Capturing the Art of Nature
To Cypress Point or bust
Our goal was to make it over the deep snow on the ridge and on down to Cypress point for some winter photos.
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2006
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I decided to take up my youngest son Ethan on this trip and give him some road experience in the snow. He hadn’t driven in snow, never mind on the logging roads in deep snow. So I thought it would be a good opportunity to give him some experience and a chance for me to capture some winter photos from a favorite spot along Stave Lake.
The drive to the Forest Service Road went without incident; traffic was light and the roads clear - our stop at Starbucks a key part of this portion of the trip. We drove through Miracle Valley and on to the logging road; very quickly we were driving in the snow. It was a fun experience for Ethan as we made our way along the slowly deepening snow cover. Soon we came by one group of target shooters who had pulled over to the side. They couldn’t drive up the next hill and were going to walk it rather than give up on their shooting. It was an ominous sign and raised the anxiety level for Ethan as he quickly came to the hill.
We were up and over it in no time and with no problems! Having a decent back-road equipped vehicle certainly makes a difference. So it was on up the road to Salisbury Lake and then the point. We turned off the major road into an area with no tracks. It was fun and easy going for a half kilometer but soon we were snow plowing and losing traction. I could see the high point of the drive just a 100 meters ahead and then it would be down-hill virtually to the lake. So, should we put on the chains and go for it? But I remembered how difficult that section was on the return when I was here a year ago and while we may get over the peak and all the way down coming back may be much harder. Regretfully I decided to cut our losses and not push it. Perhaps if I had had an electric winch I would have tried it, but such was not the case. So I taught Ethan how to put on the chains and we backed down the ruts we created. He was having quite a challenge staying in them and away from the drop at the road edge. On a couple of occasions we were quite a bit closer than I would have preferred!
When we made it back to the traveled road we decided to go further up and made perhaps a kilometer before encountering the same challenge. A couple quads came up and zipped past us, but as it was Ethan first time we decided it was enough for today and we practiced a u-turn in the tight space available.
On our way back we stopped for some photo taking and I walked along the road at a few points to get some photos. We finally came past the target shooters who had completed their goal and were now loading back into their car. We stopped at the Lost Creek bridge for some more photos and watched as the target shooters struggled up the incline, they were weaving all over the road! They had to make several runs to get over it, I was starting to think we would have to tow them up it.
It was a fun trip, and good experience for Ethan even though we didn’t make it to Stave Lake. I guess we’ll have to try again when the snow has melted down somewhat. In this collection, I have selected a few photos I took on the return. The snow was so bright the photos came out looking black and white!