Capturing the Art of Nature
American Creek Rock Hopping
We returned to the Garnet Creek area but after last trip we took the easy right-hand branch and spent the day exploring a lovely lake and creek bed
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2015
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A month ago we started exploring the upper Garnet Creek area but ran into serious truck trouble, so now with the truck repaired we returned to the region but not to the section of road that devoured us and spit us out a broken, limping mess. I guess we have a bit of a cowardly streak in us at times. Today we made good time to the start of the Garnet Creek FSR and there we immediately noticed that the construction signs at the start were missing. It looks like the work on the new transmission line was completed through here and the evidence of the work had been removed. We continued up the road and about a kilometer in we came by a group harvesting firewood. We continued on in and made for the small campsite on the Garnet we spotted last time.
As we approached the end of the spur and the campsite we noticed that it was occupied with a family spending the week-end. Geoff wanted to turn back but I insisted we continue with our plan to explore the small river gorge he had seen last trip. We parked and walked down to the creek where we saw the family and their noisy dog. They had recently purchased some sluicing equipment and were busy trying it out in the creek. I guess the TV shows where people are finding huge gold deposits is rather motivating. Their dog was a bit aggressive and did bite Geoff at one point but it wasn’t serious. After a short chat we continued up the creek to the gorge and there we started to take some photos of the rock formations.
I wasn’t able to follow Geoff over some of the rocks so we back tracked a short distance and found a path alongside the creek that got us past the section that was stopping me. Further up the creek we hopped across the rocks and found a good number of lovely views of the creek and the water running through very narrow chutes. I did manage to slip and scratch my leg up a bit at one point, fortunately the water stayed out of my boot. The flow was light which gave us opportunities to find lots of angles to shoot photos from. The smooth curved rocks were quite impressive and left no doubt as to the power of the water. This place would be a dangerous roaring maelstrom in a high flow period. Once we had explored the extent of the area we could walk without getting wet we started back for the truck. This time we stayed in the forest alongside the creek so as to avoid the dog. We chatted with one of the campers as we came past his camp spot, he told us how they had found a flake of gold on an earlier trip and this time wanted to see if they could find a more serious quantity.
We back-tracked to the fork with the American Creek FSR and started up the slope out of the Garnet Valley, the view from the road of the valley was worth a stop. The view was very lovely and the breeze up the valley was quite pleasant in the hot sun. After a few photos we continued up the mainline but soon took a side road that led up the far side of the American Creek valley. The road was recently used for building the new towers and so we were able to get to a nice overlook. While we were out of the truck taking photos we heard some radio activity which caught our attention and we set up our larger antenna to try and contact a person who we thought was a Summits-on-the-air activator on a summit. Unfortunately we were only able to hear one side of the conversation and it became clear that the two people were talking about a SOTA activator rather than it being one of them.
From the lookout we spotted a small lake to the east which was under the older transmission lines. This lake was the one I took photos of back in 2009 when I last did this loop. It looked inviting so we decided to forego lunch up here in the sun and drive down the slope and then along the main road to the lake. This didn’t take too long and soon we were driving a road which didn’t exist last time I was here. Back then we had to follow a very steep and rough power line service road up the slope to connect to the eastern part of the FSR. Along that stretch the view of the lake was quite nice. Today the new road stayed lower and connected to the eastern segment without providing a nice view of the lake. We eventually drove alongside the lake but without a clear view. A short distance past the lake Geoff turned the truck around as he really wanted to eat lunch next to it. As we drew nearer Geoff spotted an over-grown road beneath us and so we found the access and drove it. The road led across a stream bed which was a bit soft and I was a bit uncertain if we would get stuck but we made it across without issue. After climbing up over some large rocks we emerged at the base of a tower and a lovely view of the lake.
The lake was so inviting we decided to hike down the slope to it. We had one false start and on our second attempt we found a way through the wild blueberries to the lake shore. The ground was soggy and we had to pick our way carefully and not stand in one spot too long. The lake was very pretty from this level and we wandered along the edge for a distance. Here we spotted some fresh bear tracks in the mud. We now kept a watchful eye out for the bear as we continued along. I gathered some more photos and fortunately no bear made an appearance. For our return we decided to trek through the blueberries rather than back along the lakeshore. This proved a bit harder than expected as the bushes were stiff and thick. The heat was also starting to wear on us as well. We managed to make it back to the truck with only scratches.
We were now quite hungry and so we needed to break for lunch. Though the view was nice the heat was too much to bear so we decided to back down the side road to where there was some nice shade and there we stopped for lunch. Now we faced a bigger issue. We set up outside the truck and cooked our soups but as we ate the flies descended and started their meal on us. It got bad enough we moved inside the truck and finished our lunch inside.
Nourished and rested we returned to the main line and started driving east and towards the end of our day. I was looking forward to where the road crosses the main creek. It was here back in 2009 that we had to cross the creek at creek level with no bridge. It had been washed out and the only way across was through the creek bed. The path was level and easy on our first trip back then but on the second we came after some heavy rain and the creek was flowing fast and deep, had we not driven it two weeks prior we would have turned back! So today I was interested to see how things looked. Well we almost missed it as there is now a solid bridge across the creek about 100 feet downstream of the old crossing. After stopping on the bridge we spotted the old road and walked down to it.
Once at stream level the creek looked so interesting that we hiked up it finding all sorts of amazing sights. Like the Garnet, this tributary of the American had carved the rocks with incredibly smooth chutes where the small amount of water was running. Picking our way up the creek wasn’t too difficult and we could walk the side slope in a few spots to get past some larger rocks. The colours and smoothness of the rocks were very beautiful to look at. Geoff was quite amazed at the lushness of the forest alongside the creek. It reminded him that we are still in a rain forest even in the midst of a very dry summer. We finally reached a spot which would have required a longer portage along the bank to get to the next section so we decided to head back to the truck and make our way out as the day was getting later and the sun sinking behind the mountain we were exploring. Once back in the truck the road forward was quite easy. We came upon one more side road which led up the slope of Dog Mountain to the ridge line, I have wanted to drive it for some time so I thought we could take some time and try it. Unfortunately the road became quite overgrown a half kilometer in and we decided to not push it so we turned around and continued along the main line. We did stop at a few spots to enjoy the sights of the valley and at one spot we noticed a large solar panel across the valley at the top of the far ridgeline. It didn’t seem to be connected to anything we could see which raised our interest in what it was doing up there. The short distance further to the Fraser Canyon went quickly but was marred by us catching up to the one vehicle we met moving on the road. We spent the last few kilometers in the dust.
Once off the American Creek FSR we were just north of the town of Hope so we made a quick trek into town to our favourite coffee shop – the Blue Moose – for a bit of caffeine for the drive home. The place was packed and we had to wait a bit in the line-up to place our orders. Once loaded up with caffeine we started on the final drive home. We made good time except for a short stretch which was slow due to a minor accident. The day was a lot of fun and we saw some lovely sights of creeks and lakes not far from Hope. Perhaps we will need to try and explore the other side of the ridge and see what that solar panel was doing next.