Capturing the Art of Nature
Return to Elaho
The Elaho is such a lovely valley, I just wish it was closer so I could visit it more often.
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2015
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T
he Elaho valley is a diverse one with so many amazing sights and textures to enjoy. The area is also huge and we have seen only a fraction of it in all these years. I would like to visit much more often but it takes so long to get there that it really is on the edge of day-tripping. But that will have to do for the time being.
Our day began as usual with Geoff arriving with the boys and dropping them off with Carolyn while we go out to play. As a precautionary plan, I had put a charger on the truck battery so it shouldn’t cause us any grief on this trip. I do think we need to replace it as it doesn’t seem to be all that reliable. The drive to the start of the resource road though long, went without incident. We picked up fuel in Squamish to ensure we had a good reserve for the day. I called our friend John on the radio as we passed his place just a couple Km’s before the end of the pavement but there was no answer so we zipped in and entered the back-country.
Our first task was to dial in the road frequency on the radio, The Squamish region has switched to the new channel number method for specifying the frequency from the old one that spelled out the number. Fortunately we were ready for the new system and so dialing in the channel was a snap. We heard no activity on it for the first 10km but then a truck that was coming toward us was calling out and so we started reporting our position as well. We didn’t encounter any large logging trucks during the day but we did have to work our way past several busses hauling rafters to and from the river.
We made fast time along the Squamish and reached the bridge across it which forms the start of the Elaho. Here we stopped to gather a few photos. There were many groups camping along the river and a large number were up here is just their basic cars – not 4x4s. The road is so easy to travel that cars have no difficulty if they are just going camping along the river. We continued in along the Elaho and soon were wending our way up the steep section where the river goes through a deep gorge. I have gathered photos here on many occasions so today we opted to keep moving and head for the second bridge over the river and the start of the ‘G’ branches.
The ‘G’ area was one we had not visited before so we were hopeful we would spot some interesting sights. The initial portion of the G road continues along the river paralleling the main Elaho road on the other side of the river. Here we drove along enjoying views of the river as it meandered through the widening valley. We eventually arrived at another fork and the start of the G530. This one we decided to follow it as it climbed the slope to gain significant altitude above the valley. This gave us some memorable views of the river below. The road wasn’t too bad, there were a couple of very rough sections and one with just enough room to get past a small slide without falling off the road to the slopes below. The view at the end was worth the effort and we took time to just enjoy the spot and not rush on back.
We returned back to just before the main road where another spur forked off heading in the opposite direction along the river. We had seen some great vantage points of the road from the G530 and we were looking forward to seeing the views from them. Unfortunately only a short way along we were stopped by a washout and unable to continue. It was a disappointment. We returned to the main G road and continued along the river, but when it reached the same creek below the other washout, we were stopped by the continuation of it. Here we did get out and enjoy the area as the valley was wide and there was a nice pond along the side of the road. Here we watched a group of butterflies sunning themselves, and in the water were thousands of fat tad poles and leeches. I wish we could have continued forward as the map of the area made it look so attractive. Time was running and we had a scheduled radio contact at 2:30 so we turned around and started back to the main Elaho road. We did find a couple of side roads to drive but none proved that interesting. Once back to the Elaho we continued in further and eventually found a side road where we could set up the antenna and try calling the guys back in White Rock. It took around 20 minutes to get things ready and as soon as I put out a call I had a response from Brett and Ralph. It was a successful contact. The distance was around 155kms directly over several mountain ranges. Radio really is quite amazing. After chatting with the guys we packed it up as it was so hot I really wasn’t in the mood to sit there calling others. We finished our lunch there and then continued in.
The time was getting on and we didn’t want to be all that late getting back so we just selected a main road forward and pushed it to the end. This gave us a few interesting views but we did skip over so many more. Once done with the fork we had followed we drove a few more short spurs as we headed back. At our furthest we were about 75km’s in from the start. About 10kms on our way back Geoff noticed that the front bumper seemed to be bouncing a bit and sure enough on checking it we discovered that the bolts holding it were loose and some were missing. We found a shaded spot to work on it and Geoff was able to tighten it up enough to keep it somewhat secure as we drove home.
The rest of the drive out was an easy drive with not much traffic. Once on the Squamish mainline I put out another call to John and this time I got an answer from him. He was home and looking forward to us dropping in as we passed his place. John had some cool drinks for us and we chatted for a while before continuing home. It was a lovely day and I enjoyed the visit to the area. I hope to get back here sooner than last time as our last trip was in April 2012! Way too long between visits.