Capturing the Art of Nature
Indian and Mamquam
A return to the Indian in the hope that it would be repaired and open to the Sound, alas it wsn’t ready yet. So we explored the farthest end of the Mamquam
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2011
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Two weeks ago we tried the Indian River FSR but were stopped by an active work crew repairing the road; they said to come back in two weeks as they would be done. So here we are two weeks later to see what the valley would reveal. We zipped along the first part of the road in record time as the clouds were thick and we had no views of the peaks. I did stop once to gather a few interesting shots of the clouds amongst the trees but otherwise we ripped up the road in our new tires and soon found ourselves at the tad pole pond. We got out to check out the pond again but found far fewer tad poles eking out a living along the shore line. That was a bit of a disappointment but it wasn’t to be out last.
We continued along the road and soon passed the open barrier and crossed the temporary bridge. The day wasn’t the best as the clouds were thick with the odd drop of rain but they did add a dramatic look to the steep slopes beside us. Soon we were passed the placed we reached last trip but there were too many signs of active road work ahead as we inched southward. Soon we came by a Hydro work crew clearing brush from beneath the towers. Then we followed a huge rock carrier as it ambled down the road to pick up another load. Once it turned off we continued on a couple more kilometers to where a lone excavator was repairing a water crossing. We watched it for a bit but soon realized it was going to take too long for us to be able to get past. So there we were, a few kilometers further down and just at the start of the interesting section of the river but we could go no further. So it was back up the road.
Along the return we did drive out onto the flood plain of the river at one point for a few river shots, the colour change was just starting along here and we were able to gather a few shots of the trees on the far slope but nothing too dramatic. Done with the river scene, we continued on up the road and decided to continue along the Mamquam. Just before we reached the Mamquam, we spotted a Doe eating along the edge of the road, when she saw us she meandered off the road a bit and stopped to watch us. I got a few decent photos of her before she walked further into the brush. Once back to the main FSR we b-lined it to the double bridge and there we followed the road south east along the north side of the Mamquam River.
The initial few kilometers of this segment of road was very potholed and made for a very rough drive. It was getting a bit tiring before long and we were both getting a irritated with the road. It didn’t help that the road was low in the valley with thick brush along both sides of the road - we had no views and the drive was not interesting. Finally we came to the first of many forks and here we chose the right hand branch. It continued for a kilometer or so before it ended at a washed out bridge. The river was quite fast flowing through the gap and it was not a surprise that it would need regular maintenance to stay usable. We back tracked to the fork and took the left branch.
The left branch made its way to slightly higher ground and here we encountered a few more forks as we made our way passed where the lower branch stopped, soon we were crossing the Mamquam and off to explore a long valley to the south. We kept taking the right hand fork as each came before us and soon we came upon a lovely pool to the side of the road with a small waterfall feeding it. It was a very pretty sight and finally made this part of the trip seem worthwhile. I gathered a number of photos of it including some long shutter shots. Just past the pool was a motorbike rider taking a rest; he was the first person we encountered in the deep Mamquam. Just as we were packing up to continue, his two companions returned having been exploring the further part of the road. We drove on and soon we were gaining a bit of elevation and gained some views of the valley which we had been travelling up. It was a pretty sight and when we reached the end of the road – a washout stopped us a few hundred meters from the end – we stopped to heat some food for lunch. While Geoff was preparing the food, I tried out the radio and got a surprise.
I first tried the planned repeaters to the south. I figured that the valleys run north-south and may provide access to the Vancouver area repeaters. Sure enough, the ones I tried were reachable. I chatted briefly on the Surrey repeater but then I decided to try the White Rock repeater. Ken answered back! It was quite a surprise to work that repeater from far back in the back country, but there we were chatting away. After a chat, Geoff had the food ready and we had a hot meal. Then it was back to exploring the other forks we had passed by. The clouds had thickened a bit and it was a bit darker but we still wanted to explore a few side roads. The first fork brought us to a bit of colour. The second branch got us into some altitude with a lovely view over the valley. At one point we had a magnificent view of the clouds below us slowly piling into the valley.
We next tried a road the ran further up the actual Mamquam River but it was getting quite overgrown and it being late in the day we opted to stop and not push our way through it. We felt we had time for one more side road and picked the next one which ran up the Mamquam River on the north side. This road much more major and it climbed up out of the valley and soon started to offer us some amazing views. As we neared the top ridge, we soon had a lovely view of Seed Peek to the north. It was partially obscured in cloud but a bit later, as we made our way back, we had another view without the cloud. It really was a very nice view. There was a small pond up on the shoulder of the ridge that offered some interesting contrasts to the peak.
We had less than an hour of sunlight by now so we felt we had to start down and out. As we rounded a knoll I gave a call on the White Rock repeater and Carolyn answered! Another surprise but it allowed me to inform her of our return times – much simpler than through the planned repeater links we had organized. Done with the radio we started down the road and immediately encountered a startled bear. It wasted no time in watching us; it just ran off down the road and was soon out of sight. We continued down and were soon on the main line and we reached the end of the FSR just before sunset! Excellent time for the return run. The rest of the trip home was uneventful and we made good time on the highway.