Capturing the Art of Nature
Hunter, Garnet & Ruby Creeks
A great day to be out on the snow covered roads deep in the hills
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2010
Click on image to view gallery
I hadn’t been into the back country since before my Ontario trip in mid Ontario and I was starting to feel a growing sense of desperation. So today’s trip was long overdue and definitely something I was looking forward to. Originally Ethan was to drive for me but he got sick on Friday and as Geoff had been planning to head out on his own he was more than willing to join my adventure and together we set out for the first of our destinations.
As we hadn’t been into the hills since the start of the winter season, we didn’t know what to expect. We quickly made our way to the Hunter Creek entrance and switched over to 4x4 mode then we started up the steep opening section of the road. It wasn’t long before we were driving through a few inches of snow. When we reached the short section of road that hugs a cliff face we were presented with rocks strewn across the road which were covered in snow. It looked a bit daunting as the snow made the rocks look much bigger than they were. Another vehicle had made its way through here and so we felt we could keep going. It was then that the lumps revealed their nasty secret.
Many of the snow covered lumps were actually chunks of ice that had peeled off the slop above. They were getting packed into the snow cover making a steep sheet of ice. Very quickly we butted up against some rocks with the front tires and couldn’t get any traction. The back was slowly drifting towards the edge of the road so we stopped and decided to use the winch to pull us over this section of road. The winching went quite smoothly and we were soon on basic snow covered road. We drove a few hundred feet further up to a level section and there we put on our chains. We then had better traction for the next few kilometers.
Even with the chains we were spinning out on the steeper section of road and by the time we reached the 500m elevation point the snow had gotten too deep for us to continue so we pulled off into a wider area where we enjoyed a view of the valley and I was able to gather a few shots. I also managed to get some images of the waterfall I spotted on my prior trip, this time it was covered in ice and had a very different flavor to it. Once I was done at the turn around we started back down the road and had no trouble so we were back to the start of the road before noon. It being early, we decided to visit Garnet Creek across the river.
So we made our way to Hope and then back along highway 7 to the entrance to the Garnet Creek FSR. The start of the FSR was snow free and we gingerly made our way through the deep water filled pot holes. As we gained elevation we were soon driving through snow but the elevation gain was slow so we were actually able to make our way quite some distance into the valley. We did see a new sign warning of a locked gate but we never saw one on our travels even though we passed the active logging site. That was fortunate as I really get tired of being stopped by gates.
Soon we arrived at the narrow section of road that hugs a vertical cliff face which normally has flows of water falling down it. Today the water was frozen in a huge display of icicles. The number and shapes of the ice was amazing and well worth the drive just to see it. Unfortunately the road at this point was on an incline and covered in frozen water! So we had no traction on the ice and had to winch ourselves a second time. Once we had cleared the incline and the ice field we had no further traction problems on the Garnet Creek FSR. We drove up to the point that the road splits down Garnet Creek and off to American Creek. That was the furthest point a previous driver had gone as well. We decided to push no further and as it was past noon we ate our lunch while enjoying the snow covered scenery. Our return drive was very easy, we did take a short diversion at one point to get a clear view of the valley but soon were back to the highway and as it was still early we drove west to the Ruby Creek entrance.
Ruby creek was also fairly low level for quite some distance and so we got past the front hills into the marshy flat lands without delay. There we saw the recent activity of Tamihi Logging. They had a few machines stored at the side of the road waiting for the snows to depart next spring. We made our way over the low ground we had traveled before but the soft and wet ground with a bit of snow cover made it hard to follow the transmission line road up some steeper sections. So we only reached a couple of spots in this area. We then returned to the main line and continued further in and discovered that the old road leading to Deer Lake was now fixed up and ready for logging. I was hopeful it would allow us to reach the lake. Alas it went a fair ways toward the lake but veered off before it and so the last part of the road was still impassible though we did get a number of nice shots of Mahood creek. Once done with this new spur we continued up the main line and soon saw more new short spurs that had been cleared and an old fork was now drivable down both branches so we started exploring the once closed road. It gained elevation quickly so we didn’t get in far before the snow stopped us, but it is worth a return in the late spring to see how far one can get in.
Once done with the mainline we returned to the lower marshy section where we drove a few side roads to various viewpoints before returning to the highway. Once back on the pavement we enjoyed a sunset and were able to get a few shots of it as we crossed over the Fraser near Agassiz. Though we didn’t get in very deep we did have some good sights and a lot of fun driving the snow.