Capturing the Art of Nature
Chipmunk Creek & Mount Thurston FSR's
Another try for the Mount Thurston loop but snow was the victor yet again.
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2010
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Back in early December I had hoped to drive a loop from the Chipmunk Valley FSR through to Mount Thurston and out but the snow stopped us quite early in the loop. So since the weather had been so unseasonably warm this January I thought we could give it another try. We set off directly for the Chipmunk FSR this time and started the loop with great anticipation. The first section of the FSR was dry and easy driving and soon we came upon a convoy of 8 jeep size 4x4's also making their way along the circuit. They were together and interestingly all hams with radios. I chatted with one of them and set the second channel on my radio to monitor their frequency.
As they were parked planning their route, we passed them on our way to our first photo op. Soon we came by a good view of a lovely waterfall across the valley for which I stopped to gather a number of shots. During the time shooting, the convoy passed us. Done with the waterfall we were back on the move and soon we were past the cross-ditch that trapped us on our last trip. There was no snow at this point so we were getting hopeful the loop would be possible. But after just a couple more turns we started to encounter snow. We then heard the convoy talking about the challenge of a cross-ditch not much further ahead and we knew the loop was becoming less likely.
We were making good time on the relatively level section of the road and soon we caught the last of the convoy jeeps. He slowly made it over the challenge we heard them talking about, our truck found it quite easy to do. We were now traveling in shallow ruts but it was easy driving for the next few bends. Then we finally arrived at the fork, right going to the Mt. Cheam hiking area, left to Mt. Thurston. The left fork starts with a steep but short climb that we started up but soon were spinning and not moving. So we put chains on the front tires and easily made our way past this steep section. We did manage to break a few links on the left tire chain in the process, so we stopped so I could repair it.
While working on the chain we heard the convoy talking about ever deepening snow and needing to pull each other. So we made a decision to not go any further today. We returned to the fork and took a run at the other branch, as it was a steady rise we only got a half kilometer before we were starting to slip - and that with chains on! So we stopped there and had lunch with a lovely view of Lady Peak. After lunch we started back down and when we reached a broader flat section we stopped for a bit to gather a few photos and Ethan tried a few shots with his bow. A number of ATV's came by heading in, we chatted with them briefly.
Soon we were back on the way out and before long we were on the Bench road. We decided to try the loop backwards to see how far up the south slope ofThurston we could go. Not too far in we came by a lovely viewpoint where I gathered a number of shots of the peaks along the Chilliwack River Valley. Then it was back to driving up the narrow road. At around 1300 meters we finally hit the snow level and very quickly we were stopped by it. We backed down a short ways until we reached a slightly wider section of the road where Ethan did a 12 point turn to reverse his direction! It was a bit challenging in the narrow space we used. We tried a few more short side branches on our way down but before long we were back on the bench road headed out to the pavement.
It was a lovely drive, full of adventure and impressive mountain vistas. We didn't succeed at the loop again this trip but I didn't really expect to do it mid-winter. Maybe in a well equipped ATV! Which I will have one day. The drive home was blessed with some lovely views of the Cheam range and then just before home, we saw a exquisite cloud formation in the sunset. It was interesting enough that I had to find a clear spot to grab a few shots. We turned onto 184th and noticed another photographer taking some photos on the side of the road. So we parked near him and I joined him in capturing the sunset.