Capturing the Art of Nature
Anderson River Valley
A lovely day to get out and see how this beautiful area has changed. At least that’s what we wanted to do.
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2017
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The weather was great and Geoff was available so we planned a trip to the hills. I was undecided until the morning as to where to go, but in the end I decided on the Anderson area as it had been a few years since we were in the back area of it. Last year we attempted to visit but the road was blocked by a gate on one fork and a mud slide on the other, which left us with only the western section along the power lines.
Today’s trip had its problems, we had a loose front bumper last trip so we decided to take the time to tighten it before departing. This delayed us a full hour but at least we won’t lose it in the hills. So finally on the move we made for the coffee shop and then the gas station. It was while refueling that we noticed that our left rear brake smelled like hot brake pad and felt very hot. Not a good start. We decided to drive a bit further and check it again. At a point a bit past Abbotsford we pulled off the highway and rechecked the brake, it still was hot but seemed a bit better. We pumped the brakes and e-brake and hoped it would fix it. At our next stop - a gas station after Hope- where we topped up the gas the disc was back to normal temperature! So it was fixed and we felt ready to try the hills.
A short drive further and we were on the FSR. Taking a moment to get into 4x4 mode, we were off for our delayed adventure. As we made our way along, views of the Alexandra Bridge came into view and we stopped to enjoy the sight a few moments before continuing south and then through the gap in the mountain range to the east. Soon we arrived at the major fork. This time the southern fork had its gate open and the northern one still had the mud slide across the road but it was hardened and worn down by driving and so was easy to cross over. So we headed for the slide and started on our way up the slope and over the ridge to the Anderson Valley.
The road crosses over the ridge at a point where there is a lovely southern view and it was here in the fall that the colours of the maples are very beautiful. Today the trees were in fresh greens and not quite as scenic. The next section of road follows a narrow cut across a steep slope and I wanted to try taking a video of our traverse with the GoPro camera I recently acquired. So we set it up and started the drive. It was very bumpy but the video seemed reasonable upon later review.
We continued our drive in and down to the Anderson River itself. As we crossed over it the road again forks and we decided to go south this time unfortunately the road was blocked by a large mud slide only a half kilometer in. After taking a few minutes to explore it we back-tracked and went north. The road continued for a few kilometers before we reached a washout. A shame that it is rapidly eroding as the road beyond leads to a long valley of amazing sights and access to numerous mountain hikes. It was by now well past noon and we were hungry so we moved the truck into some shade and enjoyed a hot meal.
Well the Anderson valley was closed off to us so we back tracked all the way to the once gated road and there we started in and south towards the Siwash Creek area. Soon we came by a lovely wild flower meadow where we stopped to explore it but just as we drove in we were greeted by a trucking coming out. It was an older chap and his son. They were placer miners and just back for the season. We chatted for a bit and he invited us to his claim which was just a kilometer from where we were. We followed Grant to his camp site and then proceeded to visit with him for over a half hour as he showed us his efforts and mineral panning exploits. He explained a lot about how one could make their own claim and then keep their own claim area for not a lot of work over the course of a year. He was a very interesting chap and we were invited to return as often as we wanted. I think we may just be able to get our own claim and work our own private piece of crown land!
After our visit, it was time to head out and home and so we did with little delay. The brake was fine and the drive out smooth. We did have some aggressive drivers pass us on the highway but otherwise the drive to Hope went quickly. Once in Hope we enjoyed a nice coffee at the Blue Moose before heading onto the freeway for home. A great day and one full of nice memories.