The Cold West Harrison

Boxing Day has been a good day the last few years for us to get out into the hills. While many are busy fighting the crowds at the malls, we are out enjoying the emptiness of the back roads. Today was a great day to be out there. We left home at a leisurely hour of 8:30am and set off for the traditional Starbucks and fuel loading. Then because we hadn’t been sure of our plans we needed an extra stop to pick up some lunch supplies for our trek. We decided to travel along highway 7 for this drive, we were fortunate that it avoided most of the traffic spots and we made good time to the start of the forestry road. Traffic was very light and even at the parking area at the start of the FSR only a few vehicles were there.

We started up the mainline and quickly noticed that it was dry enough, though cold, for our passing to kick up great clouds of dust. It was like driving in the middle of the summer. Fortunately we were not following anyone. The early portion of the road before it reached the lake was covered in some snow and ice and we needed to be cautious in our driving but we continued to make good time to the lake. We didn’t really slow down until we approached the beaver pond where I decided to stop and gather some photos of the pond.

The pond was mostly frozen over so as I was gathering some pictures I was able to venture out a few yards on the ice. Meanwhile as I was taking photos, the frozen nature of the water had caught Geoff’s interest and he was busy jumping on it testing its strength. Well as could be predicted we soon heard a load crack and I quickly made for the edge. The ice was a few inches think but the jumping flexed it a bit much. A small wet patch appeared on the surface out towards the middle, but I stayed closer to the edge after that. After gathering a number of photos from many spots, I had made my way along closer to the unfrozen area, but Geoff, still exploring the ice, had carefully inched his way out to the wet patch to confirm that he had indeed caused it. The spot was mushy and obviously recently wetted from below. Enough of the ice excitement, we returned to the truck and continued on.

Our next stop was another small lake just before the Wood Lake Campground. This area has a small cabin on the side of the lake and I wanted to explore the area and gather a few more frozen lake photos. The lake was nicely frozen and I gathered some more frozen images wandering out only a few yards. The areas near the edge had grasses poking through the ice which made it weaker and did provide me with some unwelcome sound effects as I wandered along. Done with the lake, we wandered over to the cabin to look it over. It was well maintained and had a nice wood burning stove inside ready for use.

We continued on up the mainline and soon Geoff noticed a side road with an ice covered puddle. We drove onto it but didn’t go far as we were sinking through and creating a deep trench with jagged ice which looked like it would damage the tires. So we studied the results of the drive and then continued on our way. Soon we noticed that the road was snow plowed and we were grateful for the help. The plowed section turned up the Mystery Creek branch leaving the mainline snow covered. The mainline looked a bit challenging so we drove up the Mystery Creek branch and stopped at the bridge over the creek to gather a few photos. Then we continued on to the next fork where we spotted a car parked on the side of the road. It looked curious but we were driving so on we went along the fork that climbed the nearest slope it was steep but fairly easy to traverse. Soon we reached fresh powder snow and saw a pair of tracks heading up. We decided to keep going and there we came to a couple hiking back down the slope. We continued up to a viewpoint where I gathered a few photos of Lake Harrison before we decided to return. On our way down we noticed the couple had turned around and were trekking up our ruts.  When we came to them we stopped to chat. They were visiting from Colorado and had hoped to reach the hot springs at the north end of the lake but gave up due to road conditions. We wished them well and continued on down. Along the lower section we were greeted by a few 4x4s coming up the road. When we reached the fork at the start of the Mystery Creek FSR Geoff got out and re-evaluated the mainline as it descended to 20 mile bay. He felt it was drivable and so we carefully started down the unplowed road.

The initial descent was covered in packed snow and though it looked a bit threatening it actually was quite easy travel and after a kilometer the road was bare again. We made quick time to the 20 mile bay campground. The main zone was gated but the overflow was open and we stopped there for lunch. Upon arrival at the beach area I set off across the dry lake bed, this time of year the water level is down exposing wide swaths in the shallow areas like here. I wanted to gather photos of an old set of posts still in the water that many years ago formed a pier for the logging industry. Today they are just a line of decaying posts poking up through the water. I made my way out to the water and started gathering a number of photos. Meanwhile Geoff was trying to start a small campfire.

Done with the posts I returned to the truck, Geoff had the fire sputtering but it was so cold it wasn’t taking very well. It did seem to catch at one point but before long it was fading out. I decided to get my stove out and start heating my soup. Adding some sausage made for a good meal and soon I was enjoying the hot nutrients. Geoff was cooking some pasta so his took a bit longer to get ready. Once done with the meal we started back to the mainline but Geoff spotted an old stump just off the road so we pulled in for a closer look. It was the remains of some original growth, the size of the stump was huge. We spotted a few more scattered about and thought back to the days when the mature trees were still standing. They must have been huge and thick leaving a mostly open understory. It would have been an interesting forest to walk.

Returning to the car, we started back along the mainline heading north along the lake. By now I was determined to go look at the power project and see where the submerged lines from the far side of the lake came up. We soon came to the area and there we spotted another power project being constructed – Trio Creek. We explored a few side roads and eventually found the transmission line heading down to the lake but the route down was not a road and though it could be hiked, it would be a challenge getting back up in the cold before dark. So we decided to leave for another day and to head on out while we still had some daylight remaining.

So our drive past the Mystery Creek fork saw us driving good dry road for 20km further along the lake, we likely could have reached the hot springs but it was not our plan. The whole time on the north side of the fork we were alone on the road, not a single vehicle came this way – so nice, but it was getting damn cold out here and definitely time to head home. We made good time to the fork, the drive up the snowy section was quite easy, it looked worse from the top than from the bottom.  Now we had good road to the start of the FSR, except for one problem.  About a third of the way back we caught up to a convoy of three 4x4s, though they were moving at a reasonable speed the dust kicked up was thick and made our drive less enjoyable. I suppose we could have just parked and waited but we decided to put up with the cloud and continue on out. At least we had dim tail lights to follow!

Once back to the pavement our drive home proceeded in the dark and we had to fight off the glare of on-coming cars. But we seemed to travel along the highway fairly quickly and soon we were crossing the Fraser at Mission and starting onto the side roads for the rest of the drive home. It felt great being out there and enjoying the quiet and solitude of the backcountry. Hopefully our next excursion will be sooner.