Capturing the Art of Nature
Cultus Lake Area
In the all the years I have been exploring the region the one easy access place I hadn’t visited was the Columbia Valley in behind Cultus Lake. So since my back country vehicle was acting up, I felt it was best not to push it and so it became a good time to explore the valley.
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2007
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The drive to the lake was uneventful; the weather was a bit questionable in the morning which made the views somewhat dull and uninspiring. The drive up past Lindell had some interesting sights, the military base had some activity occurring - at least it is being used a bit – but it didn’t look too inviting to ask questions. We drove to the end of the road which stops at the US border; from there I drove east until the road curved back and completed a loop. The area was mostly fields with some livestock. We did see some deer and other smaller animals.
Next we went down to the village at the end of the lake but I didn’t see any decent spots to get out and wander along the lake shore, so we decided to head out. As we drove back past the Teapot hill, I thought that it might make a nice day hike and offer some decent photos of the lake during a nice summer day.
We then headed for the FSR on Vedder Mountain. The initial portion was fairly rough and lacking in any views, there were many side trails for bikes and later for quads. It looked like it would be worth exploring them one day. We finally reached a level portion further along the FSR and found a nice spot with a view for lunch. After a rest we continued on along the road and crossed over the ridge to the north side where we had lovely views of the Fraser Valley. We continued on our way down the far side hoping to complete the loop around the mountain but we encountered a seasoned veteran of the area who advised retreat as the road a head was full of monster puddles that would swallow our Pathfinder whole. We turned back but fortunately found a different way down which led to the Fraser Valley just west of Yarrow.
Though not the most photographic of trips it is worth a second visit to check out several of the side roads.