Capturing the Art of Nature
Lost Creek
The Lost Creek area is always a busy place full of people coming to see the backcountry. It is so accessible that one finds many driving cars, often where they shouldn’t.
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2014
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It had been over a month since I was last out in the hills, so it felt great being out here enjoying some fresh air and the bright sun. It was cold but not too bad as we started up the FSR. The road was so dry that we were kicking up a dust cloud just like in summer travel! Shortly after starting up the mainline we came by a group of vehicles unloading their ATV’s and getting ready for a day of adventure. They were preoccupied with their tasks and we continued past and soon were beyond Davis Lake Park. As we drove we noticed a number of frozen streams and rapids but we opted to continue past for the adventure beyond.
The mainline is littered with a number of short spurs, each was occupied by small groups shooting off various guns at targets, and it actually gets a bit monotonous. Not much beyond the park we came by an empty spur which led down from the mainline to a small isolated cove. It was an ideal spot for shooting but it also seemed to provide access to a view of Stave Lake just beyond the far wall. So we decided to drive in and see if we could find a few photos of the lake. I made my way along and up the far side into a clear-cut area where I had a limited view of Stave Lake below. It was a nice spot and I enjoyed taking a few photos. Meanwhile Geoff looked over the lower area where he found an old golf ball which he decided to shoot at. The ball seemed quite resistant to being injured by bullets.
Once done with photo taking we continued on to the main gravel pit where there are often several groups shooting but this morning it was still empty. So we continued on and turned onto the Twin Lakes side road. From here we turned onto a secondary spur and came to a washed out bridge where we stopped to look around the area. I gathered a few photos of ice along the stream while Geoff hiked into the bush to where he spotted something blue. It proved to be some old barrels. Done with this little area, we returned to the main side road and continued up finally coming by another fork, one goes to the lakes the other further up the slope. Geoff tried the branch to the lakes but the shape of the cross-cut was too much for the truck and so we decided to not push it at this time. The other branch didn’t go much further but we did see some interesting casings of a variety of bullets at the end of the road.
We then returned to the mainline and continued in, passing the fork to Salsbury Lake and rounding the lake on the east side. Here Geoff spotted a huge ice puddle alongside the road which caught his attention. He drove out on it and then proceeded to walk over it and sliding for the fun of it. A bit further up the road we came by a spur that led down to Salsbury Lake. I hadn’t seen the lake from this location so we parked the truck and hiked on down to the lake. It was a lovely view, the lake was frozen over for quite some distance – perhaps all the way across. But it wasn’t that thick so we didn’t venture out very far on the ice. We tried to pick out our favourite spot on the other side where there is a small island just off shore but without binoculars we weren’t sure we had found the correct spot. After walking along the shore a bit and looking over the lake and camping area we returned to the truck and continued up the mainline.
We didn’t find any more access points to the lake so we just continued along aiming for Kenyon Lake. The road, though pothole filled, was actually a fairly easy drive through here and we made good time as we headed for the second lake. Soon we arrived at a fork with one branch continuing along level the other heading steeply upslope towards the lake. We started up this very rough stretch of road and soon encountered some ice and snow on the road. It was the first we came to but fortunately wasn’t deep here and it posed little obstacle to us. As we neared the lake we came by another fork. We chose the right side and this led towards the lake but never got to it. Instead it skimmed past the eastern edge and made for a ridge which looks down on the north end of Stave Lake. We realized this was the wrong branch and so we turned back and started up the left side. This immediately got very steep and covered in ice and we weren’t sure we could drive it, but it levelled off just a short way further up so Geoff decided to give it a go and we fortunately had no trouble getting over the worst of it. Here we found a narrow steep road leading down to the camp area on Kenyon Lake. We drove about half way and walked the final section to the lake.
The lake was completely frozen over and had a shallow layer of snow/ice over the near side of the surface. We walked out on the lake and it proved to be very solid. The high wind really drove the coldness into ones bones and we weren’t at all enjoying our cold adventure out on the lake. We had left the truck running so we decided to not go out too far until we locked up the truck but once back to it we decided we were already too cold to bother returning to the lake. So we backed out to the wide level area and there we turned around and started back down the really rough icy section. Though the truck slipped at one point, it didn’t go more than a few inches and we were safely below the worst section. As we continued down the rough road we came by a lone hiker who was walking up the road with a heavy pack and what appeared to be ice climbing equipment – out here alone in the winter seems a bit foolish. When we got back to the easy road section we spotted his SUV parked next to the fork.
We drove the other fork, pushing our way across some steep cross ditches and when we arrived at the end of the road we enjoyed a lovely view of Stave Lake. Here I gathered a few photos. As we made our way back to where the hiker was parked we were passed by a couple of trucks and cars making their way along the road. We chatted with the driver of one car. He was pushing it somewhat more than I would have done in that vehicle but he restrained himself from any really tough stuff. It was well past noon and we were hungry so we decided to head back to the area next to Salsbury Lake where we had parked earlier to set up for lunch. As we cooked lunch a number of SUV’s passed us on the road, one stopped and the occupants walked down to the lake like we did earlier.
After lunch we continued up another side road this one heading east away from the lake. I hadn’t been along this road before so it was interesting to find some new sights. One of the side spurs led into the second growth forest. Here the road was lined with young evergreens which made for softer branches rubbing along the side of the truck. We stopped at one point for Geoff to look over a huge stump he spotted just off the road. He measured it at a diameter of 8.5 feet! It would have been a massive tree back in its day. Another branch continued further in and up slope here we encountered a terraced beaver pond that drew us out of the truck to check it out. It was really quite a sight. It seems that a small stream travelled alongside of the road and every so often a beaver had dammed it so that the small pond was a couple feet deep and about a foot higher than the next pond. This continued for several iterations. The series of ponds was quite interesting but though we saw lots of Beaver projects, no animals were spotted.
The road continued on up the slope, here we encountered an ATV coming down towards us, fortunately they pulled off the road at a wide spot so we could pass. At the end of the road we enjoyed an amazing creek covered in various ice formations. Here I got out and captured a number of interesting photos of the ice. It was very pretty to both look at and to listen to the water flowing beneath the ice. Once done with this spot we decided to head on down, the sun was not as bright any more thanks to a thickening layer of cloud that was blocking it which meant it was starting to get colder. So rather than push it and get cold we decided to head home. It was a nice trip, not a huge amount of driving but enough for us to really enjoy getting out.