we had hidden five days before. Those, along with a bag of Miss Vickie's Jalapeño chips were a taste treat beyond compare.
What a fantastic hike, 62 KM into the wilderness, perfect weather, and, almost best of all, no blisters! After we came out of our Cape Scott hike, I had some good blisters on a few toes. After really studying the mechanics of my toes, and what they were doing, I could see that if they were separated more, the friction issue would not be. Thanks to the running community, there are now socks that have individual toes, just like a glove. Last Christmas I got a pair and spent the spring and early summer during my training walks using them. I highly recommend them if you have blister issues! I wore them with a light sock over top of them. I had not one blister, not even a hot spot. They feel a bit funny when first put on, but, I don't even notice them now. Having each toe both separated and of course there are two layers of material just ended the blister issue. What a treat to finish such a long hike and not face days of your feet healing up, let alone the comfort of not dealing with pain on the trail, which can really ruin a hike.
And about the bears, we did not see one, only saw one sign that was at least three days old, so if there are grizzly's up there, they must be camping somewhere else.
Keith Law
August 16, 2015
