Anderson Colours

The early Fall is the most colourful time for outdoor photography, one just needs to find those spots where the colours are rich and easy to see. One such spot is along the Anderson River FSR where the road climbs over a ridge and follows it into the deeper valley. In planning the day’s trip we were fighting the weather, rain was forecast and we had to decide if it would be drier to the east or north-west. This morning the forecast favoured heading to Hope and up the Canyon so that was the direction we set out for. I wanted to find some rich colour scenes to photograph and the ridge of the Anderson quickly came to mind, so that was our primary destination for the morning. Our drive to the start of the FSR went well and we were soon ready to find the colour but we also had the added bonus of breaking in our new tires! On our last trip we wore out the old ones and had to replace them with a new set of four. This time round we bought some Toyo Open Country MT’s which have a more aggressive tread than the previous, so I am hopeful they will do better for us.
Not far along the road we saw our first patches of colour, these lower trees offered mostly yellows but they did contrast well with the rich greens and being early in the season there was still a lot of green for a back-drop. So today, they did provide some dramatic tones. As we made our way higher, we soon started to see some oranges and then as we neared the ridge the place erupted in reds. There were so many shades of red it was incredible. Some of the trees were still decked out in rich green and together we had the best display of greens, yellows, oranges and reds that I have seen in this spot. We hit the timing perfectly for this year. I spent time slowly walking up the road over this section, taking lots of photos of the hundreds of trees that offered their beauty for any takers.
After basking in the richness of the colours, we continued along the road to the old burned out building where I remembered a bush that had some rich reds last year. This year it was a bit early and the bright reds weren’t there yet but the bush still had many leaves in various stages of transition that made for interesting close-up images. So I spent a few minutes with my macro lens and gathered some images of individual leaves. Next we started down the road to the bridge over the south Anderson and there we turned north to follow the North Anderson east. The season was a few weeks early through here to see much broad based colour but one could still find smaller patches hidden amongst the trees.
On a trip I made last October along the south side of the river, we found dozens of clumps of interesting mushrooms, so we set out to see if they could be found this year. Unfortunately, we were not able to find many mushrooms and those that were out were very tiny and not photogenic. We eventually came to a washout that we felt was best to not try as we weren’t having much luck finding mushrooms. So we turned back to the main line where we continued east along the north side of the river. When we came to a more recently logged area, we climbed up the slope to a point where we had a good view of the valley. It was here where we ate lunch. Though we were in view of the main group of peaks for the area, the clouds were completely hiding them from view, and while we ate the clouds moved in thicker and dropped a bit of rain on us.

Done with lunch we started back, I wanted to try a side road that on the map connects to the transmission line road we drove earlier in the summer. At that time we didn’t drive to the end of the road, so today I hoped to complete the loop. The initial section of the road was fairly easy but then it started to get steeper and rougher. We had one corner to cross with a washout just past the bend. In rounding the corner we almost dropped the right rear off the road! We had to retry the corner a couple of times before the wheel made it across. Once past the corner and stream, we started up a very steep shale section, not much further and we would be up to the tower that Geoff and stopped at last time. But it got so steep that with the ground moist, we just spun out. We couldn’t climb the slope! And I couldn’t even find a large stump to tie the winch cable to. So we reluctantly had to back done the road, a mere 400 meters from our destination. 
Rounding the washed-out corner this time went easily as our angles were better and soon we were back to the main FSR. Our next destination was down the south going fork of the road following Siwash Creek. Here I wanted to climb the ridge that forms the east side of the Fraser Canyon and see if one can follow the transmission lines to a point where they drop down to cross over the Fraser. We found the side branch we needed and made our way up it to the ridge with the power lines. There we continued along the logging road which crossed over to the west side of the ridge, here we should have been able to see the Fraser but it had gotten so foggy that we couldn’t see down into the valley. That was disappointing but at least I know where there is a view that we could try again in better weather. In reviewing the power lines and the road situation, we soon realized that the road didn’t continue much further south along the line due to a vertical cliff face being in the way. It seems that the last few towers were serviced by helicopter and not by truck. That was unfortunate and so I guess I won’t get to the spot I was hoping to reach, at least not by driving.
Being late in the day, we didn’t have much light left and what we did have was dull due to the thick cloud cover, so we decided to head home. Once back to the start of the FSR we checked the new tires for wear. Fortunately, they didn’t look at all worn. That is great news, and I hope the extra heavy tread lasts better than the old tires. On the way home we stopped at the Blue Moose Bistro once again for a drug fix and some calories. It was a good trip and we enjoyed the sights.